By Robert W. Dalton
Eyon Brown ’21 went straight from graduation to the hall of fame.
Brown, who graduated in May with a B.A. degree in English, is spending his summer as a marketing intern at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
“It’s a great museum and I’ve been doing a lot of graphic design work. It’s been a nice challenge and I’m learning a lot,” Brown says.
One of Brown’s first tasks was creating the hall’s “Gold Jacket Spotlight” social media posts. The posts highlight a hall-of-famer each week, and he’s prepared all of the posts for the rest of the calendar year.
Brown’s current project is designing credentials for enshrinement week, which kicks off on Aug. 5 and includes the induction ceremonies for the 2020 and 2021 classes on Aug. 7-8. He’s also studying photos of the Gold Jackets – as the living hall-of-famers are called – so he’ll recognize them when he sees them in person.
“It’s going to be a really cool experience being here for enshrinement week,” Brown says.
Brown is one of 13 interns at the hall this summer and one of two on the marketing team. He originally applied for an internship with the communications team and made it to the final interview stage.
“They kind of went in a different direction and that was fine,” Brown says. “So I was going to end up as a corporate communications intern at Volvo up in New Jersey.”
On the Wednesday of spring break week, the Hall of Fame came calling and Brown’s plans changed. There was an unexpected opening on the marketing team, and they wanted him to fill it.
“Where I wanted to be originally was the Hall of Fame, so I took the opportunity,” he says.
The interns were given a tour on their first day, and Brown spends some of his downtime taking a closer look at exhibits that caught his eye. One of those is a display of jerseys that spans different eras.
“Looking at the history here is something to behold,” Brown says. “These are the jerseys of significant players, and a look at the defining moments of those players in those decades.”
Brown says there has been a steady stream of visitors to the hall as life returns to normal post-COVID.
“It’s been great,” Brown says. “We’ve got a lot of people coming through every day. If you leave the parking lot at lunch, you won’t get the same parking spot. A couple of weeks ago we had visitors from all 50 states.”
Brown will be a free agent when his internship ends on Aug. 14. He says his experience at the Hall of Fame has expanded his options and he’s looking forward to whatever comes next.
“Doing this marketing internship has sharpened my skill set and added to the things I can do,” Brown says. “It’s opened doors to new things I can apply for.”