Hanover
“If you were close to Chris, you would have been in that situation,” Russell Brown explained. “That defines him.”
Many of the road trips shared by father and son involved the pursuit of their shared passion, track and field.
Chris Brown was a father who volunteered to help with whatever activities his three children — Russell, Anna and Tizzy — became involved with. He grew up playing multiple sports, but didn’t compete in track.
Russell met with success early on and it wasn’t long before both Browns were hooked.
“Dad and I were ambitious,” Russell Brown said. “We tried to find bigger areas of competition. He became the coach, chauffeur, training buddy — all of those things.”
The younger Brown would go on to become a Hanover High track and field standout, a scholarship athlete at Stanford and a professional runner for Nike.
The elder Brown remained closely tied to Hanover track and field, honed his coaching skills and shared his knowledge with outdoor and indoor athletes alike at the recreation, middle school and high school levels. He also became a regular volunteer at Dartmouth meets. Brown’s track and field coaching career began in 1993 and continued until 2015.
The Connecticut native made a positive impact on young athletes and left them with a lasting impression. Hanover alumnus Isaiah Fariel remembers Brown well.
“He was actually the reason why I got into track in the first place,” Fariel said via email. “My eighth grade year he asked me enough times that he wore me down into trying out for the team. He was the kind of man who saw true potential in someone even before you saw it. Without him starting me out in track, I never would have grown to love the sport.”
Fariel, one of countless athletes who trained under Brown, went on to compete at the University of Massachusetts as a runner and long jumper. A 2016 graduate, he plans to coach track and field next spring at a private school in the Bay State.
“Chris taught me what it really meant to take a sport and change it into a lifestyle,” Fariel wrote.
Brown’s lifestyle came to include traveling both the country and the world as a fan of track and field. Chris and Russell were spectators together at the 2003 and 2005 World Championships in Paris and Helsinki, Finland, respectively. Chris also attended the 2008 World Championships in Valencia, Spain, to watch Russell compete, then went to Berlin for the same event in 2009 with his wife, Joceyln Chertoff. Chris later journeyed to the 2012 London Olympics.
The Marauders’ current track and field coach, Steve McConnell, first met Brown in 2006 when both were working with sprinters and jumpers as assistants on the high school team. McConnell remembers a coach who was both passionate and straightforward.
“Chris was very honest.” McConnell said. “And frank. You’d never (have to) guess what he was thinking. He was forthright. Almost sort of gruff, but you could tell it was because he wanted you to do your best as an athlete.”
Brown was invited by McConnell to address the high school squad at its end-of-the-season banquet in June.
“He talked about his love for track and field,” McConnell recounted. “He hadn’t done it growing up, but he came to appreciate it because it had so much simplicity, yet so much complexity within it. It’s a sport that can take you places, but also a sport you can do regardless of your ability for the rest of your life. It can benefit you. It was a great thing for our whole team to hear.”
According to McConnell, the biggest part of Brown’s track and field legacy was coaching at the middle school level for many years.
“It’s such a formative time for so many kids,” McConnell said. “And so many athletes, even if they went on to Hanover High and did crew or tennis or something else, a lot of them still knew Chris from track.”
Many people close to Brown, including his wife, called him “Bullet.” He earned the moniker due to his speediness as a young hockey player in Greenwich, Conn. Bullet Brown went on to play football, hockey and lacrosse at the Holderness School in Holderness, N.H., and later became a walk-on lacrosse player at Brown University, where he majored in English and graduated in 1976.
It was during his collegiate days in Providence that Brown met Chertoff. He was climbing a tree at the time while his Alaskan Malamute puppy, Conan, waited below.
“I had seen him around,” Chertoff said. “He was different than anyone else. For one thing, he was very handsome — very self-assured and confident. He seemed really interesting. And he had a great dog.”
After graduation, Chertoff attended the University of Vermont for medical school and Brown joined her in the North Country. They were married in 1983 and moved to Charlotte, Vt., where they began raising their children. The family relocated to Hanover in 1991 after Chertoff was offered a radiology job at DHMC. She now chairs the department.
Brown, who worked as a professional carpenter for three decades, was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 2014. He was a member the Municipal and County Government Committee and like his colleagues, earned $100 annually.
“It can be a thankless job,” said Julia Griffin, Hanover’s town manager and a longtime friend of Brown’s. “There are lots of drives back and forth to Concord, lots of hearings. Not a lot of glory at the local level.”
Brown was a Democrat known for being skillful at bipartisan discussions within the House. He was convincing with his arguments, but also willing to listen to the other side. Leading up to his time in office, Brown volunteered for various local political campaigns and became versed in the issues that his community cared about, but had to scale back his duties when he fell ill.
“I know he was frustrated he couldn’t complete his term because he put in a lot of time,” Griffin said. “He was one of those folks who quietly helps keep a community going. You don’t always know they’re there, but they’re getting things done for you.”
Sandy Island Family Camp on Lake Winnipesaukee is a thread that wove through Brown’s entire life. He began attending the New Hampshire camp in 1955 as a young boy vacationing with his family and would return there practically every summer for as long as he lived. Brown joined Sandy Island’s advisory committee in 2011 and was invested in the organization’s well being.
“We have a collective hole in our Sandy Island hearts,” said camp director Anya Archer. “He was a great volunteer and enthusiastic camp member. He will be greatly missed.”
Archer said Brown was a staple at spring work weekends and distinguished himself as a skilled carpenter. In short, he always wanted to give back to a place that had made a real difference in his life. He was also very appreciative of Sandy Island’s importance to his parents, siblings, wife and children.
As Brown battled pancreatic cancer during the final months of his life, his daughter Anna’s wedding date provided him with an inspirational driving force. Anna Brown and Brian Ambuel were married at Sandy Island on Sept. 24, 2016, and Chris was able to be on hand for the ceremony he’d been so determined to attend. He died some two weeks later at the age of 64.
Archer recalled her final encounter with Brown, which occurred early this fall after a meeting of the advisory committee.
“He always had a twinkle in his eye,” she said. “He was wearing a worn out old T-shirt that looked like it was from the seventies.”
Brown had called on her to say hello (and perhaps goodbye), and to lobby for the camp’s return to a retro T-shirt design. When Archer responded that she would love to have a copy, Brown promptly removed his shirt and handed it over to his friend.
“It’s the kind of guy Chris was,” she said.
Adam Boffey can be reached at boffeyadam@gmail.com.