Willie Brown (March 21, 1942 – July 26, 2018) was an 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 and coach. A star player for the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, he went on to play three seasons 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 ...

. After his playing career, he served as a coach for the

Trojans Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 1890 ...

and the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

of the National Football League.

Playing career

Brown played high school football at

Long Beach Polytechnic High School Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...

, where he won the California Interscholastic Federation player of the year award in 1959. Brown went on to play

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

(USC). As he was a two-way player for the

, he began as a tailback and

kickoff returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

but also played

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and flanker. In 1962, he led the Trojans, who went on to win the national championship, in rushing, kickoff returns and interceptions. In 1963, as the team captain, he led the team in receiving, scoring and interceptions. He was also a standout baseball player, who was a center fielder and shortstop for the university's baseball team that won the 1963 College World Series. In the

1964 NFL Draft The 1964 National Football League draft was held in Chicago, Illinois, at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers on Monday, December 2, 1963. The first overall pick was Dave Parks, an end from Texas Tech, selected by the San Francisco 49ers. The AFL dra ...

, 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 ...

selected him with the fourth pick of the third round, 32nd overall. He played two seasons with the Rams before finishing his playing career with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. He accumulated 133 rushing yards and 110 receiving yards in the NFL.

Coaching career

Brown returned to USC as an assistant football coach from 1968 to 1975 and helped the Trojans win national championships in 1972 and 1974. He also served as a Trojan baseball assistant in 1969 and in 1970, when USC won the 1970 College World Series.In memoriam: Willie Brown, football star and assistant football, baseball coach
/ref> In 1976 and 1978, he went to the

where he served as the wide receivers coach and in 1977, the team's running backs coach. In his later years, Brown was an academic monitor for USC's Student-Athlete Academic Services from 1996 to 2016.

Personal life

Brown had two brothers, Oscar and

Ollie Ollie is a given name and a nickname, often as a shortened form of Oliver, Olive, Olympia, Olga or Olivia. Variants include Olie, Oli, Oly and Olly. People Given name * Ollie Marie Adams (1925–1998), American gospel and R&B singer * Ollie B ...

, both of whom played

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. Ollie, who was the first pick by the San Diego Padres in the

1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft The 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft was conducted to stock up the rosters of four expansion teams in Major League Baseball created via the 1969 Major League Baseball expansion and which would begin play in the 1969 season. The expansi ...

and was known as the “Original Padre”, died in 2015. Brown died on July 26, 2018 in Carson, California from cancer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Willie 1942 births 2018 deaths All-American college football players Los Angeles Rams players Players of American football from Tuscaloosa, Alabama African-American players of American football Philadelphia Eagles players Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches USC Trojans baseball players USC Trojans football players Deaths from cancer in California American football wide receivers American football running backs