BATON ROUGE — W.T. “Billy” Brown, founding Chairman of LABI and one of Louisiana’s most heralded athletes and business leaders, died Sunday in Baton Rouge at the age of 84. Death came from natural causes.
Brown, a native of Baker, burst onto the athletic scene as a youngster at Baker High School in the mid-1930’s. His track and field exploits earned him a trip to Berlin where at the time he was one of the youngest competitors in the modern Olympic games.
Dubbed the “Baker Bullet” by Louisiana sportswriters, he was roundly characterized as Louisiana’s most outstanding prep athlete his senior year at Baker High School. He dominated state and local track and field meets from 1935 to 1937, winning four first places at each state meet. His victories in the 100-yard dash, the broad jump, the high jump and the hop-step-and jump were even more impressive because he was competing against much larger metropolitan schools at two of these meets.
Brown’s high school accomplishments also garnered him national recognition. At 17 he was the youngest male member of the 1936 US Olympic team. He was also the 1936 National AAU Junior and Senior Hop-Step-and-Jump Champion. He repeated as the 1937 Senior Champion and was named to the 1937 National AAU All American High School Track and Field team in two events and to the National AAU All American Team in the hop-step-and jump.
Brown went on to a sterling collegiate career at LSU. He set three Southeastern Conference records and won seven SEC titles to lead the Tigers to three consecutive conference championships. He also won gold medals against national competition in other important meets like the Drake Relays, the Texas Relays and the Sugar Bowl Track Meet. He was a seven-time All American, an eight-time NCAA Champion and was high scorer for two years in NCAA championship meets.
“Billy’s times were among the world’s best and he was poised to be the Jesse Owens or the Carl Lewis of the 1940 Olympics,” said long-time friend Dan Borne of Baton Rouge. “The games were cancelled. He was robbed by the war.”
Brown graduated from LSU, went into the Navy and served it the Pacific. After the war he joined Kasier Aluminum and Chemical Corporation and retired as Vice President in 1983.
“Despite his outstanding athletic career, his biggest contribution was to the state’s business community,” said Dan Juneau, President of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. “Billy was the catalyst behind forming LABI in 1975 and served as its first Chairman of the Board. Without his vision and leadership, it is doubtful the business community could have united and passed the Right to Work Law in 1976. The progress that has flowed from that seminal event is incalculable to Louisiana’s economy,” said Juneau.
Brown’s activities bridged the Baton Rouge and New Orleans communities because he lived and worked in both cities over the course of his career. He was Chairman of the LSU Board of Supervisors, serving on the board for 14 years under several governors. As Chairman of the Board of Commerce and Industry under Gov. John McKeithen, he led international missions to encourage foreign capital investment in Louisiana and helped draft and pass McKeithen’s “Right to Profit” legislation. He was also Chairman of the Board of the Louisiana Chemical Association; the Louisiana Manufacturers Association; the Louisiana State Chamber of Commerce; and a member of numerous other civic, educational and professional organizations in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Brown was named to LSU Athletic Hall of Fame; the National High School Sports Hall of Fame; the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame; the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame; and the Louisiana Senior Sports Hall of Fame. In 1988 he was selected the National “L” Club Man of the Year.
He was married to the late Mary Edith (Dinah) Cline. They had two sons.
Visitation is at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the First United Methodist Church, 930 North Blvd., Baton Rouge, with religious services following at 10:30 a.m. Interment will be in Roselawn Memorial Park in Baton Rouge.