Elwood Brown
Biographical details
Born(1883-04-09)April 9, 1883
Cherokee, Iowa, U.S.
DiedMarch 24, 1924(1924-03-24) (aged 40)
Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1903–1906Wheaton (IL)
1905–1906Illinois
Head coaching record
Overall33–30–1

Elwood Stanley Brown (April 9, 1883 – March 24, 1924) was an American sports organizer in Illinois, Manila, Europe, and South America. In his short life, he had a number of major accomplishments, such as, the intensive promotion of sports among Filipinos. Introducing international sports competitions in Asia. The promotion of the Olympics around the world. Founding of the first Boy Scout troops in the Philippines (1910), initiating and organizing the American Expeditionary Forces games and its corollary the Inter-Allied Games at the end of the War in Europe.[1]

Brown worked closely with Charles Pierre de Fredy, Baron de Coubertin and the International Olympic Committee in propagating the Olympic ideal through the YMCA.

"After his death, the close relationship between the IOC and the YMCA faded... there was no man of the calibre of Elwood S. Brown to carry on the work he had started." (–Buchanan, 1998)

Involvement in sports

  • Brown joined the YMCA in 1892, and stayed for life. At the Chicago YMCA, he assisted Physical Director George Wolf Ehler,[2] 1898–1903. Brown then studied at Wheaton College in Illinois, where he was also a basketball player and coach (1904 and 1905 seasons), but could not complete his course due to financial constraints. He next served as coach of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign basketball team for the 1905–06 season, then was hired as Chicago YMCA Physical Director in 1906. In 1907 he became Physical Director of the Salt Lake City YMCA, serving until the start of 1910.
  • Offered the job of Physical Director of the Manila YMCA, Brown moved to the US Philippine Islands in January 1910 and immediately introduced basketball and volleyball. (Since then, the Philippines has become a regional power in men's basketball.)
  • In the summers of 1910 and 1911 (mid-February to late May), by request of Governor-General William Cameron Forbes, Brown set up a sports program for Filipino insular government employees at the summer capital of Baguio, a hugely successful project that favorably impressed the Governor. After he was appointed Chairman of the Playground Commission by Gov. Forbes, Brown set up a network of public playgrounds in Manila.
  • In November 1910 Brown proposed the establishment of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF) which was founded in January 1911 with Gov. Forbes as president and Brown as the Secretary. Simultaneously, various sports bodies for individual sports were organised under the PAAF umbrella. The PAAF was recognized in 1929 by the International Olympic Committee as the Philippine Olympic authority, and later changed its name to Philippine Olympic Committee in 1975.[3][4]
  • In 1911 Brown became director of athletics at the famous Manila Carnival. The Carnival was an exposition and festival showcasing American and Philippine culture, commerce, industry, politics, military, and tourism, would last from 1908 to 1939, and would be copied by other cities and towns across the islands. Brown used the Carnival to promote sports in Asia. In the same year, the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation invited foreign participation at the Manila Carnival games.
  • In September 1912, Brown proposed the organization of a "Far Eastern Olympic Games" during the 1913 Manila Carnival, that resulted in the formation of the Far Eastern Olympic Association, with Gov. Forbes as president and Brown as Secretary-General (1912–January 1918), and the holding of the Far Eastern Olympic Games, January–February 1913. (In 1915, the names were changed to Far Eastern Athletic Association and Far Eastern Championship Games. With the help of Franklin Brown of the Tokyo YMCA, Japan, negatively influenced by Kanō Jigorō, reluctantly joined the Far Eastern Games. The Games met regularly until 1934,[5] when the politico-military situation in East Asia destroyed the momentum of international cooperative endeavors.)[6][7]
  • Brown collaborated with J. Howard Crocker and YMCA from missionaries in China, Japan and the Philippines, to establish the Far Eastern Championship Games.[8][9]
  • "Under the directorship of Elwood Brown, the YMCA transformed the Manila Carnival from a commercial exhibition to an athletic spectacle. The carnival achieved recognition as the Far East Olympics with the inclusion of teams from Japan and China in 1913." – Gerald Gems in Journal of Sport History, Spring 2006.[10]
  • With the collaboration of Everett Stanton Turner (a YMCA stalwart of education, sports, and Scouting in the Philippines), Brown and the YMCA injected sports into the Philippine education curriculum.[11]
  • A full account of the historical influence of Brown's organizing efforts in Asia is the article "Muscular Christianity and the “Western Civilizing Mission”: Elwood S. Brown, the YMCA, and the Idea of the Far Eastern Championship Games" by Stefan Hübner in Diplomatic History, 39.3, December 9, 2013, pp 532–537. The abstract of the article describes Brown as "one of the most important promoters of muscular Christianity and “Olympism” during that period."
  • In 1918 towards the end of World War 1, Brown proposed and organised the holding of the American Expeditionary Forces Championships and the consequential Inter-Allied Games and the construction of the Stade Pershing named after AEF commander John Joseph Pershing (an old acquaintance of Brown's in the Philippines) who appointed Brown as Director-General of the Inter-Allied Games.[12]
  • In 1920 Brown, representing the International Olympic Committee and the YMCA, traveled through South America and organised the South American Athletic Federation.
  • Brown addressed the International Olympic Committee three times: at Antwerp (1920), Lausanne (1921), and Paris (1922). At the 1920 meeting in Antwerp, Belgium, Brown broached the idea of holding a "Hindu Games" in India.

Involvement in Scouting

Later life

Brown died of complications from a heart attack on March 24, 1924, three weeks short of his 41st birthday.

