Football: Ex-Muir Coach Jim Brownfield, 81, dies
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Jim Brownfield, who achieved prominence as a football and girls’ track coach at Pasadena Muir High in the 1980s and 1990s, died early Monday. He was 81.
His brother, Warren, said Brownfield had major heart surgery 14 months ago. He died at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles.
Born on Jan. 15, 1929 in Long Beach, Brownfield moved to Los Angeles when he was 12. He graduated from Cal State Los Angeles in 1955.
Brownfield was a teacher and coach for more than 40 years in Southern California. His Muir teams won Southern Section football championships in 1985 and 1986, won state girls’ track titles in 1985 and 1989 and won four Southern Section track titles.
He also was the football coach at Loyola Marymount in 1969, when the school was named National Club Football Assn. champions.
After retiring in 1996, Brownfield stayed active in coaching organizations, leading the San Gabriel Valley chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in honoring senior football players for their academic and athletic contributions.
Bill Redell, the football coach at Westlake Village Oaks Christian, called Brownfield “one of the greatest coaches” in California prep history. Redell was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001, and he credited Brownfield’s contributions for leading the drive for his selection.
Brownfield also coached cross country, tennis and basketball, with stops at Palm Springs and South Pasadena High. He was enshrined into the National High School Athletic Coaches Assn. Hall of Fame in 1998.
He is survived by his brothers, Warren and Bill, daughter Nancy Marie Patton, two grand children and six great grand children. The family is planning a celebration of his life, tentatively for June 25 at Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena.
-- Eric Sondheimer