|
Ron Braynon Jr., a star college quarterback who later helped
Broward County integrate high school athletics, was the first
Black member of the BFOA. Mr. Braynon, who lived in
Lauderhill, touched countless lives as a coach, teacher and
mentor. He spent 35 years in the Broward School District, at five
schools.
As a coach and referee, he crossed over the segregated playing
fields in 1965 and joined the white officials in the Florida High
School Athletic Association while maintaining membership in the
Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association, comprised
predominantly of black athletic officials.
As a member of both, Mr. Braynon worked to unite the two athletic
associations. He succeeded in 1968 when school integration began
and the two associations merged. "The blacks didn't want him
to go to the white association and the whites didn't want him
either," said his daughter Andrea Braynon. "He stood his ground."
 Art
Kennedy, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar,
said Mr. Braynon's decision to integrate "was a challenge, but he
was more than up for it. He paved the way for referees."
Ronald Wilfred Braynon Jr. was born June 4, 1930, to Alaine Ruff
Forbes and Ronald Braynon Sr.
A Miami native, Mr. Braynon was raised in the Railroad Shop area
of Overtown. He was a star athlete at Dorsey High School in Miami,
where he graduated in 1949. He continued his athletic and
academic prowess at Tuskegee Institute, in Alabama, where he was a
star quarterback at one of black-college football's most
successful programs. He was inducted into the Tuskegee Athletic
Hall of Fame in 1989.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education in
1953 and a year later he began his career in the Broward County
public schools at Pompano Project Elementary School, where he
taught physical education. He later taught and coached at
Blanche Ely and Northeast high schools before moving into
administration at Coral Springs High School and later at Taravella
High School in Coral Springs.
He retired in 1989 and was inducted into the Brian Piccolo Chapter
of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame. But
while athletics were a big part of his life, many remember Mr.
Braynon as a family man who was a devout Christian and "a good
guy," his daughter said.
He joined Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity in 1961, and served as the
chapter's president for two terms. He also mentored young men in
his fraternity's programs. His wife, Cora Eaves Braynon,
whom he met at Tuskegee, preceded him in death in 2005. They were
married more than 50 years. |