 George Scratchley Brown was born in Montclair , New Jersey , on 17 August 1918 , the son of Thoburn Kaye Brown , an Army officer who had graduated with the West Point class of 1913 , and his wife Francis Katherine née Scratchley . As an Army brat , Brown lived in a succession of different towns and military bases . He was an Eagle Scout , and played on the American football varsity team as a freshman at Fort Brown , Texas . He later was a fullback during his junior and senior years at Immaculata High School in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , and was an all @-@ league in the Catholic high school interstate league . 
