| Brown Mackin was born
in Waxahachie, TX in 1907 and came with his family to Ada in
1918. He graduated from 'ECU' with a major in mathematics and
a minor in physical science in 1927. As a student, he was the
Pesagi business manager, he played tennis, was
in the band and orchestra, and was a He-Cub. He earned a masters
degree in chemistry from
University of Oklahoma in 1932. He worked at Colorado University, Columbia University, Texas University, and with the Atomic Energy Commission at Oak Ridge, TN. He came to be a faculty member at ECU in 1946 and retired in 1972. He was in the physics department (and also in the mathematics department). He served as the physics department chair from 1960-1971. He coached the ECU tennis team from 1966-1970. He was active in the community theatre and their productions in Ada. He was one of the original members of the Great Books Program in Ada. He played in various music groups in the area. He was an electronics expert and helped locals with their 'hi-fi' problems. One story told by the family to us was in the early 1950's, Chance Vought had worked on a plane for the Navy and encountered a problem Vought's engineers couldn't solve. Mackin was contacted and took a summer leave from ECU to work on the problem with the plane. He spent 5 weeks of that summer learning computer programming and in the next 3 weeks he was able to solve the problem. This plane became the workhorse on aircraft carriers in the Vietnam War. The family, former students, and family established the Brown L. Mackin Scholarship in physics at ECU in his honor. This scholarship has served hundreds of physics students in the last few decades. |