1993 Volume 116 No 1–4 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

Alumni Notes
Honoring an Indiana football legend. Ritter Collett, Kit
Klingelhofer, Bob Biggs, Ted Brown, Mrs. Brown, Bill
Armstrong, and Rita Bomba.
Indiana University football
legend Howard Brown honored
at Indiana Alpha
by Ritter Collett
The Indiana University
Hall of Fame display
refers to Howard
Brown, Indiana '47, as "Mr.
Indiana." But somehow the
memory of the Indiana
University football legend
and decorated World War
11 combat veteran faded
from the Indiana Alpha
chapter.
But that was corrected
with an impressive
ceremony at the chapter
house on October 27,1992,
establishing the Howard
Brown Memorial Trophy.
The trophy will be
awarded annually to an
underclassman on the Phi
Cycling Team competing in
the famed Little 500, an
annual collegiate bike race
atlU.
A portrait of Brown
sketched by Rita Bomba,
the artist who draws the
University's Hall of Fame
portraits, was hung
prominently in the chapter
house during the ceremony.
Basketball coach Bob
Knight agreed to speak at
the ceremony, but a
schedule change prevented
his attendance. Instead, he
wrote a touching letter
which was attached to
Brown's portrait.
BiU Armstrong, the
longtime director of the lU
Foundation, and a man
who knew Brown, recalled
the Big Lineman's dedication
to the University.
"We never went to a
football game that Howard
didn't say 'this wiU be a
great day for Indiana/ and
he meant it," Armstrong
said.
Kit Klingelhofer, lU
sports information director,
recalled "stopping by every
day to say hello to Howard
and get a dose of his
infectious good nature."
Robert A. Biggs, Georgia
Southern '76, executive vice
president, attended the
event from General
Headquarters in Oxford,
Ohio. Biggs mentioned an
amazing coincidence, "This
is one day short of being
the 50th anniversary of
Brother Brown's initiation,
October 28,1942."
Brown's wife, Dixie, and
son, Ted, attended the
ceremony. Douglas M.
Wilson, Miami (OH) '67, the
University's vice president
for university relations, and
Howard Brown.
Jim Kneisley, chairman of
the chapter's house
corporation, were also
present. Ron Johnson,
another rider in the early
1980s came up from Tampa
for the ceremony.
Brown came to lU from
Dayton, Ohio, in the fall of
1942 and played on the
varsity football team his
freshman year.
He signed up with the
U.S. Army later that school
year when the U.S. entered
World War II. He served in
France and Belgium,
earning three purple hearts.
On his return to campus
in 1945, he was the "most
valuable player" of
Indiana's only unbeaten
football team. That year
Indiana won the Big Ten
title with a 9-0-1 record
under Coach Bo McMillin.
Brown captained the
1946 and 1947 Indiana
teams and then followed
Coach McMilUn to Detroit
where he played three
years for the Lions.
Brown returned to
Indiana in 1952 as a
freshman coach. He served
under five different head
coaches until his fatal heart
attack in 1975.
To preserve Brown's
memory and reinvigorate
the lagging Phi cycling
team, Ritter Collett, Ohio
'42, the longtime sports
editor of the Dayton Daily
News and a friend of
Brown, wanted to establish
this trophy and scholarship
award to encourage
undergraduate interest in
Indiana Alpha's cycling
program.
After Phi Delta Theta
suffered a dismal finish in
the 1992 Little 500, several
former riders were anxious
to do something to restore
pride and support for the
program.
Past cycling team
members Peter Tatersfield,
JimGurbach, Jim Host,
Greg Smith, and David
Pritchett, who now coaches
the team, organized the
project and raised funds for
a $250 annual grant to be
awarded to the trophywinner.
A plaque listing all
of the winners will be
displayed in the chapter
house.
Smith, one of the heroes
of the 1982 Little 500
victory, said, "These kids
need the kind of support
we had in our day." •
Spring 1993 • TheScroU 57