Pioneer Athletics Hall of Fame
The late Dr. Charles Harmon “Doc” Brown served as an assistant coach to the Pioneer track and field team from 1974-92. A celebrated physician and coach in his own right, Brown was a four-time Olympic coach, a 10-time coach to U.S. national teams and was a member and chair of several national and international sports science committees during over 40 years in coaching. As an assistant coach to the Pioneers, Brown helped guide the men's team to the 1977 NCAA Division II National Championship. Under Brown's tutelage, Hall of Famers Barbara Pickel, Cathy Sulinski, Glenna Ford and Diane Oswalt collected individual national championships. Brown also coached Sulinski, Pickel and former Pioneers Marilyn King and Cis Schafer at both national and international competitions, including the 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics.
An early supporter of women's athletics, Brown co-founded the Millbrae Lions Track Club, helping to develop several women would become national champions, All-Americans and Olympic contenders, including King. In addition to his coaching duties, Brown was world-renowned for his pioneering research on the physiological effects of distance running and strength training in women, helping to prove that women's bodies could handle the strain and stress of physical activity. A former Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, Brown served as the Director of Student Health Services at then-Cal State Hayward from 1973-90 and was a clinical professor at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine from 1961 until his death in 2008. A graduate of Lafayette College and the George Washington University School of Medicine, Brown is also a recipient of numerous international awards, including the International Association of Athletics Federations Veteran Pin for service to world athletes in 2007 and the Heliodoro and Pat Rico Lifetime Achievement Award from USA Track and Field in 2008.
