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By AARON SHAROCKMANA tribute from a leader to the memory of longtime Clearwater High football coach Earle Brown was a bit premature. He's still alive.
CLEARWATER - City Council member Hoyt Hamilton ended Wednesday night's council meeting with a heartfelt eulogy in memory of longtime Clearwater High School football coach and local father figure Earle Brown.
"He was a great influence on a lot of young men in my generation," said Hamilton, 47, who didn't play for Brown, but whose two brothers did.
It would have been a touching tribute but for one problem: Coach Brown hadn't died.
The 88-year-old is still living on Harding Street in Clearwater, 27 years after leaving the coaching ranks.
Hamilton discovered his mistake moments after the council meeting, when his parents read him the obituary of another Clearwater man named Earle Brown: an 85-year-old World War II veteran and Ford dealer who died last month.
"I wanted to crawl into a hole," Hamilton said. All day Thursday, Hamilton tried to reach the football coach to apologize. He left a frantic message with the Times saying that he needed to speak with a reporter because he had "made a terrible mistake," he said.
Hamilton said he called Coach Brown 15 times on Thursday without success. A Times reporter could not reach the coach, either.
"Nobody wants to hear they're dead," Hamilton said. But Hamilton was still able to derive a silver lining from the gaffe.
"The positive side is he knows what my feelings are for him."