Tom Brown, a Super Bowl Champion who moved to Salisbury following the end of his career and ran the local “Tom Brown Rookie League,” died last week.
Brown was drafted by the Green Bay Packers out of the University of Maryland in 1963 and was part of three straight NFL championship-winning teams from 1965-67, and won two Super Bowls. Brown also recorded the game-saving interception in the final minutes of the 1966 NFL Championship Game.
A two-sport athlete, Brown also played baseball professionally for the Washington Senators for a brief time before pursuing pro football with the Packers. He spent one year with the Senators in 1963, playing 61 games before deciding to sign with the Packers. Brown became the first athlete to hit a major league home run and play on a Super Bowl champion team, and only NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders has also done it since.
Brown was also a two-sport athlete at the University of Maryland, where he was an All-American baseball player and an All-ACC football player.
Brown was honored with multiple Hall of Fame inductions for his athletic accomplishments, including the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame, University of Maryland-College Park Hall of Fame, Washington D.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame.
Upon the end of his professional career, Brown moved to Salisbury, where he coached youth sports and ran the Tom Brown Rookie League from 1989-2015. Focusing on kids aged 5-12 in sports like baseball and basketball, Brown’s Rookie League became a local staple in the youth sports community in Salisbury.
“My dad’s philosophy was ‘Let them be kids,'” Jessie Brown, Tom Brown’s daughter, said in an interview. “Everybody’s got the same amount of playing time. He rotated positions… For the most part, these kids just wanted to have some action and learn the basics of baseball.
“Really just cultivating an environment that led to these guys and girls having confidence, seeing what teamwork is, and just having fun, being a kid and playing whatever sport they were playing.”
For Brown, creating a safe and fun athletic environment where all kids could contribute was priority number one for his Rookie League.
“He created an environment where everyone can succeed, regardless of your skill level,” Jessie Brown said. “Just the connection and how kind he was, this was a man who played at the very top of the athletic level. But he had such patience about him, and kindness and gentleness that you just felt safe, and just learned the true meaning of being a team player, and what sports is all about.”
In an interview with The Daily Times in 2014, Brown shed light on how conversations with legendary Packers head coach Vince Lombardi led him down the path of investing in coaching and contributing to the Salisbury community after he retired from football.
“I played for a coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi,” Brown said. “One of the things he always tried to stress, he says, ‘You’re not going to be able to play football forever. Find something in your life that you like to do and that you’re good at — find your niche.’ “
“I kept that in the back of my mind because he said it almost every year to the players,” Brown said. “Lombardi said, ‘Now don’t forget, when your playing days are through, find something you like to do and make a contribution to the community.'”