Hall of Fame – Marcia Brown

If you were to look for a pioneer of girls athletics at Chambersburg, look no further than Marcia (Logue) Brown.

She was directly or indirectly responsible for starting three girls sports programs, coached two of them and was a coach in two other sports.

Marcia Brown

Brown is one of 11 individuals and one team that will be inducted into the new Chambersburg Athletics Hall of Fame on Sept. 20-21. The Hall of Fame induction will be held at halftime of the football game on Friday night.

The other members of the first class are Stephanie (Van Brakle) Prothro, Bob Thomas, Barry Carter, Tim Cook, Lowell “Doc” Schlichter, Ron Etter, Mitch Stahl, Marshay Ryan, Dave Myers and Tom Brookens, and the 1977 girls state champion cross country team.

Brown was hired as a permanent substitute at CASHS in January of 1970 after graduating from Penn State University. By the fall of 1970, she became a Physical Education and Health teacher at Chambersburg.

She got into coaching with the Trojan junior varsity field hockey team in her first year and stayed with that team for 15 seasons, compiling a record of 76-28-18.

Brown then picked up coaching the junior varsity basketball team for four years and ran up a record of 29-3. That led to her taking over as the basketball team’s head coach for 10 years.

Longtime friend Cheryl Reed and Brown saw some interest for gymnastics, so they set up an exhibition at CASHS for two years before gymnastics was recognized as a sport by the PIAA, and the Trojans had a successful gymnastics team for many years.

In 1975, Brown started a girls track & field team, and coached the team for two years before handing it off to fellow Hall of Famer Tim Cook.

Brown then turned to her favorite sport – softball – and created a new Chambersburg team on the diamond.

She also played and coached softball in local amateur leagues for many years.

In all, her coaching tasks at CASHS included:

— Field hockey,  1970

— Basketball, 1972-77

— Softball, 1976-79

— Track & field, 1974-75

— Gymnastics — 1975

Even after retiring from coaching, Brown stayed involved in athletics as a PIAA track & field official. She was a timer for running events and a judge for the jumping events.

Brown was known as a compassionate, fair, prepared and funny person, who had a huge heart and would do anything for her students, athletes and co-workers.

— By Ed Gotwals