Ronald James Brown (born March 31, 1961) is an American former

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

and 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 ...

player. He won a gold medal in the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

. Brown played as a

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

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). He went to

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

High school career

Brown played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

at powerhouse

Baldwin Park High School Baldwin Park High School is located in Baldwin Park, California. It is part of the Baldwin Park Unified School District. It is one of three high schools in the city, Sierra Vista High School and North Park Continuation School being the other t ...

Baldwin Park, California Baldwin Park is a city located in the central San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 72,176, down from 75,390 at the 2010 United States c ...

until his senior year. He then moved to Northern California and played for Northgate High School in Walnut Creek.

Track and field

Brown was also a track star, he ran the second leg in the

team that won the gold medal and set the world record in the

in Los Angeles, with a time of 37.83 seconds. Brown also competed in the

60 meters 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At indoor events, the 60 metres is run on lanes set out in the mi ...

100 meters The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

and

200 meters The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

, posting personal bests of 6.64 seconds, 10.01 seconds and 20.44 seconds, respectively.

Football career

Brown was drafted in the second round of the 1983 draft by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

, but never reported to them as he was training for the Olympics. The Browns traded their rights to the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

, and Brown joined the Rams after the Olympics. He caught 23 passes in 1984 for 478 yards with four touchdowns as a rookie in 1984 before being tasked to return kicks the following year. In 1985, he returned 28 kicks for 918 yards for three touchdowns (his touchdowns and 32.8 yards per return were league highs). This resulted in Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors. Only his 1989 year would exceed that season, with him returning 47 (a league high) for 968 yards. In his eight seasons, he recorded 1,000 all-purpose yards (receiving + returns) four times (1985–87, 1989) before his career ended in 1990 at the age of 30. Brown appeared in the 1986 Rams promotional video, ''Let's Ram It'', where he went by the name "Speedball Brown" and claimed to be the fastest man in town.

Personal bests

References

External links

* 1961 births Living people American football return specialists American football wide receivers American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Arizona State Sun Devils football players Los Angeles Raiders players Los Angeles Rams players Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics National Conference Pro Bowl players Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field People from Baldwin Park, California Players of American football from Walnut Creek, California Players of American football from Los Angeles Track and field athletes from Los Angeles USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Baldwin Park High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen {{widereceiver-1960s-stub