On June 16, 2014, former captain of the 1963 William and Mary
cross-country team, Dr. Frank Brown, was awarded The Sports Person Emeritus
Award by The Peninsula Sports Club at The 65th Annual Headliner's Night held at
The Marriott Hotel and Conference Center located at The City Center in Newport
News, Virginia. That team won The Va. State Intercollegiate Championship, The
Mt. St. Mary's Invitationl Meet, The Va. State A.A.U. Championship, plus The
1963 Southern Conference Meet, and was the first cross-country team in William
and Mary history to advance to The N.C.A.A.'s, held at Michigan State. This was
sadly just after the Friday on November 22nd when President Kennedy had been
assasinated. The team was admiringly coached by senior classmate, Jim
Holdren, as head coach, Harry Groves, had taken a leave-of-absence on an A.A.U.
Track and Field tour to Iran that fall. What a miraculous season it was for all
involved. That team consisted of coach Holdren, Brown, Tom Ryan, Bob Lawson,
Jimmy Johnson, and John Randolph. They could only afford to take five team
members to nationals at that time due to a distinct lack of money.
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