Rest in peace, "Brownie"
Ed Brown, who quarterbacked the Bears when I was first rooting for them (at age six or seven),
is dead at 79.
"Brownie, " as Bears radio voice Jack Brickhouse used to call him, was my second-favorite football player, exceeded in my admiration only by great Bears fullback Rick Casares.
Old Number 15 came to the Bears as their third-string signal caller, behind George Blanda and Zeke Bratkowski on the depth chart. By the time I was paying attention, Bratkowski was backing him up, and Blanda (who later quarterbacked for the Oakland Raiders of the AFL) was pretty much a full-time place kicker.
Brown never led the Bears to an NFL title, though he did quarterback them in their losing appearance in the NFL title game in 1956, a defeat at the hands of the New York Giants. He was a consistent quarterback and a fine on-field leader, who probably will not be remembered as widely as he deserves.
Rest in peace, "Brownie."
is dead at 79.
"Brownie, " as Bears radio voice Jack Brickhouse used to call him, was my second-favorite football player, exceeded in my admiration only by great Bears fullback Rick Casares.
Old Number 15 came to the Bears as their third-string signal caller, behind George Blanda and Zeke Bratkowski on the depth chart. By the time I was paying attention, Bratkowski was backing him up, and Blanda (who later quarterbacked for the Oakland Raiders of the AFL) was pretty much a full-time place kicker.
Brown never led the Bears to an NFL title, though he did quarterback them in their losing appearance in the NFL title game in 1956, a defeat at the hands of the New York Giants. He was a consistent quarterback and a fine on-field leader, who probably will not be remembered as widely as he deserves.
Rest in peace, "Brownie."
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