Ronald James Brown (born March 31, 1961) is an American former

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

and

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 ...

wide receiver, winner of the gold medal in the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individu ...

at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

. He went to

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

High school career

Brown played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

at powerhouse

Baldwin Park High School Baldwin Park High School is located in Baldwin Park, California. It is part of the Baldwin Park Unified School District. It is one of three high schools in the city, Sierra Vista High School and North Park Continuation School being the other ...

Baldwin Park, California Baldwin Park is a city located in the central San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,176, down from 75,390 at the 2010 census. History Baldwin Park began as p ...

until his senior year. He then moved to Northern California and played for Northgate High School in Walnut Creek.

Track and field

Brown was also a track star, he ran the second leg in the

team that won the gold medal and set the world record in the

in Los Angeles, with a time of 37.83 seconds. Brown also competed in the 60 meters,

100 meters The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

and

200 meters The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

, 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 The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

. 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'', where he went by the name "Speedball Brown" and claimed to be the fastest man in town.

Personal bests

References

External links

* 1961 births Living people American football return specialists American football wide receivers American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Arizona State Sun Devils football players Los Angeles Raiders players Los Angeles Rams players Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics National Conference Pro Bowl players Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field People from Baldwin Park, California Sportspeople from Walnut Creek, California Players of American football from Los Angeles Track and field athletes from Los Angeles Track and field athletes in the National Football League USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners {{widereceiver-1960s-stub