Hardy Brown (May 8, 1924 – November 8, 1991) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL),

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

(AAFC), and the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

and then professionally for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

, and the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. He was one of only two men who played in the

, the

, and the

(the other was

Ben Agajanian Benjamin James "The Toeless Wonder" Agajanian (August 28, 1919 – February 8, 2018) was an American American football player, primarily a placekicker in the National Football League, the All-America Football Conference and American Football Leag ...

).''Giants Among Men'', Jack Cavanaugh, p. 54, 2008, Random House, When Brown was four years old, he witnessed the murder of his father. He was then sent, along with his brothers and sisters, to live at the Texas Masonic Home, an

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

for the children of deceased

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. At the Masonic Home, Brown became friends with

Tex Coulter DeWitt Echoles "Tex" Coulter (October 26, 1924 – October 2, 2007) was an American gridiron football player. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union ...

. Brown was a standout football player for the Mighty Mites, leading them to the state semi-finals his senior year. He then enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, serving as a

Paramarine The Paramarines (also known as Marine paratroopers) was a short-lived specialized combat unit of the United States Marine Corps, trained to be dropped from planes by parachute. Marine parachute training which began in New Jersey in October 19 ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, before playing football at

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

and eventually professionally. Brown became known as one of the roughest defensive players in the game, knocking out numerous opponents with his trademark shoulder push. The Rams once offered a $500 bounty to any player who could take him out, and he had his shoulder pads checked before a game once to make sure he did not have metal plating or other such material stuffed in them. His reputation was such that supposedly, on one occasion, when future Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Waterfield was hit by a car, his first response was, "I didn't know that Hardy Brown was in town." Hall of Famer Art Donovan had this to say of Brown: "How about San Francisco's Hardy Brown; ever heard of him? He was one tough bastard. I can't count how many people Hardy put in the hospital. His style was an intent to maim. He had this knack, this technique of slamming a shoulder into a running back's face; to this day I don't know how he did it. He was like a snake uncoiling. He'd get under your chin and, bang, you'd be seeing stars. Ball carriers looked for Hardy, rather than an opening, coming around that corner." Brown died in 1991 in a mental institution after suffering from dementia, emphysema, and arthritis in his right (knockout) shoulder so bad he couldn't lift his arm to scratch his head.

NFL Network

On the show NFL's Top 10, Hardy was marked as #5 on "The Most Feared Tacklers of All Time" segment.''Giants Among Men'', Jack Cavanaugh, p. 67, 2008, Random House,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Hardy 1924 births 1991 deaths United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Tulsa Golden Hurricane football players Brooklyn Dodgers (AAFC) players Chicago Hornets players Baltimore Colts (1947–1950) players Chicago Cardinals players San Francisco 49ers players Washington Redskins players Denver Broncos (AFL) players Western Conference Pro Bowl players People from Childress, Texas United States Marines Paramarines

NFL Network

See also

References