Ellison Brown

Who was Ellison Brown?

Ellison Myers Brown, widely known as Tarzan Brown, and Deerfoot amongst his people, was a two-time winner of the Boston Marathon in 1936 and 1939. A member and direct descendant of the royal family of the Narragansett Indian tribe of Rhode Island, he also participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. He was scheduled to participate in the 1940 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, but these were canceled due to the outbreak of World War II. Tarzan Brown is still 1 of only 2 Native Americans to have won the Boston Marathon and the only Native American to have more than 1 victory in Boston. He was inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in 1973.