Roy Brown, Annapolis High football coach
Roy Daniel “Danny” Brown Jr., one of Anne Arundel County’s most successful high school football coaches, died Sunday from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 70.
Mr. Brown was head coach at Annapolis High from 1989 through 2002 and compiled a career record of 104-47. He was the winningest active coach in the county at the time he announced his resignation in July 2003.
“Roy was a real sensible coach and a very fair coach who could be tough when he needed to,” said Bill Phebus, an assistant at Annapolis High throughout Mr. Brown’s 14-year tenure. “Roy was a good leader, and I always felt like the kids looked up to him.”
Mr. Brown led Annapolis High to eight playoff appearances, including six straight from 1997 through 2002 — both county records at the time. The Panthers reached the Class 3A state championship in 2000.
“I always felt like Roy coached with a lot of common sense,” Mr. Phebus said. “Roy believed if the players weren’t doing what we wanted it was the coaching staff’s fault.”
Mr. Brown himself was a standout athlete at Arundel High School in the 1960s, and received all-county honors in both football and baseball.
The Millersville native also played both sports at then-Western Maryland College in Westminster, now McDaniel College. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound tight end was good enough to get a tryout with the Chicago Bears and later played semi-pro football in the Baltimore area.
He began coaching football as an assistant to Jerry Mears at Meade High before moving to Annapolis as an assistant to Al Laramore. Both are in the Anne Arundel County Sports Hall of Fame.
When Mr. Laramore retired as football coach, Mr. Brown succeeded him.
“He built off the foundation Al had laid, added his own wrinkles and was very successful as a result of that approach,” said Mr. Phebus.
He was named Anne Arundel County Coach of the Year for football multiple times by both Capital Gazette and The Baltimore Sun. He was inducted into the Arundel High Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.
Mr. Brown took pride in having never missed a single practice in 28 years as a football coach. He gave credit for the team’s success to Mr. Phebus and his other assistants, Larry Brogden and Kenny Dunn.
He also spent 15 years as an assistant for the Annapolis High boys’ basketball program under head coach John Brady. He stayed in good shape into his 50s and often took on players in practice.
“As a coach, Roy was very perceptive and a great motivator. I would consider Roy a player’s coach because he always put the player’s interests above his own,” Mr. Brady said.
“Roy’s personality was deceptive because he didn’t say a whole lot. If you got to know Roy, you discovered he was very smart and very funny.”
He said Mr. Brown was “a lot deeper than most people gave him credit for. Roy would go to England and Ireland to tour the castles. People that only knew Roy casually probably would never have expected that.”
Mr. Brown’s final season in 2002 was the first he coached without being a physical education teacher at Annapolis High, having retired from that position the previous school year.
That October, he became the seventh football coach in Anne Arundel County history to record 100 victories. His last Annapolis team finished 9-2 after losing to eventual Class 3A state champ Seneca Valley in the quarterfinals.
Mr. Brown moved to Fenwick Island, Del., after retiring from teaching and coaching. About three years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and had been in assisted living.
A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Baldwin Methodist Church, 921 Generals Highway, Millersville.
Mr. Brown is survived by his wife Kathee (Sylvester) Brown, stepdaughter Carey Ballinger, sister Deborah Grube and several nieces, nephews and grandchildren.