ALCGPSC 059/22 - BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF AMERICA (BGCA) HALL OF FAME

ALCGPSC 059/22

SUBJ: BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF AMERICA (BGCA) HALL OF FAME

1. I am pleased to announce that the BGCA has invited RADM Erroll Brown, USCG (retired) to be inducted into its National Alumni Hall of Fame, Class of 2022.

2. The Community Services Command (CSC) maintains a strong relationship with the BGCA. The Coast Guard currently has four youth programs affiliated with the BGCA at Base Detachment Borinquen, Base Cape Cod, TRACEN Petaluma, and BASE Kodiak. Coast Guard active-duty members may also enroll their dependent children in local Boys and Girls Clubs through the BGCA Mission Youth Outreach program and have the Community Services Command fund the enrollment fee. The CSC POC for this partnership actively searches for Coast Guard members who grew up in a BGCA club and continue to give back to the community.

3. RADM Brown will be inducted into the BGCA Alumni Hall of Fame as part of the annual National BGCA Conference on 05 May 2022 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, IL. He will join more than 170 other former Boys and Girls Club members who have been recognized as leaders in their fields, including Denzel Washington, Jennifer Lopez, Edward James Olmos, Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee, baseball great Joe Morgan, and General Wesley Clark. He also joins two other retired Coast Guard members that have been previously inducted into this distinguished HOF: Captain Daniel Travers and Captain Robert Smith.

4. RADM Brown retired from the Coast Guard in 2005 after 33 years of distinguished service. A native of St. Petersburg, FL, he joined the Coast Guard in 1968 and graduated from the Coast Guard Academy as an ensign with a marine engineering degree in 1972. He became the first black Coast Guard flag officer when he was promoted to Rear Admiral in July 1998. During his career, he commanded Coast Guard forces in the Pacific Northwest as the Coast Guard’s 13th district commander from June 2000 to July 2003. As the Coast Guard’s chief engineer, he was responsible for naval, civil, and aeronautical engineering and logistics that included 23,000 facilities, 230 ships, 1,800 boats and 200 aircraft. He also served as an assistant engineer officer on the Coast Guard Icebreaker Burton Island in Long Beach, Ca., as engineering officer on the Coast Guard Cutter Jarvis in Honolulu, and as executive officer on the Coast Guard Cutter Rush, in San Francisco; as the military assistant to the Secretary of Transportation in Washington, and as the commander of Maintenance and Logistics Command Atlantic in Norfolk, Va.

5. RADM Brown leveraged his BGCA experience to develop a life-long passion for learning and a successful Coast Guard career. He holds four master’s degrees, including a master’s degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, and Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan; a master’s degree in Business Administration from RPI, and a masters in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College. His military awards include three Legion of Merit medals, two Meritorious Service medals and the Secretary’s Award for Meritorious Achievement. He also completed Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Governmental Programs for Senior Executives in National and International Security.

6. He credits a great deal of his success in life to his early experience with the BGCA organization in St. Petersburg, FL. He recalls meeting in the church parking lot where they would allow the group to use the church if they needed a place to come in out of the rain. This is where his strong worth ethic and ability to establish priorities began. The group leader established a routine with all the youth which required getting your homework completed prior to being able participate in activities such as basketball. That group leader was a local Police officer, and his leadership made a lasting impression RADM Brown. Many of the qualities learned in those years remain with him until this day and he credits his participation at the BGCA club with supporting his development and growth as a young person.

7. RADM Brown exemplifies that positive direction and hard work can lead to success. He continues to be an advocate for today’s youth as he has participated as a Board Member for the BGCA of Greater Seattle and for Let’s Go Boys and Girls, Inc. from Annapolis, MD.

8. The CSC point of contact for BGCA programming and questions is Matt Perciak at 757-842-4903 or matt.perciak@uscgmwr.org.

9. RDML S. N. Gilreath, Commander, Personnel Service Center, sends.

10. Internet release authorized.