Tom Brown, starting left safety on the Green Bay Packers' three-peat NFL champions from 1965-67, died Wednesday, April 23. He was 84 and had been a resident of Salisbury, Md.
The Packers selected Brown in the second round of the 1963 NFL Draft, but had to wait a year before he decided to pursue a pro football career. A little more than three months after the Packers had drafted him, Brown signed a baseball contract with the Washington Senators.
A two-sport star at Maryland, Brown batted .312 in spring training and played in 61 games for the Senators in 1963. A switch-hitter who could play both outfield and first base, Brown batted .147 and was shipped to York, Pa., of the Eastern League, where he played 77 games in '63 and 59 in 1964.
In July of that year, Brown abruptly quit baseball and signed with the Packers. He was tried at flanker, then cornerback before settling in at safety. In 1965, Brown beat out defensive captain Hank Gremminger for the starting job at left safety.
Over the next four seasons, Brown started all but one game for the Packers. He also started in three straight NFL championship games from 1965-67 and in Super Bowls I and II. The highlight of his career was a game-saving interception in the closing seconds of the Packers' 34-27 victory over Dallas in the 1966 NFL title game.
In February 1969, Brown was traded to Washington for a fifth-round draft pick and reunited there with Vince Lombardi, who had left the Packers less than a month before. However, Brown played just one more game.
During a 2009 interview, Brown recalled his first encounter with Lombardi, who was then coaching the Packers and anxious to get a look at Brown after he had abandoned his baseball career.
"I met Coach Lombardi on the steps of Sensenbrenner Hall the first day," Brown said in reference to the Packers' dormitory at St. Norbert College. "I had just left baseball with the York White Roses in the Washington Senators' organization. I told Coach Lombardi I'd make a decision by July 1st. So I said, 'OK.' He said, 'We'll send you a plane ticket and we'll see you at training camp.'
"They were making a film, "Run to Daylight," with Howard Cosell. He was there and they were filming some stuff, and that's where I met (Lombardi) – on the steps. He said, 'Well, we finally got you.' He had drafted me in (December) 1962. I was drafted No. 2 behind Dave Robinson. But I loved baseball. It was my favorite sport. Football was just an opportunity to go to college on a scholarship. My parents didn't have that much money. But I went to the (Giants-Packers) championship game in 1962 up in Yankee Stadium. It was a cold, windy, nasty day. The field was frozen. I went in the locker room and I said, 'These guys are big. I'm going to play baseball.'
"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."
