When football ended each season, Brown would be back out on the baseball diamond come Monday. It was something he loved, and something that he was good at, so choosing between the two sports never really became an issue until it was time to graduate from USC.
Brown ultimately chose football over baseball because the NFL provided a better lifestyle for he and his wife than the busy and unglamorous grind of minor league baseball. Even still, he had options, being drafted by the Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Rams (NFL) and the San Diego Chargers (AFL).
The tailback had a successful five-year career with both the Rams and the Eagles before getting a phone call one day in 1968 that would bring him back home to USC.
“I was training to go back to Philadelphia when John McKay called me and offered me a job as an assistant at USC,” he remembers. “It was too big of an opportunity to pass up. So I was hired as an assistant football and baseball coach. There weren’t many black coaches then. I think I may have been the first or second black coach at a major university.”
Brown’s first stint at USC was a success, and soon it was evident that things would work out pretty well for him as a coach too. A member of the coaching staff for the national championship football teams of 1972 and 1974, and an assistant coach for the national championship baseball team in 1968, Brown turned his experience as a player into an effective career as a coach.
When his coaching days were over, Brown owned and operated seven Wendy’s franchises over the course of 10 years. His restaurants expanded and profited, and when the economy began to dip, he sold them back to Wendy’s. He enjoyed two years of semi-retirement before getting another phone call that would bring him, once again, back to USC. Mike Garrett, the athletic director at the time, wanted to utilize Brown’s experience, this time, as an academic advisor.
For the past 20 years, Brown has been helping athletes navigate problems they may encounter in school and in life, drawing on his experiences as a former dual-sport star and coach. The key to succeeding in football, and in all sports, in his opinion, is excelling in the mental aspects of the game.
“It isn’t good enough just to be ‘good’ anymore. You have to be better than that. And that takes focus,” he says. “You can identify and teach skills, the game and the little things, but the difference is the mental attitude. You don’t get to that next level without focus and dedication and sacrifice. It’s something you have to accept. You’ve got to want it.”
He helps all athletes, but his passion is football. With the same background as many of the current players on the team, he understands how hard it can be to overcome obstacles and build a foundation to succeed in the long term. But, he also knows that it’s possible, and so he takes every opportunity he gets to pass on his wisdom. Brown tries to prepare them for everything, talking to players about finances, about the importance of a degree, advising them against the perils of partying too much as an athlete and warning them about cutting off options for their futures.
“The bottom line is, even if you do make it, the average career in the NFL is three years. You have a whole life ahead of you,” he says. “These four years at USC are going to affect how you live the rest of your life. And if you don’t take advantage, it’s going to hurt.”
Whether it was winning national championships, owning and operating successful businesses or even watching both of his younger brothers have successful careers in Major League Baseball, Brown has seen the results of hard work his entire life. He’s made it his mission to pass on the valuable lessons he’s learned in his career to today’s Trojan athletes. And for him, it doesn’t feel like work at all.
“I don’t think I’ve ever worked a day in my life,” Brown concludes with a smile. “I’m soon to be 73-years-old and I’ve never worked at something I didn’t enjoy. Every place I’ve ever been I’ve enjoyed getting out of bed in the morning and that’s huge to me. There aren’t many things I’d change in my life and if you can say that at my age, you’ve done something right.”
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