The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ST Augustine’s College principal Sonya Knowles said she was impressed from the day that Serena Brown came onto their campus as a student three years ago. She embodied everything that the Big Red Machine stood for as she made her contribution to the success of both the basketball and track and field teams.

Now Knowles said she’s delighted to wish Brown every success as she ventures into the next phase of her life as she moves on to college.

On Monday morning at SAC, Brown signed her letter of intent to attend Texas A & M where she will continue her athletic career as a member of the Aggies track and field team. Knowles said they were delighted to have played such a significant role in her transition.

Knowles, who talked about Brown’s eagerness to not only make the Big Red Machine that competed in the Penn Relays two years ago before she finally did last year, but to be a top contender for a medal, was joined by coaches William ‘Knucklehead’ Johnson and Jason Edwards from SAC, basketball coach Felix ‘Fly’ Musgrove and track coach Bradley Cooper at the signing.

“She wants to win and she is joined in as a Big Red Machine and she’s more than a Big Red Machine than most and she just likes to be on top in her grades and athletics,” Knowles said. “We shall lose a good athlete, but we shall have a fantastic alumni out there representing the school and her family, so good luck.”

As they’ve done with all other alumni on their success, Knowles said they celebrate with a party and they hope that they can do the same for Brown.

Johnson, the head coach of the SAC’s track and field team, took the time to commend the Brown family as her father Whittington Brown was not just interested in the development of his daughter, but the Big Red Machine athletic programme on a whole.

“This gentleman and his wife had the total school in their heart and focus, wanting to do things here, wanting to make things happen,” Johnson said. “Anytime something came up that could benefit the school, SAC was in the forefront of their minds, hearts and soul. So go and do well.”

Johnson reflected on the fact that Brown will be attending a school that only recently prides itself of having a Bahamian engineer lecturer in the late Norris Stubbs, a former track star himself. “They are expecting great things from you, so just continue the legacy,” Johnson said.

That legacy is one that Jason Edwards, the head of the Physical Education Department at SAC, is hoping that others will emulate.

“Since I started teaching at SAC, I’ve never had an athlete who was so beautiful and genuine as a person,” Edwards said. “She’s a wonderful person. I will really miss her. We’re trying to push for student athletes because the first thing they ask you when you apply is how are your academics.

“St Augustine’s College is trying to do things the right way and Serena is a prime example of what all of our student athletes can aspire to become if they apply themselves.”

For Brown, the work ethic was developed with basketball coach Musgrove, who began the training process as early as 4:30am in the mornings.

“I can say that she was destined for success from the first day I met her,” said Musgrove. “When you look at the fact that her family was a part of everything that she accomplished. When I first met them at their home, Mr Brown told me that he wanted me to work with his daughter.

“I told him it would be on conditions and I remember telling Serena it starts at 4:30 in the mornings or it won’t be. She bought into it and when she came to practice, she was always there with her family. Her support cast was always there. That’s what we need to continue in our country because it’s sorely lacking, the support of our children.”

Musgrove said he couldn’t ask for a more disciplined and respectful person who has the drive to be successful than Brown. He advised her that no matter how “big” she becomes in life, to remember her parents and her sister, who have always had her back in the good and the bad times.

And Bradley Cooper, who came on board as the track coach, said Brown reminds him of Aymara Albury, whom he coached from SAC. After her stellar career as a Crimson Tide at the University of Alabama, Albury was selected by the NCAA as a 2007 Postgraduate Scholarship award winner. Albury is a senior member of the women’s track and field team with a 3.63 GPA as a chemistry major.

“I wanted her to be the model for every athlete who came to me for training,” Cooper said. “Aymara went on to compete at the NCAA level. She never won it, but she was up there in the top 10. Aymara later obtained a scholarship from the NCAA to do her masters degree in medicine. She’s now a doctor of research in medicine.

“When I saw that programme, I say here comes my next doctor in training. I know her parents invested their money and time to get her to this point, but it’s a team effort. Whenever I saw Serena lagging her foot, I would tell her father or mother. When she came to me in June after her exams, she was overweight and she said ‘coach I don’t think I can do it anymore this year’. I told her she can.”

Cooper said he made her run for about 20-30 minutes every day until she got back on track. She went on to the 9th IAAF World Youth Championships in Cali, Columbia, where she made the final, finishing 11th overall in the women’s discus. Before she could inform him, Cooper said her father had already texted him with the good news.

Now that she’s signed to go to college, Cooper said it’s time for the next NCAA champion to emerge. He noted that Lavern Eve and Albury came close to achieving that feat, but he’s confident that Brown can be the first to accomplish it and it would be a remarkable feeling for him to have one of his protégés follow in his footsteps.