A Longtime Supporter of All Things UNH, Brownie Loved his Wildcats
By: Allen Lessels
NOTE - In memory of Norris Browne, his daughter Katie Jaecklein, son Joe Browne and daughter-in-law Michelle Browne will present the game ball prior to the UNH/Elon Family Weekend football game Oct. 22, 2022, at 1 p.m. in Wildcat Stadium. DURHAM, N.H. – Three Chimneys Inn on fall weekends when the University of New Hampshire football team was playing in town was Norris Browne's home away from home.
Norris would drive up from his residence in Wilton, Conn., on Friday and stop by the Field House and maybe visit the Jerry Azumah Performance Center to say hello for a minute and head to the field to check in on football practice before he went downtown to set up shop at Three Chimneys.
That pretty much became UNH Football Central for the weekend.
"Brownie loved it there," said Marilyn Tracy, who with her husband Tom were close friends with Norris and his late wife, Dee, for decades. "He tried as often as he could to get the suite on the top floor."
Game after game, year after year, Norris Browne's friends and family members gathered to talk about their beloved Wildcats, watch their beloved Wildcats (Norris preferred to walk the sidelines during the game) and then talk more about their beloved Wildcats after the game.
"I've got to say for years at every Homecoming, he's been like the ringleader for a gang of us, a gang of us that has been shrinking like crazy," said Len Willey, another longtime UNH friend and a regular in the group. "Brownie always did the arranging. It was Brownie that got us going, would tell us what we were going to do. He was a fun guy, an intelligent guy and he loved UNH, that's for sure. Of everyone who ever knew him, I never heard anyone say a bad word about him. We are sure going to miss him."
Norris August Browne, a generous supporter of the athletics department and school, passed away at the age of 89 on Sept. 17, a few hours after watching a livestream of UNH's second football home game of the year in a hospital room back in Connecticut. Norris Browne joined Athletic Director Marty Scarano and Wild E. Cat as Donor of the Game on Sept. 11, 2021'He could rally people around the flagpole'
Norris and Tom Tracy met at UNH in the fall of 1951 when they lined up beside each other as undersized linemen on the football field.
"He was an offensive center and weighed 150 pounds, I weighed 149 and was a left guard and middle linebacker," Tracy said. "We were two of the smallest guys on the whole team, but we got into some games. He was a tough little son of a gun. Oh God, did we love it. We loved to hit those big guys and put them down on the ground."
An engineering major who went on to have a successful career in the manufacturing field, Browne, who also played lacrosse, left the teams after a couple of seasons to focus on his studies. A couple of concussions ended Tracy's playing career.
They never wavered in their love for UNH football, UNH athletics in general and the school overall.
Their friendship only grew.
Tom and Marilyn Tracy came to Durham out of Manchester Central High School in New Hampshire.
Norris Browne was a Mainer, born in Madison and eventually graduating from South Portland High School.
"Dad was always proud to say he was born in his grandparents' kitchen in Madison," said his son, Joe. "He worked his butt off to get where he was. My grandfather moved around for jobs in construction and Dad would tell us he never really started and finished a year of school in the same place until sixth or seventh grade when they finally settled in South Portland."
At UNH, Norris joined Theta Chi and later served as the fraternity's president and over the years that followed, he became the guy who made sure fraternity brothers and teammates and their families and many others gathered at football games and the like to celebrate their college connections and all things Wildcat.
"Brownie just loved people," said Chan Sanborn, one of the fraternity brothers who relished the gatherings. "He was a very likable guy and a lot of fun. He was one of those guys who could rally people around the flagpole. I was talking to Billy Pappas, another member of our group, the other day and he said, 'Chan, we just lost the leader of our class.' He just had that ability to get people together."
There were get-togethers back at the day at the New England Center and then at Three Chimneys Inn. There were the road-trips – up to 45 fans-strong – to UNH games at William & Mary and Army and other outposts.
The "Colonial Clash" games at Gillette Stadium in 2010 and 2011 – where UNH twice stunned UMass in front of more than 56,000 in the two years combined – were especially delightful.
He took pride in helping out
Norris Browne was a center on the Wildcat football team
Former football coach Sean McDonnell and Paul Chapman, the director of strength and conditioning, were among those who got to know Norris well and looked forward to his visits.
"He was a great, great man," McDonnell said. "He was an old school UNH guy. He would come to Friday practices and would call me Seanie. Not many people called me that and I loved it when he did. My relationship with him kept getting better every year. It was a good feeling to see him on Friday. You looked for him. He was loyal, dedicated and extremely generous."
Along with the Friday visits and instigating and inspiring friends to gather and socialize and cheer on the Wildcats through the decades, Norris offered his financial support to football and numerous other programs at UNH.
"He was generous beyond belief to the athletic department, the football program, track, strength and conditioning, the university, engineering and everything," McDonnell said.
"He's been our main supporter in the weight room throughout my 20 years here," Chapman said. "Any time we've need something, or any of the upgrades we've done, he's always had his hand in it."
He was a major donor when the Jerry Azumah Performance Center was first developed and when it was renovated a few years ago he helped then, too.
"We must have made a dozen different upgrades over the 20 years," Chapman said.
Browne was always there to assist.
"He always wanted to know how it helped football and how it helped the other sports," Chapman said. "I remember him telling me a couple of times that he got into supporting lifting because it benefits everyone on the football team and later in life he realized this helps everybody. 'So when I make a contribution, I'm helping 500 kids, not just the football team, he'd say.' He took a lot of pride in that."
Building football memories
Norris Browne's Graduation Photo
Browne's health was failing and he was not going to make it to another football game.
He was hospitalized and on Saturday, Sept. 17 his family gathered in his room and Joe signed up for the livestream of the game and Norris was able to watch his Wildcats take on North Carolina Central in Wildcat Stadium.
"One of his grandkids snuck in a flask and we had a shot of Scotch," Joe said. "I think if people read that they'll say, 'Yep, that sounds like Brownie.'"
The game ended and Browne asked everyone to leave, he was going to take a nap.
He died about an hour later.
Brownie's children – Joe, Thomas and Katie – lived in Florida and the long-standing family tradition was that each would come up for a game during the fall and spend a weekend with Dad.
"It was a great time building those memories," Joe said.
The Brownes will have a service for Norris in Connecticut on Oct. 29.
This weekend, Joe and his wife, Michelle, and sister are coming to Durham and they'll stay at Three Chimneys Inn.
Saturday, in honor of Brownie, they'll head to Wildcat Stadium and watch his Wildcats take on Elon at 1 p.m.
"I think Dad would have wanted us to come," Joe said.
