 Brown in 1973 | |||||||||
| No. 43 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Running back | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1947-09-19)September 19, 1947 (age 78) Clairton, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||
| Weight | 195 lb (88 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Pittsburgh (PA) Schenley | ||||||||
| College | Kansas State | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1969: 8th round, 191st overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Lawrence Brown Jr. (born September 19, 1947) is an American former professionalfootball player in theNational Football League (NFL) who playedrunning back for theWashington Redskins from 1969 to 1976.
Brown was born on September 19, 1947, inClairton, Pennsylvania, to Rosa Lee and Lawrence Brown Sr.[1][2] He was deaf in his right ear from birth.[3] Brown was raised in theHill District ofPittsburgh,Pennsylvania, a tough neighborhood, and graduated fromSchenley High School. During his high school football playing years, there would be fights in the stands when predominantly black schools played predominantly white schools. While Brown himself avoided fighting in football or in his neighborhood, he did grow up to be tough and determined.[4] Brown's original interest was baseball, but he developed an overriding interest in football during his junior year in high school.[2][5]
Brown playedcollege football inKansas atDodge City Community College (1965–66) and thenKansas State University inManhattan (1967–68).[5][6] He was offered a scholarship at Dodge City, but only if he tried out for and made the football team.[4]
He was a blocking back at Dodge City.[2] During his sophomore year at Dodge City, he earned All-KJCCC (Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference) first team honors, along withNational Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) honorable mention All-American honors.[6] In 1972, Brown was selected a Dodge City Community College's Distinguished Alumnus, and in 1986 was inducted into its Hall of Fame.[6] Brown was in the inaugural 2021 class of the NJCAA Foundation Hall of Fame.[5][6]
In 1967, he was recruited to Kansas State as a blocking back, and in his first year he only had 50rushing attempts. Brown averaged 5.6yards per carry, and over 600 totalrushing andreceiving yards in 1967. In 1968, he became the team's running back and led Kansas State with 402 rushing yards on 111 attempts, to go along with 13 receptions.[7][5]
Brown's eight-year professional career was spent exclusively with theWashington Redskins.[1]
Brown was recruited to Washington by futurePro Football Hall of Fame coaching legendVince Lombardi,[8][9] who coached Washington in the 1969 season (his only season there before dying of cancer in September 1970).[10][11] Brown was selected in theeighth round of the 17 round1969 NFL/AFL draft in January 1969, 191st of 442 players chosen that year, and the 7th of 14 players Washington picked in the draft that year.[12] (The team had selected him as an afterthought.[citation needed])
Washington was primarily a passing team, starring All-Pro quarterback and future Hall of FamerSonny Jurgensen.[13][14] In1967 they had the NFL's first ( future Hall of Famer receiverCharley Taylor[15]), second (tight endJerry Smith) and fourth (future Hall of Fame runner and receiverBobby Mitchell[16]) ranked receivers in passes caught, but they needed a productive rusher. Washington was first in the league in passing yards (3,730) that year, but second-to-last in rushing yards (1,247).[17] In 1968, Jurgensen suffered broken ribs and had elbow surgery, played in only 12 games, and fell from a league-leading 3,747 passing yards in 1967, to 1,980 yards in 1968 (though Washington still had the fifth-most passing yards that year).[13][18][19] The team fell to last in the league in rushing with 1,164 yards (3.2 yards per carry).[19]
Brown was an unlikely candidate, having served as a blocking back for Cornelius Davis atKansas State in 1967,[20][21] though Brown had more carries and yards than Davis in 1968;[7][20] and where sophomore quarterbackLynn Dickey led theBig-Eight Conference in passing in 1968, and would go on to break all school passing records.[22][23] Brown had not been widely recruited in high school. His strongest feeler came fromHoward University in Washington, D.C., but upon visiting its campus, he noted the lopsided football scores against the university's teams posted on past schedules in the school's athletic building.[citation needed]
In1969, newly-arrived Redskins head coachVince Lombardi noticed Brown, a talented but underperforming running back. He made the 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), 195-pound (88 kg) rookie his starter, but noticed Brown was starting slightly late behind the snap of the ball. Tests ordered by Lombardi determined that Brown was hearing-impaired in one ear,[24] and that he was watching for the lineman to move rather than listening to the quarterback'ssnap count.[25]
After getting approval from the league Commissioner's office, Lombardi had Brown's helmet fitted with an ear-piece that relayed quarterback Sonny Jurgensen's snap counts,[25] improving Brown's responsiveness, thus allowing him to hit the hole very quickly. Brown's other rookie obstacle was his training camp propensity to fumble. Lombardi ordered Brown to carry a football everywhere he went at the team's training camp inCarlisle, Pennsylvania.[26]
Brown had an impressive rookie season during which he was largely the reason Washington posted a record of 7–5–2, their first winning record since 1955.[27] He had rushed for 888 yards, a team record.[2] He was second in theAssociated Press (AP) voting for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year (behindCalvin Hill), and third in theUnited Press International (UPI) voting (behind Hill andJoe Greene).[28] Brown was also selected to thePro Bowl as a rookie.[29]
