Ronald James Brown (born March 31, 1961) is an American former athlete and professional football player. He won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1984 Summer Olympics.[2] Brown played as a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He went to Arizona State University.[3]
| No. 89, 24, 81 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Wide receiver | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born: | March 31, 1961 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight: | 181 lb (82 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school: | Baldwin Park (Baldwin Park, California) | ||||||||||||
| College: | Arizona State | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1983 / round: 2 / pick: 41 (by the Cleveland Browns)[1] | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
High school career
editBrown played high school football at powerhouse Baldwin Park High School in Baldwin Park, California until his senior year. He then moved to Northern California and played for Northgate High School in Walnut Creek.[citation needed]
Track and field
edit| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's athletics | ||
Representing the  United States
| ||
 |
1984 Los Angeles | 4 × 100 m relay |
Brown was also a track star, he ran the second leg in the 4 × 100 metres relay team that won the gold medal and set the world record in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with a time of 37.83 seconds.
Brown also competed in the 60 meters, 100 meters and 200 meters, posting personal bests of 6.64 seconds, 10.01 seconds and 20.44 seconds, respectively.
Football career
editAfter the Olympics, Brown joined the Los Angeles Rams. 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,[4] where he went by the name "Speedball Brown" and claimed to be the fastest man in town.[5]
Personal bests
edit| Event | Time (seconds) | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 meters | 6.64 | Tokyo, Japan | March 10, 1984 |
| 100 meters | 10.01 | Eugene, Oregon | April 24, 1983 |
| 200 meters | 20.44 | Eugene, Oregon | June 4, 1983 |
References
edit- ^ "1983 Cleveland Browns". databaseFootball.com. Archived from the original on February 25, 2008. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
- ^ "A year ago, Ron Brown turned down a multi-million..." UPI. August 17, 1984.
- ^ Metcalfe, Jeff (July 30, 2014). "ASU's Ron Brown preferred track to football, leading to 1984 Olympic gold". Azcentral Sports.
- ^ "Rams". Los Angeles Times. November 13, 1986. p. 129. Retrieved April 18, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Ram IT (NFL Rams Football Team) Song". Retrieved April 17, 2018 – via YouTube.[dead YouTube link]
External links
edit
   | This article about a track and field Olympic medalist of the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This biographical article relating to an American football wide receiver born in the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |