Innis Brown (March 31, 1884 – January 23, 1961) was a college football player, referee, sportswriter, and civil engineer. His sports articles were nationally known, writing for the New York Sun and Hearst newspapers.[1]
 Innis Brown (c. 1905) | |
| Vanderbilt Commodores | |
|---|---|
| Position | Guard/End |
| Class | Graduate |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | March 31, 1884 Franklin, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died: | January 23, 1961 (aged 76) DeLeon Springs, Florida, U.S. |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Weight | 166 lb (75 kg) |
| Career history | |
| College | Vanderbilt (1903–1905) |
| High school | Mooney School |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Early years
editInnis Brown was born on March 31, 1884, in Franklin, Tennessee, to Enoch Brown, Sr. and Lucinda Allen. Innis's younger brother Enock "Nuck" Brown was captain of the 1913 Vanderbilt Commodores football team. Both attended Mooney School.[1]
Vanderbilt University
editInnis was a prominent guard for Dan McGugin's Vanderbilt Commodores football teams of Vanderbilt University. He was also a Rhodes Scholar.[2]
1905
editIn 1905 Brown was captain and selected All-Southern of the 1905 team.[3][4] One publication claims "The first scouting done in the South was in 1905, when Dan McGugin and Captain Innis Brown, of Vanderbilt went to Atlanta to see Sewanee play Georgia Tech."[5]
1906
editHe spent the 1906 season as the head football coach at Southwestern Presbyterian University – now Rhodes College – in Clarksville, Tennessee.[6]
Mexico
editUpon graduation, he went to Mexico as a civil engineer.[7]
Referee
editBy 1912 he was a referee throughout the South, chosen by the Atlanta Constitution to pick its All-Southern team that year.[3]
Sportswriter
editHaving served as editor on Vanderbilt's campus newspaper, the Hustler, Brown began his writing career on the old Nashville American in 1906.[1] He eventually took charge of the sports section of the Atlanta Journal,[7] succeeding his personal friend Grantland Rice.[1]
Golf
editBrown was also an avid golfer, being the managing editor of American Golfer in 1919 with Rice.[8][9]
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Innis Brown, 76, Dies in Florida". The Tennessean. January 25, 1961. p. 23. Retrieved July 7, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Henry Jay Case (1914). "Vanderbilt–A University of the New South". Outing. 64: 327.
- ^ a b "Innis Brown's All-Southern". Atlanta Constitution. December 1, 1912.
- ^ Grantland Rice (September 28, 1950). "Sportlight". The Hart County Herald.
- ^ George Allen (February 2009). How to Scout Football. p. 3. ISBN 9781578987290.
- ^ "S. P. University". The Leaf–Chronicle. Clarksville, Tennessee. September 10, 1906. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
- ^ a b "Innis Brown Now Sport Scribe". The Tennessean. December 11, 1913. p. 12. Retrieved September 20, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Grantland Rice (1999). How You Played The Game. p. 385. ISBN 9780826212047.
- ^ "Scrambled Yeggs". Collier's. 74: 47. 1924.
