Brown to be inducted into MEAC Hall of Fame

Six months after having his photo unveiled on the Wall of Fame at the Rock Sound International Airport and three months following his photo unveiling at the Charles Symonette Park in Wemyss Bight, Eleuthera's Olympic hero Chris Brown is set to be recognized by a prestigious  North American athletic entity on March 12.

The entity is the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) that recently announced its decision to select Brown for induction into the 2009 MEAC Hall of Fame.
The official MEAC Hall of Fame Reception and Induction Brunch Ceremony will be held Thursday, March 12 at the Benton Convention Center in North Carolina beginning 9:30 a.m. The Ceremony will be preceded by an Enshrinees Welcome Reception.
Following the induction, Brown is also expected to be the guest of honor and recognized at the MEAC Men and Women's Basketball Tournament that will be held later that evening. 

According to the MEAC, Brown was chosen to be honored because of his "outstanding success as an athlete"  and for his "superb professional achievements in community and state."

In order to be selected as a MEAC inductee, certain criterion must be met. For instance the honorees must have achieved All-American status in their respective sport or attain All-Conference status,  be an annual leader in a significant statistical category in their sport, be an all time institutional leader in a significant statistical category, ended playing career for at least five years, be of high moral character and making significant contributions to society.
Some of Brown's most notable achievements within the MEAC and outstanding contributions as a Bahamian track and field ambassador are numerous.
While  attending Norfolk State University as a student athlete he became  a two-time track and field Division I All-American during the 2000-2001 season. 

Brown still holds Norfolk State University track and field records in the 400 meters, 500 meters, 4x400 meter and sprint medley relay events.He earned All-MEAC honors four times during the 2000-2001 indoor and outdoor track and field seasons in the 200 meter and 400 meter events. 
Brown told the Eleutheran that he is thankful to God for the opportunity for his induction selection and is very excited about the occasion. In the meantime Brown is back into full time training. This track and field season, his main focus will be on the   12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics set for Berlin, Germany, 15 - 23 August 2009.

The two other 2009 MEAC honorees include Gene Lake who attended Delaware State University and William Hamilton former employee of South Carolina State University.

Both Lake and Hamilton like Brown made significant contributions to their respective state and communities. Lake led all collegiate players with a MEAC and school record 1,722 rushing yards during his junior year at Delaware State. He earned All-MEAC first-team accolades two times (1983-84) and was named the MEAC Offensive Player of the Year in 1984. Lake holds school records in four categories, including rushing touch downs in a season (20), career rushing touchdowns (35), points scored in a season (120) and single season rushing yards.

The 1983-84 Sheridan Black College All-American and 1984 Kodak All-American finished his career with 3,123yards on 480 attempts, which ranks third in the Delaware State record books. Hamilton on the other hand served as the Sports Information Director at South Carolina State for over three decades (1973-present). The veteran publicist is a talented writer who has provided features articles and game stories for various newspapers and magazines in an effort to bring awareness to the achievements and accomplishments of South Carolina State’s athletics program.

As a member of the College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA) for over thirty years, Hamilton has garnered many accolades including the CoSIDA Bob Kenworthy Community Service Award (1998) and CoSIDA America Trailblazer Award (2005).He is also a member of the Black College Sports Information Directors Association (BCSIDA) and was named the BCSIDA Cal Jacox-Champ Clark Outstanding SID Award in 1989. Hamilton was named the South Carolina State Employee of the Year in 1999 and inducted into the South Carolina State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.