George V. Brown, Sportsman and Patriarch of Boston Marathon, to be Honored in Hopkinton

HOPKINTON, Mass. – March 19, 2008 – The Hopkinton Athletic Association announced today that a commemorative statue of Hopkinton native, Boston Marathon patriarch and renowned Boston and Olympic sportsman George V. Brown will be unveiled at the Metrowest Symphony Orchestra’s 2008 Boston Marathon Kickoff Concert on Sunday, April 13 at Hopkinton High School.

The statue, a life-size bronze figure sculpted by Hopkinton artist Michael Alfano, portrays Brown with his starter’s pistol raised and ready to send the field of Boston Marathon runners on their 26 mile, 385 yard journey. The pistol is cast from an actual gun used to start many marathons; it was loaned to Alfano by Walter F. Brown, George’s grandson, who has served as starter for the race since 1990.

George V. Brown served as starter of the Boston Marathon from 1905 to 1933. For every year but one since 1905, a member of his family has fired the race’s starting gun. During his tenure as director of athletics for the Boston Athletic Association, the race was lengthened from its original 25 miles to Olympic distance and the starting line moved to Hopkinton from Ashland.

Commemorating a Distinguished Sporting Career

Born in Hopkinton in 1880, George Brown graduated from Hopkinton High in 1898, went to work for the BAA in 1900, and in 1905 was named its athletic director. The BAA was an important source of athletes for United States teams in the modern Olympic games. George Brown was a manager and assistant U.S. track coach in seven Olympic games, beginning with St. Louis in 1904 and ending with Berlin in 1936. He was a finish line judge in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

George Brown was a prominent leader and American pioneer in the sport of ice hockey at the professional and amateur levels as well. He was instrumental in organizing the first American team to compete for a medal – and winning the Silver – at Chamonix, France in 1924. He managed the Boston Arena from 1921 to 1937 and the Boston Garden from 1934 to 1937. He also served as athletic director at Boston University from 1918 to 1931. He is enshrined in both the United States Hockey Hall of Fame and the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

George’s son Walter succeeded him as general manager of the Garden and Arena. He too had a storied career in Boston and international sports. He was the owner of the Boston Celtics who broke the “color line” in the National Basketball Association with the drafting of Chuck Cooper, the league’s first black player. He also hired Red Auerbach to coach the team that became professional basketball’s first dynasty. Earlier, in 1933, Walter coached America’s first world championship hockey team.

Sculptor Also a Qualified Marathoner

Michael Alfano will be competing in his second Boston Marathon in 2008 and raising funds for the Melanoma Foundation. He has run a total of seven marathons to date and first competed in Boston in 2007.

Alfano received the HAA’s commission to sculpt the statue of Mr. Brown last fall. He conducted extensive research before beginning and received significant help and background materials from the BAA and members of the Brown family. The statue depicts Brown wearing a fedora and trench coat, a mode of dress in which he frequently appears in photographs from marathons, track meets, and Olympic games of the 1920s and 1930s.

“Once I've completed a sculpture, I often don't see it again because it's in another state or a private collection. It will be exciting for me to experience the ongoing reaction to the work and engage with it as a member of the community.”

Concert Kicks Off a Week of Festivities

The Metrowest Symphony’s Marathon Kickoff Concert is the opening event of a full week of celebrations and special events leading up to the 112th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 21. The Hopkinton Athletic Association will host six runners from Marathon, Greece for this year’s Boston race; Hopkinton and Marathon have established an official “sister city” relationship.

The concert, which will include the works of Bach, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Suppé, will be the first public performance of Marathon Day by composer Chris Florio. It will also feature Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 by concert pianist Ronald Kmiec, who will be running in his 35th consecutive Boston Marathon this year.

“It’s especially fitting to have the sculpture unveiled in 2008, given George V. Brown’s ties to the Olympics and the US Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials being held here in conjunction with the Boston Marathon,” noted Hopkinton Athletic Association president Tim Kilduff.

“Hopkinton takes a great deal of pride as steward of the start of the Boston Marathon. Our pride will certainly increase as the story of George Brown, Hopkinton’s First Citizen of Sport, is retold. The sculpture will be a fitting reminder of his distinctive service to athletics and his contributions to sports and sportsmanship, both here and abroad.”