Brownsville’s Penn excels in basketball, business
Brownsville High School’s Jeff Penn is an athletic success story, an athlete who parlayed athletics excellence into an education and a outstanding business career.
Penn was an outstanding basketball player for the Falcons in the late 1970s. He also played football and ran track.
“For me, to play as a sophomore was a big deal,” Penn stated. “I think it made me a better player. Getting that time at the varsity level was really huge, it was a shot in the arm for me to be able to get that playing time.”
The 6-3, 185-pound Penn scored 144 points in 1977-78 on a team that finished 12-10. In his junior season in 1978-79, the Falcons were 11-13 and Penn scored 421 points (17.5 average). In 1979-80 as a senior, Penn scored 439 points (20 average) and the Falcons finished 12-11.
Penn was a part of the Fayette County playground culture and it benefited his game greatly.
“Water Street in Brownsville was the place to play,” Penn offered. “I tried to get down there early and play before the older kids came. They would kick you off. If someone didn’t show up then you got a chance to be the last kid picked. The Bishops and all of those guys were there playing and I got a chance to be a part of that. Also playing in Uniontown at Bailey Park was a big deal and then when I got to play at East End it was even bigger. You got to play against Buzzy and Gay Gay Harrison and Chuckie Henderson and all those guys. It made me a better player.”
Brownsville was blessed with some pretty good athletes when Penn played for the Falcons.
“I had a big guy named Walt Costello and Jim Vasiloff, Tony Edmunds,” Penn recalled. “For me it was a good system because I could play off of them and I could create my own shot. I had three great years of high school basketball.”
John Chuma was the Brownsville coach at that time and Penn had a good relationship with him.
“Coach Chuma and we still talk over 30 years later,” Penn said. “Just a good coach and good with fundamentals and he really taught us how to play defense. I think that was the key to some of my success.”
Penn also played football for a couple of years as a linebacker. After injuring his foot as a junior, he did not play football as a senior. He also ran track as a sophomore.
In his basketball career at Brownsville, Penn finished with 1,004 points including five 30 point games his senior season. His career high was a 35-point effort against Frazier. Penn was a Section 11 All Star and played against the Section 3 All Stars in the Mon Valley basketball classic. He pumped in 32 points and grabbed 18 rebounds as the Section 11 stars won in double overtime 111-108.
“When you play in that type of game and you are in a groove and they continue to feed you the ball, off I went,” Penn said. “That was probably my best game all around.”
When Penn graduated in 1980, he played junior college basketball at Florida College for two seasons. He played on some competitive teams and averaged 18 points as a sophomore. He then transferred to Allegheny College in Meadville.
“Coach John Reynders recruited me to come to Allegheny,” Penn explained. “I went to Meadville and I fell in love with the place. It also gave my family an opportunity to see me play and the academics at Allegheny were really good. The tough part of that transition for me was that I didn’t start at Allegheny my junior year. I was coming from a juco and the coach didn’t change his system for me and that was frustrating. That took some time to get my head wrapped around that, but I still got minutes. I adjusted and was co-captain my senior year. Things worked out, the lesson was to be ready when your turn comes.”
As a junior at Allegheny in 1982-83, Penn averaged 12.5 points and was second team All-PAC as the 13-9 Gators finished 8-6 in conference play. Penn averaged 10.4 points as senior with three double-doubles and scored a career-high 32 points against Thiel. The Gators posted a record of 16-7 and were 10-4 in the PAC.
“Going to Allegheny was a great move and I got a great education,” Penn said.
Following his graduation from Allegheny, Penn worked for General Motors, Nissan and Saturn. He also was a Mercedes-Benz dealer, then did consulting work for Scion and Lexus. He did non-profit work with Big Brothers and Big Sisters in Philadelphia. Penn then became Executive Director for Advancement and Marketing at Arch Bishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C. Penn is now doing performance coaching for Ford Motor Company.
“Life has been pretty good to me,” Penn said.
Penn, 50, resides in Annapolis, Md., with his wife of 22 years, Sonya. They have two children, Kendra (16) and Christian (13).