Ron Brown (wide receiver)

Ronald James Brown (born March 31, 1961) is an American former athlete and professional football player. He won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1984 Summer Olympics.[2] Brown played as a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He went to Arizona State University.[3]

Ron Brown
No. 89, 24, 81
Position:Wide receiver
Personal information
Born: (1961-03-31) March 31, 1961
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Height:5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight:181 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High school:Baldwin Park (Baldwin Park, California)
College:Arizona State
NFL Draft:1983 / Round: 2 / Pick: 41
(by the Cleveland Browns)[1]
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Receptions:98
Receiving yards:1,791
Touchdowns:13
Return yards:4,493
Return touchdowns:4
Player stats at NFL.com · PFR

High school career

Brown played high school football at powerhouse Baldwin Park High School in Baldwin Park, California until his senior year. He then moved to Northern California and played for Northgate High School in Walnut Creek.

Track and field
Olympic medal record
Men's athletics
Representing the  United States
Gold medal – first place 1984 Los Angeles 4 × 100 m relay

Brown was also a track star, he ran the second leg in the 4 × 100 metres relay team that won the gold medal and set the world record in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with a time of 37.83 seconds.

Brown also competed in the 60 meters, 100 meters and 200 meters, posting personal bests of 6.64 seconds, 10.01 seconds and 20.44 seconds, respectively.

Football career

After the Olympics, Brown joined the Los Angeles Rams. He caught 23 passes in 1984 for 478 yards with four touchdowns as a rookie in 1984 before being tasked to return kicks the following year. In 1985, he returned 28 kicks for 918 yards for three touchdowns (his touchdowns and 32.8 yards per return were league highs). This resulted in Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors. Only his 1989 year would exceed that season, with him returning 47 (a league high) for 968 yards. In his eight seasons, he recorded 1,000 all-purpose yards (receiving + returns) four times (1985-87, 1989) before his career ended in 1990 at the age of 30.

Brown appeared in the 1986 Rams promotional video, Let's Ram It,[4] where he went by the name "Speedball Brown" and claimed to be the fastest man in town.[5]

Personal bests
Event Time (seconds) Venue Date
60 meters 6.64 Tokyo, Japan March 10, 1984
100 meters 10.01 Eugene, Oregon April 24, 1983
200 meters 20.44 Eugene, Oregon June 4, 1983

References
  1. "1983 Cleveland Browns". databaseFootball.com. Archived from the original on February 25, 2008. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  2. "A year ago, Ron Brown turned down a multi-million..." UPI. August 17, 1984.
  3. Metcalfe, Jeff (July 30, 2014). "ASU's Ron Brown preferred track to football, leading to 1984 Olympic gold". Azcentral Sports.
  4. "Rams". Los Angeles Times. November 13, 1986. p. 129. Retrieved April 18, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
  5. "Ram IT (NFL Rams Football Team) Song". Retrieved April 17, 2018 – via YouTube.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.