Thomas Edward "Ted" Brown (born February 15, 1957) is a former American college and professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons during the late 1970s and 1980s. Brown 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 ...

for

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

, where he was recognized as an All-American. He was a first-round pick in the

1979 NFL Draft The 1979 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1979, at the Waldorf Astoria ...

, and played professionally for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings. Brown's son, J. T. is a former National Hockey League player.

Early years

Brown was born in High Point, North Carolina. He attended

T. Wingate Andrews High School T. Wingate Andrews High School is a public magnet high school in High Point, North Carolina and part of the Western region of the Guilford County school district. The school enrolls students in grades 9 through 12, follows the traditional school ...

College career

By the time Brown graduated from

in 1978, he had set the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

career rushing record with 4,602 yards and the single game rushing record with 251 yards against

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

in 1977. He was an All-ACC pick for all four years in college and a consensus All-American in 1978.

College statistics

* Includes bowl games. In 2013, Brown was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

Professional career

The Minnesota Vikings chose Brown in the first round (sixteenth pick overall) of the 1979 NFL Draft, and he played for the Vikings from to . In December 1981, Brown accidentally shot himself while handling a loaded revolver. The injury required surgery to remove bullet and wood fragments from his upper thigh. There was a question of whether he would be able continue his career in football. Brown was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.

Post-retirement

After retiring from football, Brown became a juvenile probation officer in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His son, J. T., played with the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Ted 1957 births Living people All-American college football players American football running backs College Football Hall of Fame inductees Minnesota Vikings players NC State Wolfpack football players Players of American football from North Carolina Sportspeople from High Point, North Carolina People who entered an Alford plea