Signature: Walter Wayne Brown

Age: 41

Hometown: Livingston

Title: Operator for Formosa Plastics, fitness specialist

Wayne Brown spends his weekends competing in Ironman triathlons, running marathons and even making 100-mile runs. In fact, his most recent 100-miler qualified him to enter the Badwater Ultramarathon in California, the most extreme running race on the planet, covering 135 miles and three mountain ranges, from Death Valley to Mount Whitney, Calif.

But the accomplishments he’s most proud of aren’t his own.

They are of the dozens of people he has voluntarily helped over the years go from unhealthy to fit, from miserable to inspired. Think of him as an extreme personal trainer, one who gives new meaning to the phrase, “What can Brown do for you?”

“I felt I had a calling,” he says. “People just started coming into my life, and without questioning why, I decided to help them. I don’t accept money. It’s about helping people.”

Three years ago, Karen Parker was severely overweight and unhappy. At the urging of a friend she called Brown. In a matter of months, including 5:30 a.m. workouts with Brown, she dropped 100 pounds and adopted a new outlook on life.

Brown helped Dustin Hinson, who he’d known for 15 years since coaching him in junior high basketball. Last year, at age 30, Hinson phoned Brown.

“I was a miserable 260 pounds,” Hinson says. “I knew that to get the weight off I needed Wayne’s help.”

Brown shadowed Hinson through a rigorous regimen of running, swimming and dieting. Now? Hinson’s down to 175 pounds, and he works out with Brown regularly, and he’ll even serve as Brown’s crew chief at Badwater.

There are dozens of people with similar stories about what Brown did for them. Some are now marathons runners or triathletes. Brown has paid thousand-dollar entry fees, airfare, and dipped into his 401k to buy a costly triathlon bike for someone.

“We’ve had to get extensions on our bills a few times,” Brown says.

“But, I can’t let money get in the way of someone who’s worked so hard. If I can, I’ll find a way.”

In September, Brown raised $6,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association by running 24 hours straight around the track at Woodlawn High School, his own idea.

“I was going to do it anyway,” he says. “Why not do it for a good cause?”

Brown’s wife, Sandi, has seen her husband pushed to the brink, collapsing of exhaustion. “He is always so concerned about everyone else,” she says. “He wants to see them succeed. He is truly the most unselfish person I know.”

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