SBS manager, Norm Brown, gives back to Happy Valley

Editor's Note: This is the second story in a weekly series about figures in the State College community. This article focuses on Norm Brown, manager of the Student Book Store.

Throw in some singing lions, a few dancers, balloons and a pep band and you have the making for a weekend in State College.

Although it may look like the circus is in town, it's just a typical weekend at the Student Book Store, 330 E. College Ave., since manager Norm Brown took it over nine years ago.

Using the University's dance team, cheerleaders and the lion to promote the store on football weekends, Brown said he thinks he's helped to make the weekends even bigger in State College.

During his reign as manager, Brown said he has made many changes to the store's role in the community and with the University. Although the changes have come in hops and jumps rather than bounds, Brown said he is proud of the image he has created in his time at the store.

One of his first moves in upgrading the store's image, Brown said, was nicknaming it the "Big Blue on the Corner." This name has become more popular than the store's actual title, he said.

"We actually get mail addressed to the Big Blue on the Corner," Brown said. "That's pretty neat."

By involving himself and the store with the University, Brown said he has helped to improve the relationship between students and college bookstores. He has tried to establish the store as a niche for used books, he said, because they are often 25 percent cheaper than the new ones.

The store donated $25,000 to the fund for The Bryce Jordan Center in 1991, and is considered a founding club member, Brown said. The Four Diamonds Fund will be the next beneficiary of SBS, Brown said. The store will donate 10 percent of sales the weekend of the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon as well as survival packs for the dancers, Brown said.

Downtown State College is no stranger to Norm Brown either.

He currently serves as membership chairman of the Downtown State College Partnership Inc. and has served on the State College Chamber of Commerce's executive board. As a member of the Board of Trustees for the Eastern Region of the National Association of College Stores, he is making himself known in the East as well.

As a 1977 University graduate, Brown said the University and State College have always been a big part of his life. Running the bookstore is not the only way Brown has kept them in his heart.

"I didn't tell my wife until a few years later, but I named our son, who was born in 1982, after the 1982 national championship football team," Brown said.

His son, Todd Curtis Brown, is named for two players from the championship team, Brown said.

Brown's family will never forget State College and the University if he has anything to say about it -- especially with the location of their new house.

"Mount Nittany is in my backyard and I can see the stadium and the Jordan Center," Brown said.

Leaving State College is not in the future, Brown said, however he is planning to open bookstores at other schools and hopes to expand the current Student Book Store.

"Who knows," Brown joked. "Maybe they'll start calling us the Big Blue on the Block."