Fresno Hall of Fame girls basketball coach Mary Brown dies

Mary Brown, a Fresno Athletic Hall of Famer who revolutionized girls basketball in the Central Section as a coach at San Joaquin Memorial, died Friday. She was 82.

“We’ve lost an icon and a legend in sports,” said Sue Mahackian, a point guard on Brown’s most dominant teams, from 1977-80. “I was so lucky to have her as a coach, and now to say she was also a friend.”

Ms. Brown, far ahead of her time in the section – if not the state and beyond – went 317-45 (.876) with eight section titles and 16 league crowns in 18 seasons at Memorial from 1969-86, according to section historian Bob Barnett.

Four of her section championships came against schools of all sizes from 1977-80 before playoffs were split into enrolment-based divisions.

She was a driven, relentless and controversial coach whose teams won by such scores as 95-0, 101-4, 100-11, 101-29, 101-10 and 108-9.

“She set the bar,” said Karen Wood, another former section coaching pillar in girls basketball. “You knew how good you were by how close you came to beating her.”

Jackie White was Ms. Brown’s prized pupil, but it was Mahackian who fed the future Harlem Globetrotter as the Panthers generally named the score.

“(Brown) never went into a game saying, ‘Let’s beat them by 100, let’s humiliate them,’ ” Mahackian once said. “Her style was to run and gun, press and fastbreak, and we went 100% all of the time because her philosophy was to train for state (playoffs). She didn’t mean to hurt anybody.”

This story was originally published August 29, 2015 at 7:33 PM with the headline "Fresno Hall of Fame girls basketball coach Mary Brown dies."