BATON ROUGE — Former McKinley High School coach Roosevelt "Teddy" Brown died at age 87 on Tuesday.

A family member said that Brown did not have any ongoing health issues at the time of his death. His last day was a normal one, the family member said. He had come home after running errands before passing away.

"It was immediate hurt, he had just came four days ago to the Athletic Alumni Association meeting. We have our meetings here at the (McKinley High School Alumni Center), he had just come by everything seemed pretty well," Calvin Nicholas, a one of Brown's former players who was on his team when they on a state championship in 1981, said. "So it was a shocker to me because he looked pretty good."

Nicholas said that Brown was on his knees with his players often instead of standing above them. Other former players described him as active in his community even after he retired from coaching.

"He was like a teacher all around, he didn't just teach basketball. He was a teacher, period," Willie Armstrong, who also played on the 1981 team under Brown, said.

With Brown at the helm, McKinley's basketball team was 453-187, with a playoff record of 23-13.

Brown was an educator in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System for 55 years. In addition to working at McKinley as dean of students, a coach and a teacher, he also worked at Kenilworth Middle School, Sherwood Middle Academic Magnet School, the Baton Rouge Sports Academy and other district schools.

Even as a graduate of McKinley's rival Capitol High, he was a central element of the McKinley community.

"Any activity they had McKinley High School, or something was impacting McKinley, he was one of the people that would be there you would not have to worry about him not being supportive," Nicholas said.

McKinley High will honor Brown with a memorial at the Alumni Center. 

"I'm quite sure we are going to have a memorial plaque and a picture displayed of Teddy Brown in the Alumni Center amongst the other greats that came from McKinley High School," Nicholas said.

Brown was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and spent his time off the high school court attending most of his alma mater Southern University's basketball games. He was also inducted into the Southern University Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.

Redwood Baptist Church Pastor Dale Flowers said that the coach would be missed, calling him "one of the greatest high school basketball coaches in Louisiana history and a greater man."

Outside of sports and education, Brown was married for 60 years to Sylvia Scott. The couple had three children together — Theodore Brown, Roderick Brown and Alexis Jones.

Family said that a funeral is planned for Monday at Hall Davis & Son Celebration Center starting at 11 a.m. Brown will then be buried in Louisiana National Cemetery. There will also be a gathering at the Alumni Center after the funeral.