Dennis Brown, with his contagious grin, was one of the premier track athletes in Wisconsin during the early 1970’s. He was an eight-time letter winner in three sports, football, wrestling and track. A defensive back and feared wide receiver on the 1971 Suburban Conference football champions, he was 1st Team All-Conference as a defensive back. Dennis was a rare “leg wrestler” who was an All-Conference selection and 2nd place finisher in the conference wrestling meet. But it was on the track where Brown’s legacy may never be matched. A perfectionist, Dennis practiced to achieve perfect form to compliment his speed and fierce determination. During one of his races, Dennis anchored a leg of an 880 yard relay where he chased down one of the state’s premiere sprinters with a split that had coaches questioning their stopwatches. Brown was three-time conference champion in the 180 yard low hurdles and 120 yard high hurdles. In the 180 yard low hurdles he qualified for the state finals his sophomore year, placed 3rd his junior year and was state champ as a senior. He was state champ his junior and senior year in the 120 yard high hurdles and as a senior led Tosa East to its 1st state track championship. Following his MVP performance in the 1972 State Meet, Brown was invited to the National Invitational to compete with the best high school 330 yard intermediate hurdlers in the nation. After just two weeks of practice he finished 3rd in the nation in an event he had never run before.
