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George and Walter Brown: The Forefathers of Boston Athletics

While the city of Boston has a rich history in sports, none of it would have been possible without the father-son duo of George and Walter Brown. Together, they oversaw the famed Boston Marathon as well as both the Boston Arena and Gardens while ushering in multiple avenues of amateurism and professionalism, including the founding of both the Bruins and Celtics. This is their story.

George

George V. Brown was born on October 21, 1880 in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. He grew up on a dairy farm on Hayden Rowe Street named Maplewood Farm that offered him ample space to hone his skills as an athlete. After starring in three sports at Hopkinton High School and graduating in 1898, he married the former Elizabeth Gallagher and produced seven children: four sons and three daughters, one of whom he named Walter.

George was just 19 when he was hired as the Assistant Athletic Director for the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) and would remain with the organization in some capacity for the rest of his life. At the time, it was a members-only club whose mission was to "encourage all manly sports and promote physical culture". Its original clubhouse was located at Copley Square, where the Boston Public Library now stands.

Within a year, he was coordinating the Boston Marathon and was responsible for moving the start line from Ashland to Hopkinton where it still begins today. He served as the event's starter from 1905 to 1937.

It was around this time that he began to manage the BAA's Boston Arena, overseeing a multitude of events including boxing, football, figure skating, indoor track and field, rowing and wrestling. However none of his events had more impact in the city of Boston than ice hockey. Not only did he help organize the Canadien-American League (a forerunner to the AHL) and helped found the Boston Tigers, but one of his hockey teams formed the nucleus of the 1924 US Olympic team, featuring seven members that would lead the squad to a second place finish behind Canada.

Although the building burned down in 1918, Brown led the heroic effort in restoring it to its former glory in no time. In 1924, the NHL's Bruins began their humble beginnings in that arena. Five years later, they moved to the much larger Boston Gardens. In 1934, Boston businessman Henry Capham bought the Gardens from Madison Square Garden and talked Brown into running that building as well as the Arena. In effect, he was the general manager of both.

George Brown died from a stroke on October 17, 1937. He was posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961 and today a statue in his image stands in his hometown of Hopkinton, not far from the starting line of his beloved Marathon.

Walter

From the moment that he took his father's place as the general manager of the Boston Garden and Arena, Walter yearned to bring a basketball team to his beloved hometown. By 1945, he had mortgaged his home in Newton (he still had the family farm in Hopkinton) to finance his bid for a team in the newly formed Basketball Association of America. Soon, the Boston Celtics were born and by the turn of the decade, the BAA had merged with the National Basketball League to form the NBA.

Walter Brown immediately began building the Celtics in his image, a roster full of young, hungry players who were loyal to a fault. In the process of building his brand, he helped break the NBA's color barrier when he signed Duquesne's Chuck Cooper in 1950. Things did not start smoothly for Walter or his young team. It certainly didn't help that the barn at his beloved Maplewood Farm burned to the ground in 1952, taking 30 years worth of his father's legacy with the BAA with it.

At the time, Brown had sunk nearly $1 million into his club and had hotel debts in every port. Hand over fist in debt, the barn burning was his breaking point. Still, Walter Brown strove to bring Boston a winner and slowly but surely the Celtics began to turn a profit. Barely. In the years to come, Walter Brown would realize that while his Celtics won numerous championships, they couldn't compare to the NHL's Bruins. Boston was indeed a Hockey Town.

As the part owner of the popular Ice Capades, Brown offered the show to Royals owner Lester Harrison free for a week as long as he traded rookie Bill Russell to his Celtics. Harnson obliged and the rest is history. Later that year, Russell led the Celtics to their first championship. It was the first of 11 titles with the legendary big man.

It was the beginning of a boom period for Walter Brown. As the general manager of the Boston Garden, he began the NBA All Star Game (1951), oversaw ice shows, BAA Games, women's indoor softball, presidential campaign speeches and even hosted Winston Churchill. Along with his duties as the Celtics owner, he also served as the president of the Bruins from 1951 through 1964.

He was also a noted philanthropist, contributing to local charities such as the Jimmy Fund. He died suddenly of a heart attack on September, 7 1964 with seven NBA championships under his belt and a legacy difficult to replicate. the NBA Finals trophy was named in his honor until 1983 when it was named after Larry O'Brien and he was inducted into the Hall of Fames for basketball, USA Hockey and the NHL.

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George and Walter Brown: The Forefathers of Boston Athletics

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