Six years ago, Wesley Brown suffered a massive heart attack at his home in Washington D.C.
Like he was told in 1945 of his little-to-no chance of graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, doctors said he had a slim likelihood of surviving. In both cases, though, he had too much to live for — ambitions that ironically were interrelated. Enduring the former ended up growing his legacy. Surviving the latter allowed him to ultimately see the edifice that will preserve his legacy for many years to come.
Brown, a retired navy lieutenant commander, endured the taunts and the myriad roadblocks to become the first Black person to graduate from the Naval Academy in 1949. And he carried on to when the academy’s new $50 million sports complex was named after him in honor of that trailblazing feat earlier this month.
“I had a massive heart attack a couple of months after I was notified of this plan,” says Brown, referring to six years ago. “So I was hoping that I wouldn’t have another heart attack and miss the ceremony. It certainly felt good to know that I had survived because very, very few people get buildings named for them while they are still alive.”
The honorary banquet on May 9 and the two-hour dedication ceremony to officially open the Wesley A. Brown Field House the following day, both at the field house on the bank of the Severn River in Annapolis, Md., was the end of “a long waiting period,” Brown says.
At the banquet, more than 500 people showed up to honor Brown, including Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., the keynote speaker. The next morning about 1,800 people came to the dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony, including his four children, five of his seven grandchildren, and a host of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, godmothers, godchildren, and hundreds of friends. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both spoke at the event.
“The Navy took what was really a historic building and a unique opportunity to recognize a historic and unique individual — that’s a national treasure,” says Joe Rubino, the director of academy’s diversity office.
