Capital District YMCA President and CEO David Brown started his career at the Y as a health club attendant.

"I washed the gym bags. I mopped the floors," he said.

Brown, while doing all those jobs, never really thought that some day he’d be running his own YMCA ... or did he? To really know for sure, we had to go back a little further.

"My mother used to say to me all the time, 'you could be president,' " Brown said. "I think she meant [of the] USA."

Brown came to the Capital Region and had plans to stay for about five years. That was 26 years ago.

He became the first black president for the Capital Region YMCA, and part of the inspiration for the move came from his next door neighbor Ron Sargent, who was at the time the president and CEO of the Y in their area of New Jersey — one of five African American leaders in the organization across the country at the time.

"Mr. Sargent, I would see him at the Y when I would go, in his suit and tie. I knew he ran the Y. I didn’t know what that meant," Brown said.

Sargent, who keeps in touch with Brown to this day, became a role model.

"Had I not seen him in that role, I’m not sure I would have seen myself in this role today," Brown said.

That’s why he understands his role in this position and perhaps the responsibility it might carry with young people, especially African Americans.

Brown says the Y has a rich legacy with African Americans at the helm. It’s been operating for 175 years, starting out as bible study for young boys. By the late 1800s, Anthony Bowen became the first African American president and CEO of a YMCA.

"It’s inspiring, because at the time, they weren’t recognized as part of the Y," Brown said. "It was just the white Y and the black Y."

Brown says he’s honored to be part of such a diverse place.

"When you walk through our facilities, you’ll see young, you’ll see old," he said. "You’ll see people of different races. You’ll see people of different religions."

Brown says in terms of where YMCA leadership and African Americans are, "[we're] not where we need to be, but making great strides."

Brown says Black History Month brings all of that diversity into focus, and the reason black culture should be celebrated.

"It absolutely should be celebrated, as should other cultures be celebrated. That’s the richness of America," Brown said. "Diversity is American."