Baton Rouge, La. – The National Scholastic Athletics Foundation (NSAF) announced on Saturday (January 12) that Billy Brown, a former athlete on the LSU track and field team from 1938-41, will be posthumously inducted into the National High School Track and Field Hall of Fame in March.
Brown, one of 17 athletes/coaches to be honored, won one national title and nine SEC titles during his days competing for LSU. He was the youngest member of the 1936 U.S. Olympic track and field team as he travelled to Berlin, Germany, to compete in the triple jump.
His nine SEC titles still rank as the most to ever be won by an LSU male athlete in track and field. He earned the High Point Scorer of the Meet honors at both the 1940 and 1941 conference meets after he racked up a total of eight conference titles, three in 1940 and five in 1941.
He set four LSU school records during his days competing for the Purple and Gold with career-best marks of 25 feet, seven inches in the long jump, 50 feet, 11 and a half inches in the triple jump and times of 9.5 in the 100 yard dash and 20.5 in the 200 yard dash.
Prior to joining LSU, Brown attended Baker High in Baker, La. He was still in high school when he travelled to Berlin for the 1936 Olympics and he also excelled in basketball and summer baseball leagues. He owned both the state records in the triple jump and long jump before they were broken in the 1950s and 1960s.
Brown was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1969.