Overview: Floyd Wesley Brown, a trailblazing football player and a guiding light for his younger brother, is remembered fondly in a heartfelt tribute. The article recounts how Floyd taught his brother to be independent and shared his love for football. Floyd’s example as a husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather continues to inspire his family. His legacy lives on through his wife, children, and countless nieces and nephews around the world.
Hardy Brown, Sr.
My brother would tell people, when talking about me, about how happy he was when I was born.
He said this because he had been surrounded by nothing but girls (Jet, Arthel, Elsie) in the house, until I came along. There were seven years separating us in age. That seems like a long distance when growing up but it is much closer when you get older.
What does it mean to have a brother? My brother “Floyd “ was someone who guided me through his quiet actions and would not tell mom and dad how I misbehaved when he was left in charge. He let our sisters do that.
He taught me how to be independent, by the way he lived. He cut the hair of his friends on our front porch every Saturday and Sunday morning before Sunday School. He was also called on to teach a bible class for the younger kids as well, at St. Matthew African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ) our family’s church adjacent to our backyard. I did the same things.
He would have me tag along with him while teaching me in the process. When we were sharecropping on Mr. Warrens’ farm near the Fair Grounds, in Trenton, where we kept our one cow and two mules, he taught me how to milk that cow, even on cold mornings. Cows do not like to feel cold hands on their, you know what, early in the morning. My brother told me, “You have to tie (secure) the cow and give her something to eat on, while you wash your hands, the cow’s udder and nipples with warm water. This was to keep the milk clean and the cow from kicking over the bucket with the milk in it.
While I would be milking the cow, he would be feeding the mules and cleaning up the mess left by the cow and mules in the stable. All of this work had to be done before we walked back home to go to school, which was across the street in front of our house.
I remember watching him play football in Jones High School and that made me want to play football when I got to High School where I became team captain and first string quarterback. I also played center or linebacker on defense.
Floyd was a trailblazer in football because his team was the first team at the all Black, Jones High School. Even though he was one of the smaller boys on the team, he would bring down those running backs.
Our younger brother, Donnie, loved to tell the story of when Floyd came home one night around 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning and we were camping in our pup tents beside the house. I heard this car pull up in the yard and saw the headlights shining through the tent. When we peeked out to see who it was, there was our big brother standing there in his Army uniform with his cap tucked under his belt and boots giving off a shine almost as bright as the headlights from the car.
We ran to him, smiling all the way to welcome him home, as I tried to pick up his duffle bag, to carry it into the house. By this time our parents, having heard the noise, came out and we all went inside and just talked.
After graduating from High School, I went to New York. Then, my brother offered me the opportunity to come to California. He helped support me for six months until I got a full-time job at Kaiser Steel. Before that job at Kaiser, I followed his example of independence by babysitting for his military friends, picking grapes in Fontana and landscaping yards—thanks to my new friend Lloyd Walker—to earn money.
His example as a husband for 64 years, father, grandfather and great grandfather, was a guiding light for me to follow. God has called Floyd Wesely Brown home, but his legacy will live on through his wife Carolyn, his children and countless nephews, nieces and cousins all over the world. As they say back home in Trenton, Jones County, North Carolina, “You did well for yourself and made us proud.”
With Love, your brother,
Hardy “Lynn”