References

  1. ↑ "Among the notable works and contributions of the YMCA in the Philippines were the organization of the first training class for schools in physical education; establishment of the first law school in English, now the College of Law of the University of the Philippines; conduct of the first Far Eastern Athletic Meet, the precursor of the Asian Games; organization of the first chartered Boy Scouts troop for Filipino boys; conduct of the first student conferences and first Rural Development Youth Work Camps; organization of the first National Fund Campaigns; and, establishment of the first gymnasia and swimming pools for Filipinos." –"History of YMCA International Work in the Philippines" at YMCA International Work in the Philippines: an inventory of its records, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
  2. ↑ George Wolf Ehler (1865–1947): Professor of physical education and Director of Athletics, University of Wisconsin. Chicago YMCA Physical Director, 1892–1904. Held various volunteer and professional positions in the Boy Scouts of America, 1910–1940, retiring as assistant to Chief Scout Executive James Edward West. Recipient, Silver Beaver, BSA. (Cf: The New York Times, February 16, 1947.) Authored Exercises Upon the Horse, Parallel Bars, Horizontal Bar (Chicago: YMCA, 1898).
  3. ↑ Buchanan, 1998.
  4. ↑ Brown, Elwood, "Annual Report," 1 Oct 1912–1 Oct 1913, YMCAA.
  5. ↑ "FAR EASTERN OLYMPIC OPENS THIS MONTH AT MANILA" in The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 1 May 1934, page 15.
  6. ↑ England, Frederick, "History of the Far Eastern Athletic Association" in Official Bulletin of the International Olympic Committee.
  7. ↑ Brown, Elwood, "Annual Report," 1 Oct 1914–1 Oct 1915, YMCAA.
  8. ↑ Keyes, Mary Eleanor (October 1964). John Howard Crocker LL. D., 1870–1959 (Thesis). London, Ontario: University of Western Ontario. p. 52. OCLC 61578234.
  9. ↑ Jones, Gordon R. (October 29, 1914). "Disappearance of German Merchantmen a Sore Blow". Brantford Expositor. Brantford, Ontario. p. 10. Archived from the original on April 21, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  10. ↑ Gems, Gerald, "Sport, Colonialism, and United States Imperialism" in Journal of Sport History, North American Society for Sport History Archived 2016-09-17 at the Wayback Machine, Spring 2006
  11. ↑ Turner, Everett Stanton, Nation Building, Manila: YMCA, 1965. Digitised 2006, University of Michigan.
  12. ↑ The Inter-Allied Games. Paris 22nd June to 6th July 1919, ed. Joseph Mills Hanson. Paris: The Games Committee, 1919.
  13. ↑ The Boy Scouts of America magazine Boys' Life, Vol. LX, No. 8, August 1970, page 36, reports: "It was also the Americans who brought the Boy Scout movement to the Philippines in the same year – 1910 – that the Boy Scouts of America came into existence."
  14. ↑ While the Scout Association of Japan recognizes Clarence Griffin (1873–1951) as Japan's first Scoutmaster and his 1st Yokohama Troop as Japan's first recognized Scout unit, no such richly deserved recognition is given to Elwood Stanley Brown and his three YMCA troops by the Boy Scouts of the Philippines.
  15. ↑ Unfortunately, the Miami News / Miami Metropolis archival site, formerly here, was removed or closed in 2015. Hence citation of this article can no longer be accessed online.
  16. ↑ See Early History of Scouting in the Philippines

Bibliography

  • Boy Scouts of the Philippines, On My Honor: Stories of Scouts in Action, Manila: Boy Scouts of the Philippines, 2001.
Contains full text of Roosevelt letter to James West – received by the BSP National Office from the BSA.
  • Buchanan, Ian, "Elwood S. Brown: Missionary Extraordinary" in Journal of Olympic History, Fall 1998, pages 12–13.
Contains details of Brown's work with the International Olympic Committee and some details about the Inter-Allied Games.
  • Clymer, Kenton, Protestant Missionaries in the Philippines, 1898-1916, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986. ISBN 978-0252012105.
  • England, Frederick, "History of the Far Eastern Athletic Association" in Official Bulletin of the International Olympic Committee, No. 2282, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1926, pages 18–19.
England arrived in the Philippines after Elwood Brown requested the government for a playground supervisor. England became Manila schools superintendent and Manila playground director. He was appointed as the first Philippine physical director in 1922, and was later succeeded by Regino Ylanan. England authored Physical Education: A Manual for Teachers, published by the Bureau of Education and Bureau of Printing, Manila.
Contains a detailed narrative of Brown and the YMCA's extensive work in propagating sports among Filipinos through the Philippine educational system and his massive influence in international sports competition in Asia.
  • Johnson, Wait & Elwood Brown, Official Athletic Almanac of the American Expeditionary Forces 1919. A.E.F. Championships, Inter-Allied Games, New York: American Sports Publishing, 1919.
  • Majumdar, Boria & Sandra Collins, eds, 2008, Olympism: The Global Vision, Oxford & New York City: Routledge, 2008. ISBN 978-0-415-42537-7.
Contains numerous references to Brown, his coordination with Baron de Coubertin, the Inter-Allied Games, and Brown's organizing work in South America.
Regino Ylanan won medals at the 1913 and 1915 Far Eastern Championship Games, had trained at the International YMCA College, served as PAAF Secretary, succeeded Frederick England as Philippine physical director in 1927, and became board member of the Boy Scouts of America Philippine Islands Council No. 545 in 1928.
  • "Spreading the Faith: The International YMCA," in The Olympic Century, Volume 5.
Contains detailed narratives of Brown's work in the Philippines and East Asia, and photographs of Brown.
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