Robert C. Brown

b. 26 September 1924, d. 27 November 2011
  • Robert C. Brown was born on 26 September 1924 in South Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York.
  • Chauncey Holmes Brown and Florence Agnes Simpson appeared in the US federal census of 1 April 1930 in South Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York, at Cherry Street. Other members of the household included Robert C. Brown, Louis R. Brown, Evelyn M. Brown, Ralph Chauncey Brown and Janet Ruth Brown.
  • Chauncey Holmes Brown and Florence Agnes Simpson appeared in the US federal census of 1 April 1940 in South Dayton, New York. Other members of the household included Robert C. Brown, Ralph Chauncey Brown.
  • Robert C. Brown died on 27 November 2011 at age 87 in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York, at WCA Hospital.
  • The following appeared on 30 November 2011 in The Buffalo News: Robert C. "Coach" Brown, a retired teacher and administrator at Pine Valley Central School and a former South Dayton Village Board member, died Sunday in WCA Hospital, Jamestown. He was 87.
         Known to everyone as Coach Brown, he had a 31-year career at Pine Valley, where he taught physical education and coached football, baseball, volleyball, soccer and wrestling. Two of his students went on to play in the National Football League. He also started a golf program at the school and served on many Section VI committees. In the 1970s, he became athletic director and assistant building principal. He retired in 1984.
         Born in South Dayton, he was valedictorian of the South Dayton High School Class of 1942 and was a standout athlete. In his freshman year at Cortland State College, he was drafted into the Army and earned college credit in civil engineering in the Army Specialist Training Program at Santa Clara University in California. He was sent to England as a combat engineer and served in France, Holland and Germany.
         After his discharge in March 1946, he played semipro baseball for the Steel Partitions team in Jamestown, which won a state championship. He then returned to Cortland, where he played basketball, baseball and soccer, earning a place on the first team of the All American Soccer team.
         He was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers and played for their Nashua, N.H., farm team after he graduated from Cortland in 1949. In the off-season, he went to Penn State College to study for his master's degree.
         He began teaching in 1950 in Whitesville, where he coached football, baseball, basketball, wrestling, track and golf. He also played baseball for Wellsville in the Pony League and finished his master's degree at Alfred University. He later earned a secondary school administration degree from St. Bonaventure University.
         In retirement, Mr. Brown played golf, attended many sporting events and visited with his former student athletes. He served on the South Dayton Village Board for 23 years.
         A member of the South Dayton Free Methodist Church, he served on many church committees. He was a member of South Dayton Post 1593, American Legion, and a past member of the Tri County Country Club. He also was a board member of the Teachers Federal Credit Union.
         He was inducted into the Chautauqua County Sports Hall of Fame in 1986 and later was inducted into the Pine Valley Sports Hall of Fame and the Grape Belt Sports Hall of Fame.
         Surviving are his wife of 60 years, Evelyn June; two daughters, Wendy J. Cummings and Jill L. Hopkins; a son, Brent R; and a brother, Howard A.
         Services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday in Hills Funeral Chapel, 478 Balcom Corners (Route 83).
  • Last Edited: 16 Apr 2014