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Jerome Brown

Brown playing for the Philadelphia Eagles.
No. 99
Defensive tackle
Personal information
Date of birth: February 4, 1965(1965-02-04)
Place of birth: Brooksville, Florida
Date of death: June 25, 1992 (aged 27)
Place of death: Brooksville, Florida
Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Weight: 292 lb (132 kg)
Career information
College: University of Miami
NFL Draft: 1987 / Round: 1 / Pick: 9
Debuted in 1987 for the Philadelphia Eagles
Last played in 1991 for the Philadelphia Eagles
Career history
As player: Philadelphia Eagles (1987-1991)
Career highlights and awards
2× Pro Bowl selection (1990, 1991) 2× All-Pro selection (1990, 1991) Philadelphia Eagles Honor Roll Philadelphia Eagles 75th Anniversary Team Philadelphia Eagles #99 retired Eagles Ed Block Courage Award recipient (1992)
Career NFL statistics as of 1991
Games Played	76
Sacks	29.5
Interceptions	3
Stats at NFL.com

Jerome Brown (February 4, 1965 – June 25, 1992) was an American football defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. He played his entire five-year NFL career with the Eagles from 1987 to 1991, before his death just before the 1992 season. He was selected to two Pro Bowls in 1990 and 1991. He played college football at Miami.

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 and perhaps its most dominant program. He graduated from the university in 1987. It is said that he was the most feared man in the history of college football.

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. Penn State beat the heavily-favored Hurricanes 14-10, and were declared National Champions, thanks to an awful night from Vinny Testaverde who threw a career-high 5 interceptions, despite outgaining Penn State 3 to 1 in yardage and time of possession.

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.

Professional career

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.

Brown's son, Dee Brown (born 1982), plays professional baseball as an outfielder for the Winnipeg Goldeyes.^[1]

"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

• Deaths in Sports

References