Celebrating Black History: Building Successful Careers Through Character

By: Sylvia Villarreal Email

Updated: Mon 7:01 PM, Feb 01, 2010

February 1st begins Black History Month and we want to introduce you to a Brazos Valley rancher who has worn many hats.

Before going into ranching, Charles Brown had a distinguished coaching career and led his teams to several victories, including two state championships, in two different sports.

"Firm, fair, and fundamental. Firmness was discipline. Being fair and not just on the football field, with everybody and be fundamentally sound, that was my philosophy," says Charles Brown.

Now Brown hasn't only passed along his Triple-F advice, he's put it to practice in his own life.

For part of his life he's has been a rancher, but for the other part he was a coach and he became a one because he won a scholarship that put him through college and allowed him to play football.

After graduating in 1950, he began his career as a high school football coach at Dixon High School in Shepherd, Texas.

Mr. Brown even remembers having to go to some of his rival schools to ask for equipment because the school where he coached didn't have any.

Brown says, "I hustled up enough to start from different ones to start a football team."

However he acquired that equipment it paid off because during his 36-year high school coaching career, he won two state championships...one in baseball and the other in football.

When Brown started his coaching career it was during turbulent times because at the time blacks and whites weren't allowed to go to the same schools.

After leaving high school coaching behind, then Texas A&M football coach, Jackie Sherill hired Brown to be the university's national recruiter and that further solidified him as a coach who knew talent.

Later in life, Charles Brown received further praise when he was inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association, Hall of Honor on the first try and says the award means the world to him because it was given to him by his peers.

Though he's had great success in life, he says his life's been blessed because of his faith in God and his ability to listen to people because they have wisdom to share too.

A couple of years ago we interviewed this coach turned rancher and he said he his life's success aren't just for him to enjoy...they serve a purpose, "To lay the ground work for someone else, the foundation for someone else to build on."

To this day, some of his former players still keep in touch with Charles Brown because in many he was a father figure who impacted their lives.

Lincoln Recreation Center Celebrates African American History Month

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The story of Black History Month began a decade after the founding of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Learn more about the history of Black History Month.

From athletes, to writers, musicians, and actors, these are the history makers of the past and present that make up Black History.

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