It's Go Time-- DC's Youngest Head Coach, Kenny Brown
When asked how he felt about receiving the news about becoming the head football coach for Ballou High School in South East DC, his response was “It’s Go time!” this speaks to Kenny’s humble yet confident character. Kenny Brown will be on of the youngest to take on the position of Head Coach in the greater DC area.
”The biggest goal of mine is to bring the essence of community back.”
- Kenny B
This opportunity will set trends for youth in the city who come from a single parent household. In a recent interview with Community Connoisseur a Non profit in Washington DC that provides a platform to create opportunities for youth development, Kenny talked about how the impact of mass incarceration had on him directly, his father who was his first mentor, was locked up when Kenny was 8 and didn’t get out until his senior year in college at Winston-Salem State University. This created adversity for not only Kenny but his mother and little brother, but despite it all his mother still made sure her babies was good, salute to the black single mothers. There are a lot of kids in the DC area and across the nation who are dealing with the same struggle.
Kenny has always been a huge advocate for the youth in his community and has a solid track record, I personally remember a mentorship program that he started at Hall Woodward Elementary School during his undergrad tenure at WSSU, called Fortitude. Wherever Kenny goes he leaves his mark. This coaching position is definitely going to inspire the kids on his team and in the community. He said that his main goal wasn’t to win the Turkey Bowl but to put his players in a position to be successful after they graduate. This coaching position is bigger than football for KB, he sees himself in these kids, and wants them to be exposed to opportunities that are out here for them.
Kenny has been an administrator at Ballou since he received his Masters from Florida International University in 2018, and I had the opportunity to visit him at work, the influence he has on them kids is phenomenal, literally kids would skip class to sit in “Mr. Brown’s” office to work on college applications. Kenny continually shifts the focal point for kids who never envisioned themselves going to college or even graduating High School for that matter. Our communities need more people like Kenny to be a pioneer for our youth. I dug deeper into KB’s influence and reached out to one of his students to share the impact Kenny had on his life
“Mr. Brown had a very big impact on my life decisions coming out of High School and my life after we met. He’s one of the only people other than family I can call on for advice for personal problems, etc. He showed me that no matter what background you come from you can still succeed in life as a black man. Before I met Kenny I wasn’t thinking about college, honestly I didn’t know what I was going to do but I am glad we met because I doubt I would be here today.” - one of Kenny’s former students
This shows how much Kenny believes in his students, I am sure that there are plenty more stories that speak to Kenny’s influence.
Becoming a Head Coach at the age of 26 is incredible and they couldn’t have choose a better person than Coach KB.
Kenny has done a lot for his culture and is heavily invested in his community. I look forward to witnessing his continued success and accomplishment as head coach in the near future.
As we commonly say “SUPER BOWL GOALS” dig that.