Lombardi died of cancer during the preseason of Brown's second year, 1970. Lombardi was his greatest inspiration.[30] Brown gained a league-leading 1,125 yards running that year (4.7 yards per carry) and caught 37 passes for 341 yards and scored seven touchdowns.[1][5] It was the first 1,000 yard rushing season in team history.[8] He was selected first team All-Pro by the AP, UPI, theNewspaper Enterprise Association (NEA),Pro Football Writers (FW), andPro Football Weekly (PFW).[31]
Brown went to four consecutive Pro Bowls during his first four seasons[1] and led the Redskins to theirSuper Bowl VII appearance against the "perfect season"Miami Dolphins in January 1973.[32] Brown was theNational Football League's Most Valuable Player in1972.[21][33] He led the NFL in rushing (1,216 yards) despite missing two games with injuries.[8] In 1972, he was also selected first teamAll-Pro by the AP, the NEA, FW and PFW.[34] By contrast with the pre-Brown years, Washington had a balanced offense with 2,193 passing yards and 2,082 rushing yards.[35]
Brown carried the ball 1,530 times in his career gaining 5,875 yards. His best seasons were in 1972 when he gained 1,216 yards and in 1970 when he gained 1,125 yards.[1] At the time he retired, only Hall famersJim Brown[36] andO.J. Simpson[37] had reached 5,000 rushing yards as quickly in their careers.[38] He rushed for 100 yards or more 21 times[39] and rushed for 100 yards or more in six games in 1970 and six games in 1972.[8] He also scored four rushing touchdowns in one game against the Eagles on December 16, 1973.[40] On October 29, 1972, he ran for 191 yards in a game against the New York Giants.[41][8][42]
Brown was also a capable receiver, with 238 receptions for 2,485 yards over his eight years. He had 20 receiving touchdowns, to go along with his 35 rushing touchdowns. While his longest run was 75 yards, his longest pass reception was for 89 yards. He had a total of 8,360 yards from scrimmage during his regular season career, averaging 4.7 yards per touch, and 1,045 yards per year (at a time when there were only 14 games in a season).[1]
In 1973, Brown co-authored an autobiography entitled "I'll Always Get Up".[43]
Brown's career was cut short due to numerous injuries,[44] and his jersey number, 43, while not officially retired, has not been issued to any other Washington player since his retirement, except toNate Orchard for two games in 2021.[45][46]
He was noted for his tough running style despite his relatively small size, which he attributed to having been raised on the tough streets of Pittsburgh'sHill District, and playing tackle football in those streets.[8] He was also noted for his abilities to break tackles, and gain yardage after contact, which announcers called "second effort". When rookiePittsburgh Steeler, and future Hall of Fame, running backFranco Harris[47] first saw Brown play in 1972, he was deeply impressed by Brown's intensity and desire on every play. This changed Harris's understanding of how he himself would have to play in the NFL.[48]
He finished in the top five of the league for rushes five times, rushing yards four times, yards from scrimmage three times and total touchdowns twice.[1] Brown was the first Redskins running back to gain more than 1,000 yards in a single season.[8] He achieved that feat twice in a career that ran from 1969 to 1976. In an eight-year career, Brown was selected to play in the Pro Bowl in1969,1970,1971, and1972. He has been voted one of the 70 and 80 Greatest Redskins of All Time.[49][30] He was selected as theDC Touchdown Club NFL Player of the Year in 1972.[50] He is a member of the Washington Commanders Ring of Fame.[51]
TheProfessional Football Researchers Association named Brown to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2014.[52]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| NFL MVP | |
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | Fumbles | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Y/G | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Fum | FR | ||
| 1969 | WAS | 14 | 13 | 202 | 888 | 4.4 | 63.4 | 57 | 4 | 34 | 302 | 8.9 | 31 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| 1970 | WAS | 13 | 13 | 237 | 1,125 | 4.7 | 86.5 | 75 | 5 | 37 | 341 | 9.2 | 66 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 1971 | WAS | 13 | 13 | 253 | 948 | 3.7 | 72.9 | 34 | 4 | 16 | 176 | 11.0 | 36 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 1972 | WAS | 12 | 12 | 285 | 1,216 | 4.3 | 101.3 | 38 | 8 | 32 | 473 | 14.8 | 89 | 4 | 9 | 3 |
| 1973 | WAS | 14 | 14 | 273 | 860 | 3.2 | 61.4 | 27 | 8 | 40 | 482 | 12.1 | 64 | 6 | 7 | 2 |
| 1974 | WAS | 11 | 11 | 163 | 430 | 2.6 | 39.1 | 16 | 3 | 37 | 388 | 10.5 | 34 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 1975 | WAS | 14 | 8 | 97 | 352 | 3.6 | 25.1 | 43 | 3 | 25 | 225 | 9.0 | 39 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 1976 | WAS | 11 | 0 | 20 | 56 | 2.8 | 5.1 | 11 | 0 | 17 | 98 | 5.8 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Career | 102 | 84 | 1,530 | 5,875 | 3.8 | 57.6 | 75 | 35 | 238 | 2,485 | 10.4 | 89 | 20 | 40 | 8 | |
Brown is currently a Vice President of NAI Michael Commercial Real Estate Services.[53] After retiring from football in 1976, he was employed atE.F. Hutton as a Personal Financial Management Advisor.[54]
For 12 years, Brown was employed byXerox Corporation with responsibilities for business and community relations.
He has served on the Board of Directors ofMellon Bank (MD); the Board of Visitors ofGeorge Mason University; the Board of Directors of the Greater Washington, D.C. Sports Authority; and a Delegate toJapan with the American Council of Young Political Leaders.[53]
Brown has been active over many years in charitable activities for the Redskins and other non-profit organizations in the Washington, D.C. area, including the Prince George's CountySpecial Olympics, theNational Council on Disability,Friends of the National Zoo Advisory Committee, the Coalition for the Homeless, the Capital Children's Museum, and theWashington Redskins Charity Golf Classic.[55]
He makes regular appearances at Redskins alumni events.[56]