The football stadium at old Maiden High (pictured above) was named after legendary head football coach Tom Brown in 2000, with the last season there in 2005. The new school opened in 2006 — with Brown as head coach for his last two Blue Devils seasons — and the new stadium will now also carry the name Thomas E. Brown Stadium, honoring the retired coach. Naming the new stadium after Brown was approved Monday night by the Catawba County Board of Education./MAIDEN HIGH PHOTOS
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
MAIDEN – Tom Brown was out Tuesday with a dozen or so friends – his golfing buddies – and appreciating the latest honor added to his long and legendary career as a high school head football coach.
On Monday night, at the request of those working in the Maiden High community to make it happen, the Catawba County Board of Education approved the Blue Devils’ stadium – now in its 12th year – carrying the name of Thomas E. Brown Stadium.
TOM BROWN’S RECORDS
330-97-6 at Maiden, 35 years (2 tenures)
22-20-1 at Bunker Hill, 4 years
13-23-0 at E. Burke, 3 years
TOTAL: 365-140-7, 42 years
The stadium at the old high school carried the same name from 2000 through the final season there in 2005.
The new Maiden High opened in 2006 — with Brown coaching the Blue Devils there through the 2007 season – and, a decade later, his name will go up there as well.
“It’s pretty neat that my grandchildren can ride by and say ‘That was my paw-paw’… That’s pretty special,” Brown 74, said Tuesday afternoon. “You’re very happy (about honors) when you are still above ground than below it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing and nice to share it with family.”
Family includes many among those who spearheaded the effort to have the new stadium also named after Brown. Those who worked hard for that to happen include former players – Butch Parker among them – and others, Brown said.
“It’s very special,” Brown said. “That kind of means you haven’t been forgotten.”
In a return to coaching, Brown was head coach the previous three seasons at East Burke (2014 through 2016) — where his teams went 13-23 to expand his 42-year coaching record to 365-140-7.
Nowadays, he is back to leaving the home he moved into in Maiden in 1968 to make the short drive to the high school to watch the Blue Devils’ junior varsity and varsity games.
Earlier in the month, he was out on the field at Bandys when the Trojans scrimmaged East Burke.
Last Friday night, when East Burke visited Maiden in a game that the Blue Devils won 50-6, Brown said he was a bit torn.
“It was very difficult,” he said, talking about having coached the Cavs. “I was asked ‘Are you pulling for East Burke and/or you pulling for Maiden?’… and it was probably a bit harder for Maiden because of my children and grandchildren.”
The Browns have four grandchildren – the youngest age 14 – with two living in Maiden and two living in Atlanta. Brown’s son, Brian, replaced him as head football coach at Maiden in 2008 and did that for four seasons before actually beating his dad to official retirement.
Spending time with family and friends and caring for his wife, who has been ill, take up most of Brown’s time in retirement, he said.
Monday night added to his legacy, and itwas another memory for a man who came to Maiden in 1966 fresh off being fired at old Lenoir High for teaching from a textbook his principal told him not to share with students.
Brown’s told the story many times of how his first house in Maiden long smelled of produce because his family was moved from Lenoir with their belongings in a truck provided by Slick’s Produce.
Through the years, he nicknamed himself The Oldest Rat In The Barn, became a semi-celebrity commentating on sports on WBTV, and piled up more and more victories.
When he left coaching at Maiden, his 330 varsity football wins was – at the time – the most at one school in state history (that’s since been broken).
He doesn’t remember the yearly details – on Tuesday he wasn’t even sure if he coached one or two seasons in the new stadium that will now carry his name (it was two, 2006 and 2007) – but they were all special, he says.
“We had a wonderful, wonderful 35 year experience,” Brown said in an interview in 2008 for a story about his career that was in the MHS football program. “It has really been a great marriage. I happened along at the right time and the right place. There is so much of that that’s true.
“There are certain people who are meant to be where they are, and I happened to land right dab in the middle of a place (MHS) that loved high school football.”