He shared a stage with Bill Russell.

He twice shook hands with a sitting U.S. president.

And he once served as a make-shift bodyguard for golfing great Jack Nicklaus.

For more than 30 years, Barrington resident Chris Humm quietly led the Brown University Sports Information Department. It was a job that ran seven days a week from September through May, but it also held special opportunities for Mr. Humm.

When Celtics legend Bill Russell visited Brown University for a symposium, Mr. Humm was “tasked” with picking up the hall of fame center. Mr. Humm arrived in his Toyota Camry, and held his breath as the 11-time NBA champion carefully squeezed his 6-foot-10-inch frame into the cozy sedan.

Following the symposium, Mr. Humm watched as Mr. Russell, who was selected to the NBA All-Star team 12 times and was chosen as the league’s MVP five times stayed long enough to sign each and every autograph and pose for every photograph requested.

That snapshot in time — behind the scenes and privy to only a few people — became commonplace for Mr. Humm, who retired from Brown University on Dec. 31, after nearly 33 years with the Bears.

“When you do something and you care about it for more than 30 years, it's hard to stop cold turkey,” said Mr. Humm, during a recent interview. “I’ll definitely be in the stands for games. I'll help them out any way I can.”

Mr. Humm was working at Hofstra University in Long Island as sports information director in the late 1980s when he discovered Brown University was looking for a new SID. At the time, Brown had 35 or 36 sports teams, which was a step up from Hofstra, but Mr. Humm was excited about the opportunity to work in the Ivy League.

He arrived in Rhode Island in the summer and quickly loved the Ocean State. He also enjoyed his work at Brown.

“It didn’t take long at all” to know Brown was a good fit, Mr. Humm said.

Early on, Mr. Humm would often bring his two young sons — Steve and Rob — to Brown with him. There, the Humm boys met some of the most talented collegiate student-athletes in the world. Rob was seven-years-old when he started traveling to Brown University football and basketball games with his father.

“Everybody treated him so well on the road,” Mr. Humm said. “I know the SID at Dartmouth used to bake him cookies when he'd come to games.”

Job perks

Mr. Humm said he enjoyed his work at Brown University. He said he was fortunate to cross paths with many special people through his work at Brown. Mr. Humm mentioned Nick Hartigan, a running back for the Brown University football team.

He said Nick was a first team All American and the Academic All-American of the Year, extremely polite off the field, and “the strongest competitor you could imagine on the field.” Mr. Humm recalled a mid-season game against Princeton University — both teams were undefeated heading into the game.

“It had been raining for 40 days and 40 nights,” Mr. Humm said, describing the wet field conditions. “We gave it to Nick basically every down.”

Brown won the game and went on to capture the Ivy League championship.

The last game of the season, Nick discovered he a conflict. He was schedule to sit for his Rhode Scholarship interview the same weekend as the game, Mr. Humm said. Luckily for Nick, the interview fell on a Friday, and the game was Saturday, Mr. Humm recalled.

The longtime Brown University SID also remembers his encounter for Billy Donovan. It was 1990 and the former Providence College basketball star was interested in the head basketball coach job at Brown.

“I remember talking to Billy in my office,” Mr. Humm said of the now-NBA head coach. “He was a grad assistant at Kentucky… He was young, but he was very, very focused and determined. You knew he was going to be a great head coach.”

Mr. Humm said his office phone rang — it was then-Kentucky head coach Rick Pitino. He said Billy wasn’t going anywhere, Mr. Humm remembered.

“He said he was coming back to Kentucky,” Mr. Humm said.

Twice in his career Mr. Humm had the opportunity to visit the White House when the Brown University rowing team won national championships.

Mr. Humm said more than a dozen different collegiate national championship teams from across the country were waiting in the East Room for U.S. President George W. Bush.

“When George W. Bush comes in, he's very self-deprecating. He really put everybody at ease,” Mr. Humm said, adding that on his second trip to the White House he knew exactly where to stand so that he could greet the president personally.

He also worked as a volunteer for the first-ever CVS Charity Classic golf tournament at Rhode Island Country Club. Mr. Humm walked with pro golfer Jack Nicklaus, and at one point had to lock arms with the other volunteers to hold back the crowd as it closed in on the golfing legend.

Job change

For about 32 years, Mr. Humm’s job was an intense ride from September through May, as he worked with dozens of teams each season.

“Last year, right before Covid shut everything down, I was at Harvard on Friday night, Dartmouth on Saturday, and came back on Sunday for the Brown vs. Virginia men’s lacrosse game,” he said. “And the next day everything stopped. And we haven’t had anything since.”

For the last nine months, Mr. Humm and the rest of the sports information department worked to fill the gap left by the sports stoppage.

“… you’re making something from nothing,” he said.

“This is the toughest time I've ever had working at Brown. Working from home. You want to interact, you want to be around people.”

In mid-December, Brown officials held a Zoom conference with a handful of retiring employees. Mr. Humm said he plans to spend more time with his grandchildren and probably play a few more rounds of golf.

“I’ll see where life takes me,” he said.