From Blair to the big leagues

Before Tom Brown was a two-time Super Bowl champion and a Major League Baseball player––and one of less than 70 people to have ever played both professional football and baseball––he was a Blazer. 

Brown, one of this year’s inductees into the Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame, played football, baseball, and basketball for Blair before graduating in 1958. 

From Blair to the big leagues

Photo: Jessie Brown

Jessie Brown

Tom Brown’s son, Brad Brown, says that his father was competitive from an early age. “Growing up [in] Silver Spring, [he] came from a very athletic background,” he says. “My dad always [tells me] he played [sports] with kids that were two or three years older than him because that’s what his older brother Richard was.”

At Blair, Brown was a gifted athlete and excelled at the three sports he played year-round. In particular, Brown’s talent in football led to interest from colleges. However, Brown insisted on playing baseball at the next level. “My dad loved baseball [more] than any other sport,” Brad Brown says. 

When Brown visited the University of Maryland in 1958, he leveled with head football coach Tom Nugent. “[My dad] said ‘Listen, I want to play baseball too,’” Brad Brown says, “and the coach [went] ‘no… we want you to focus on one sport.’” That’s when Tom Brown’s father stepped in and told Nugent it was either allow him to play both or they would look at other schools. Nugent realized he didn’t have a choice; he agreed to let Brown play both football and baseball on the condition that he earn a starting position on the baseball team. 

During his time at Maryland, Brown enjoyed success on the gridiron and the diamond; he earned All-American and All-Conference honors playing both football and baseball. In his senior season in 1963, Brown sported an impressive .449 batting average, earning him an offer to play for the Washington Senators right out of college. That same year, Brown was drafted 28th overall in the NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. “My dad had to make that decision of ‘do I go football or baseball?’” Brad Brown says. “He obviously figured that he would have a much longer career in baseball, so he chose baseball.”

Brown signed a minor league contract in February of 1963. He ended up making the major league team in April, but Brad Brown explains that it wasn’t just athletic skill that led him to get called up. 

”He’s down there in the minor league system and he’s doing real well,” he says, “but it was Fidel Castro that had a huge impact on my dad’s career… The Senators’ first baseman was Cuban and [he went] back to Cuba after the baseball season,” he explains. “The guy got stuck down there and he couldn’t get out. They needed a first baseman… so they go, ‘let's call up Tom Brown.’”

After a year playing at the major league level and a couple of years floating around in the Senators’ minor league system, Vince Lombardi––the legendary football coach and the namesake of the Super Bowl trophy––persuaded Brown to make the switch to football and play for the Green Bay Packers. 

Under Lombardi, Brown won the first two Super Bowls in NFL history in 1967 and 1968. In the 1968 offseason, Lombardi left Green Bay to become the coach and general manager of Washington’s football franchise and brought Brown with him. Brown would only end up playing a single game with Washington before suffering a season-ending injury and retiring at the end of the season. 

Brown is the only athlete in history to have played for both Washington’s baseball and football franchises. 

After retiring, Brown left a mark off the field as well. He created a youth sports camp in Salisbury called Tom Brown’s Rookie League. “My dad wanted to teach kids the fundamentals of baseball, basketball, and football,” Brad Brown says. “He had an impact on these kids. They came from all different backgrounds––married [parents], divorced [parents], white, Black, Catholic. It didn’t matter to my dad. If you wanted to come out and play sports, my dad would love to have you.”

Brad Brown describes the attitude his dad brought to coaching. “I remember when we were playing youth football and there was a penalty, the referees would go talk to the coaches, [but] my dad [would say]... ‘go talk to my players and let them decide what they want to do.’” Brown continued to coach and oversee the camp for 40 years until he retired in 2015. 

In his pursuits off the field, Brown was humble and made a point of passing along his sports wisdom to the next generation.“When he was coaching, he never wanted anyone to say ‘Oh, that’s Tom Brown over there,’” Brad Brown says. “[It] was about the kids.”