Todd Brown (born July 16, 1960) is an American former 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 wide receiver in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) for the

Montreal Concordes The Montreal Alouettes ( French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Cana ...

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

and

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

. 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 ...

for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

Early years

Brown attended Holdrege High School, where he was a starter at wide receiver and also competed in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

. He was named All-state in football as a senior. He was also considered one of the greatest triple jumpers in the history of Nebraska high school, setting a state record with a 50 feet, 2 1/4 inches leap, while winning the Class B state championship in 1978.

College career

Brown walked-on at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. He became a starter at wide receiver as a sophomore, leading the team with 28 receptions for 416 yards and 5 touchdowns. As a junior, he had 14 receptions (third on the team), 277 yards (second on the team) and 3 touchdowns (second on the team). As a senior, he started at wide receiver alongside future

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

Irving Fryar Irving Dale Fryar, Sr. (born September 28, 1962) is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for seventeen seasons. Fryar played college football for the Universit ...

, leading the team with 23 receptions for 399 yards, a 17.3 -yard average and 4 touchdowns. He finished his college career with 65 receptions for 1,092 yards, a 16.8-yard average and 12 touchdowns. At the time, he ranked in the top-ten in receiving in school history. In 2005, he was inducted into the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was listed 88th by the

Omaha World-Herald The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...

, as one of the Nebraska 100 greatest athletes.

Professional career

Brown was selected by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

in the 6th round (154th overall) of the

1983 NFL Draft The 1983 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 April 26–27, 1983, at the New York She ...

. He also was selected in the

1983 USFL Territorial Draft The 1983 USFL Territorial Draft was the first Territorial Draft of the United States Football League (USFL). It took place on January 4, 1983, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an ...

by the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defunct Women's ...

. He instead opted to sign with the

of the

on May 7, 1983. As a rookie, he recorded 50 receptions for 731 yards and 2 touchdowns. On July 21, 1986, he was signed by the

. He was released before the start of the season on August 18.

Personal life

Todd is the founder o
Brown Church Development Group
an organization dedicated to providing church leaders ministry solutions. His daughter Ashley, was the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

champion in the

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten Hurdling, hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first h ...

at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

in 2008.

References

External links

Todd Brown bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Todd 1960 births Living people People from Holdrege, Nebraska Players of American football from Nebraska American football wide receivers Nebraska Cornhuskers football players Montreal Concordes players Saskatchewan Roughriders players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players