by Mia Fatuzzo ’15, News Section Editor
Howard Brownstein, a beloved math teacher as well as a very successful track and basketball coach who has worked for Country Day since 1987, is retiring this year. His win percentage in basketball ranks in the top of the state. He has led teams to 10 Miami Valley Conference Championships, 10 Sectional Championships, 3 District Championships, 1 Regional Championship, and to the State Final Four in 1992. He recently achieved his 500th win, an exciting moment which Ben Stegman ’15, who plays varsity basketball and who has run track, recalls vividly: “There was a bottle of sparkling champagne involved and a lot of bubbles flying out of it.” Stegman said that Mr. Brownstein’s success in basketball stems from years of experience and an ability to understand his players. In track, Mr. Brownstein has coached teams to 10 Miami Valley Conference Championships, 7 District Championships, 1 Regional Championship, and a State Runner Up title in 1998. He has sent multiple athletes to the State Meet, and coached 3 individual State Champions and 1 State Championship Relay team.
Mr. Brownstein loves to teach – “If it was just about coming into the classroom, I would teach until I’m ninety” – and to coach. Although coaching is optional, Mr. Brownstein has coached for all forty-one of the years he has worked in education. He finds athletics a good way to get to know students outside of the classroom. While Mr. Brownstein has many memories of time at Country Day, reaching the state finals in basketball in 1992 remains one of his favorite moments. Mr. Brownstein’s loud voice is well-known throughout Country Day. He credits his distinctive roar to years of coaching basketball in a noisy gym, which forced him to scream to be heard. Mr. Brownstein always planned to go into math – he was naturally skilled at the discipline – but didn’t consider becoming a teacher until a fraternity advisor at Miami suggested the profession. He took his first teaching job at Schroder Junior High in 1973, where he taught, coincidentally, the mother of future student Robert Settles. Mr. Brownstein will most miss his students and his colleagues, many of whom he is close friends with. He hopes to, in his retirement, take on the job of grandfather. Contrary to popular belief, he will be spending only a few months per year in Florida because, as many once-freezing students probably remember, he can’t stand the heat.
Mr. Brownstein has touched the lives of countless students and athletes with his exuberant teaching style, in-class antics, and passionate coaching. Mantero Moreno-Cheek ’15, who helped found the annual kickball tournament now affectionately, if misleadingly, termed the Howard Brownstein Memorial Kickball Tournament, has competed with the track team as a thrower for three years, took Mr. Brownstein’s freshman Geometry class, and briefly played on the varsity basketball team. Moreno-Cheek has many fond and funny memories of his time with Mr. Brownstein. Mr. Brownstein once saw Moreno-Cheek shopping at Nordstrom’s before a basketball game. Unfortunately, Moreno-Cheek was late to the game. Moreno-Cheek then quit the basketball team, in geometry class, only to be faced with Mr. Brownstein’s jeers when he decided to, the following year, attempt the wrestling team.
Leonard Behrens ’15, who took Honors Precalculus from Mr. Brownstein, recalls Mr. Brownstein’s predilection for singing in class. After chaperoning a school dance, Mr. Brownstein spent many classes singing and dancing in the styles of his students. However, his favorite song, by far, is Sam Cooke’s “Chain Gang,” which he rephrases for his budding calculus students as “I’ve been working on the chain rule.” Leonard spent much of Precalculus next to his friend Stephen Liao ’15. Mr. Brownstein dubbed the two friends “Lenny and Squiggy,” a reference to Laverne and Shirley. When Stephen, who used to attend Seven Hills, wore his Seven Hills track jacket to math class, Mr. Brownstein, the devoted coach of the varsity track team, was both horrified and intrigued. He demanded to try on the offending garment and, although it didn’t quite fit around his midsection, wore it with aplomb anyways. Mr. Brownstein, after watching Mean Girls, also enjoyed wearing pink shirts on Wednesdays in tribute to Regina George and her clique.
Wyatt Fletcher ’15, who played varsity basketball his freshman and sophomore year and took geometry from Mr. Brownstein his sophomore year, remembers how much he appreciated Mr. Brownstein’s enthusiasm in the classroom: “He was a fantastic math teacher. He made it fun, he was always excited about it, and it just made learning it much better.” Alex Warner ’15, who took both geometry and Precalculus from Mr. Brownstein and runs varsity track, appreciates Mr. Brownstein’s unique teaching methods and “passionate” coaching style. He admired Mr. Brownstein’s loud voice, which helped “keep [his students] awake, and his occasional forgetfulness when it came to checking homework.” Mr. Brownstein – his penchant for cookie Wednesday, his hatred of the heat, and, of course, his booming voice – will be dearly missed by students and faculty alike.