The Only Coach E&S Ever Had
When George Washington Carver High School of Engineering & Science joined the Philadelphia Public League for the 1981-82 basketball season, they hired a young math teacher named C.M. "Charlie" Brown to coach the team. Thirty-six years later, in November 2017, he retired as the winningest coach in the short history of the Engineers — the only basketball coach E&S had ever had.
His final ledger: 438-346 overall, 265-197 in Public League play. Fifth-most career wins by any coach in Public League history. Four 1,000-point scorers. Three Public League semifinal appearances. One championship-game appearance. And a succession plan that mattered to him as much as any of the wins — the late father's voice in his ear, always.
Teaching experience is going to be one of the most rewarding experiences that you will ever have.
"Believe It" — Michael Anderson's 66-Point Night
On February 10, 1984, E&S played Thomas Edison in a non-league game. Michael Anderson, a 6-1 lead guard on the E&S varsity, had scored 46 points against Olney and 40 points against Southern earlier that week. Against Edison, he scored 66 — 20-for-29 from the field, 26-for-32 from the line, in 28½ minutes of playing time. E&S won 93-78.
It was the fourth-highest total in Philadelphia scholastic basketball history, behind only Wilt Chamberlain's 90 and 74 (1955) and 71 (1954).
No matter who I told, it seemed like nobody believed me. When I came home, I mentioned to my pop that we won and when he asked me how many I'd scored, I told him 66. He said, 'Come on, how many did you really score?'
Brown, as always, tried to frame it for the next morning's newspaper: "Mike got some layups, but he also hit quite a few jump shots. Edison played man-to-man at the end, but they opened in a zone and it didn't keep Mike from driving. And, of course, he took — and made — a whole lot of foul shots. The score was something like 76-71 with 2½ minutes left, then Mike just exploded. He scored most of our last 17 points — and that's even with sitting out the last minute."
Anderson finished his career with 1,378 points at E&S and was recruited by Drexel, Villanova, Seton Hall, Northeastern, and Boston University.
The Lynn Greer Era
Brown's best stretch came in the mid-1990s behind junior guard Lynn Greer, a three-time first-team All-Public selection (1995, 1996, 1997) who finished his E&S career with 1,991 points — the school's all-time leading scorer — and was the Daily News Player of the Year in 1997.
