Legendary SFA Coach Brown Dies at Age 90

He led Lumberjacks to five LSC titles

The Tyler Morning Telegraph
By Kevin Gore, Staff Writer

Funeral services for Marshall Brown, the winningest
basketball coach in SFA history, are at 1 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church in Tyler.

Brown, 90, died Wednesday night.

He was 345-168 (.672) in 19 seasons as the Lumberjack
coach during what is considered the heyday era of SFA
basketball that included five Lone Star Conference titles
and featured two players who went on to play in the NBA.

"We played in Shelton Gym, and there were not enough
seats for all of the people," said Ronnie Lusk, a 15-year
assistant coach to Brown at SFA. "He was a great coach and a great Christian man. He set an example for his players."

Brown led SFA to the Lone Star Conference titles during the 1964-65, 1967-68, 1969-70, 1970-71 and 1971-72 seasons.

The 1971-72 team went 31-3 overall and finished third in
the NAIA national tournament. The 31 wins still stand
as a school record.

Brown coached five All-Americans, two of whom played
in the NBA - George Johnson with the Washington
Bullets and Houston Rockets and James Silas, who had
his jersey retired by the San Antonio Spurs.

Other All-Americans who Brown coached were Surrey
Oliver, Ervin Polnick and Pete Harris.

A 1936 graduate of Whitehouse High School, Brown
played at Lon Morris College and Texas Tech, where he
received his degree.

He played one season of major league baseball with the
St. Louis Browns before starting a coaching career that
included high school stints at Leverett's Chapel, Chandler and Tyler, before returning to Lon Morris to coach.