Benny Brown (''Benjamin Gene Brown;'' born September 27, 1953 San Francisco, California – February 1, 1996 Ontario, California) was an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold-medal winner in the 1976

4x400 Men's Relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

running the second leg. He teamed with

Herman Frazier Herman Ronald "Herm" Frazier (born October 29, 1954) is a retired American sprinter. He won gold medals in the relay at the 1976 Olympics and 1975 and 1979 Pan American Games. Individually he earned a bronze medal in the 400 m event at the 1976 ...

Fred Newhouse Frederick Vaughn "Fred" Newhouse (born November 8, 1948) is an American retired sprinter. He won a gold medal in the 4×400 meter relay and an individual silver in the 400 m, both at the 1971 Pan American Games and at the 1976 Olympics. His indi ...

and

Maxie Parks Maxwell Lander ("Maxie") Parks (born July 9, 1951) is an American former Athletics (sport), athlete from Fresno, California. Winner of the United States Olympic Trials (track and field), USA Olympic Trials in 1976, he did not gain a medal i ...

. Previously he had finished in 6th place at 440 yards in a very tight finish at the 1971

CIF California State Meet The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a direc ...

while running for the now closed Sunnyvale High School (California). Next he attended UCLA, winning the 1975 NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship at 440 yards, before finishing fourth in the United States Olympic Trials (track and field) which qualified him to run on the relay team. In 1979 Brown competed for the Athletes In Action under coach

winning the Meet of Champions. June 1992 Benny Brown at age 38, competed in the

Masters So Cal Track and Field Championship The first Masters Southern California Track and Field Championships was held on June 1, 1974, at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton. Masters class Track and Field had officially started in 1968 in nearby San Diego. Since its first annual mee ...

winning the M35 100 & 200 meter dash. He died in an automobile accident at the age of 42. He had continued to be an active participant in the U. S. Corporate Games while working for

Hughes Aircraft Company The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other produ ...

. He was a part-time coach for Cal State Fullerton's track team.

References

External links

Ben Brown Invitational 1990s to Present

Ben Brown Invitational Meet Records as of end of 2015

Daily Bruin, Community mourns loss of former UCLA track star

1953 births 1996 deaths American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field UCLA Bruins men's track and field athletes Sportspeople from Sunnyvale, California American masters athletes Track and field athletes from San Francisco Road incident deaths in California Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics American Masters Athlete that competed in Olympics {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub