Tom Brown, former Green Bay Packers safety who clinched the 1966 NFL championship game with an interception in the end zone, died April 23 in Maryland. He was 84.
Brown was Vince Lombardi’s second draft pick in 1963, after linebacker Dave Robinson, but opted to play baseball, his favorite sport. Lombardi kept after him, however, and mid-way through the 1964 season Brown quit a Washington Senators’ minor league team and signed with the Packers. He batted .147 in 61 games for the American League Senators in 1963 before he was sent down to the minors.
“I think I could probably have played major league ball, but not as a starter; probably as a utility player. But I had the opportunity to play with the Packers and I took that opportunity,” Brown said in a 2009 interview, according to Packers historian Cliff Christl.
His pro football career was better. He played every game for the Packers from 1964 to 1968 and one game with Washington in 1969. He was the starting safety in three consecutive championship games and two Super Bowl victories. He had 13 interceptions, including in the 1966 NFL championship game in Dallas, and six fumble recoveries.
The Cowboys, who trailed Green Bay 34-27, had a first-and-goal on the Packers 2-yard line with time winding down after a pass interference penalty on Brown. On fourth-and-two, Dallas quarterback Don Meredith rolled to the right, where Robinson pressured him into making a wobbly pass into the end zone, which Brown picked off.
The Packers went on to win Super Bowl I against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The following year, he had an interception in a playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams in Milwaukee, which led to the Packers’ Ice Bowl victory against the Cowboys one week later in Green Bay.
He was the first player to hit a home run in Major League Baseball and play on a Super Bowl-winning team. The only other to do so was Deion Sanders.
Brown was a two-sport star at the University of Maryland, where he received All-American and All-ACC honors in baseball and football. He is a member of the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame.
He operated Tom Brown’s Rookie League from 1989-2015 in Salisbury, Maryland, which included youth programs in baseball, flag football and basketball for 5- to 12-year-olds.
Brown lived in Salisbury at the time of his death.
Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG.