Jerome Brown (February 4, 1965 – June 25, 1992) was an American football defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League.
Brown's son, Dee Brown, is now an outfielder in the farm system of the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball.[1]
University of Miami career
Brown played college football at the University of Miami, where he was a standout player for one of college football's most successful programs. He graduated from the university in 1987.
1987 Fiesta Bowl controversies
Among his more notable moments as a Miami player, five days before the 1987 Fiesta Bowl, at a promotional Fiesta Bowl dinner with the Penn State team, Brown led a walkout by the Miami players. Leading the walkout, he asked: "Did the Japanese go sit down and have dinner with Pearl Harbor before they bombed them?" Brown and his teammates felt that the Penn State players had disrespected them by openly mocking Miami's coach, Jimmy Johnson, at a pre-game banquet. John Bruno, a punter for the Nittany Lions, observed: " ... didn't the Japanese lose the war?" Penn State beat the heavily-favored Hurricanes 14-10, and were declared National Champions.
Days earlier, Brown and fellow University of Miami players drew even greater national controversy when each were seen deplaning a chartered University of Miami plane at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport, wearing BDUs, an image that further solidified a national reputation of the University of Miami as "Thug U" in an era where college football players often are instructed to wear suits and ties in pre-Bowl game public appearances.
Philadelphia Eagles
Brown was drafted in the first round (ninth overall) of the 1987 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. During his five-year professional career with the Eagles, he was twice selected to the Pro Bowl (in 1990 and 1991).
Death and legacy
Brown died on June 25, 1992, at the age of 27, following an automobile accident in Brooksville, Florida, in which both he and his nephew, Gus, were killed when Brown lost control of his Chevrolet Corvette at high speed and crashed into a power pole. Brown was buried in Brooksville, Florida. In 2000, the Jerome Brown Community Center was opened in memory of Brown.
"Bring it home for Jerome"
Brown's jersey number (#99) was retired by the Eagles on September 6, 1992, in an emotional pre-game ceremony at Veterans Stadium, prior to the Eagles' first game of the 1992 season. After his death, Eagles players and fans started the unofficial motto, "Bring it home for Jerome," an indirect reference among Eagles fans to bringing a Super Bowl title to the city in Brown's honor. A sign of the fondness with which Eagles fans continue to view Brown, the saying has continued to this day, over 15 years following his death.
See also
Notes
External links
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