Douglas Gordon Brown (born September 29, 1974) is a Canadian former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) and

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

. Brown won the

CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award The Most Outstanding Canadian Award is annually awarded to the best Canadian player in the Canadian Football League. The two nominees for the award are the Lew Hayman Trophy winner from the East Division, and the Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy winne ...

in 2001. He played for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

from 2001 until his retirement in 2011, competing in three

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. He was a CFL All-Star eight times.

Career

Brown was drafted by the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

5th overall in the 1997 CFL draft. However, he did not play a game with them and signed with the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

, spending his entire time there on the practice squad. Following that he went to play for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

where he played ten games with the NFL team. The 2000 season was a wash, but the end of the season saw his rights traded to Winnipeg from Calgary. He started playing with the Bombers for the

2001 CFL season The 2001 CFL season is considered to be the 48th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 44th Canadian Football League season. CFL news in 2001 The Canadian Football League were able to get new corporate partners ...

which saw him named as the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian and a visit to the

2001 Grey Cup The 89th Grey Cup (Canadian Football League championship) was held in 2001 in Montreal. The Calgary Stampeders claimed their fifth championship in team history with a 27–19 win over the East Division champions and heavily favoured Winnipeg Bl ...

game which the Bombers ended up losing. He soon acquired the nickname "Big Bird" and again won as Winnipeg's MOC award again the following season. Next season, in 2004, Brown won his third recognition as the Bombers' MOC and also won the award for the Most Outstanding Defensive Player. 2006 was another strong season, and arguably his strongest with the Blue Bombers. However, he finished as runner up for the Most Outstanding Canadian award that year. Brown went to the 2007 Grey Cup, his second appearance in the penultimate CFL, but again came up short losing by four points to the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

. Brown won his fifth CFL All-Star recognition in 2008 and again finished as runner-up for the MODP award. 2009 saw a return to recognition for Brown where he again won Winnipeg's MOC and MODP awards. Despite being one of the oldest players in the CFL, Brown continued to excel during the 2010 season. He finished with his seventh CFL All-Star naming that year. The

2011 CFL season The 2011 CFL season was the 58th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 54th season of the Canadian Football League. The complete schedule was released on February 18 and featured the defending Grey Cup champion Montr ...

saw Brown as a member of the self-titled "Swaggerville" defence for Winnipeg, which was one of the top defences in the league at that time. The 2011 season also saw Brown win his eighth East Division all-star nod. In 2016, he was inducted into the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about the CFL, ...

Statistics

Personal

Brown credited former Coquitlam Cheetahs track and field coach Percy Perry with developing his running which enabled his progression to pro football.Coquitlam Now: Retrieved on 27 December 2009 He currently writes a weekly sports column for the ''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Free Press'' (or FP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press''; previously known as the ''Winnipeg Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, natio ...

''. Brown also serves as colour commentator for Blue Bomber broadcasts on CJOB 680 AM radio in Winnipeg. Brown is also currently a KidSport Winnipeg Sport Ambassador, helping run an annual Football Camp for recipients of KidSport Winnipeg funding. He doesn’t reside in Winnipeg

References

External links

*
KidSport Winnipeg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Doug 1974 births American football defensive tackles Buffalo Bills players Canadian expatriate American football people in the United States Canadian football defensive linemen Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Canadian Award winners Living people Players of Canadian football from British Columbia Simon Fraser Red Leafs football players Sportspeople from New Westminster Washington Redskins players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Players of American football from British Columbia Winnipeg Blue Bombers announcers