This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (February 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
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 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]

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[permanent dead link], 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

Contains full text of Roosevelt letter to James West – received by the BSP National Office from the BSA.
Contains details of Brown's work with the International Olympic Committee and some details about the Inter-Allied Games.
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.
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.
Contains detailed narratives of Brown's work in the Philippines and East Asia, and photographs of Brown.
Categories