Jerome Brown
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Brooksville, Florida, U.S.
Brooksville, Florida, U.S.
.jpg) Brown with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1991 | |||||||||||
| No. 99 | |||||||||||
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| Position | Defensive tackle | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born | February 4, 1965 Brooksville, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Died | June 25, 1992 (aged 27) Brooksville, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||
| Listed weight | 292 lb (132 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school | Hernando (Brooksville) | ||||||||||
| College | Miami (FL) | ||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1987: 1st round, 9th overall pick | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||
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Willie Jerome Brown III (February 4, 1965 – June 25, 1992) was an American professional football defensive tackle who played for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played his entire five-year NFL career with the Eagles from 1987 to 1991, before his death just before the 1992 season. He was selected to two Pro Bowls in 1990 and 1991. He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes.
Brown graduated from Hernando High School in Brooksville, Florida, where he was often seen in the off season running laps around the track. In June 1988, he received praise for his calm demeanor as he helped disperse a group of Ku Klux Klan protesters in Brooksville, Florida.[1]
College career
Brown played college football at the University of Miami, where he was a standout player for one of college football's most successful and perhaps its most dominant program.[citation needed]
Among his more notable moments as a Miami player, five days before the 1987 Fiesta Bowl, at a promotional Fiesta Bowl dinner with the Penn State team, Brown led a walkout by the Miami players. Leading the walkout, he asked: "Did the Japanese go and sit down and have dinner with Pearl Harbor before they bombed them?" Brown and his teammates felt that the Penn State players had disrespected them by openly mocking Miami's coach, Jimmy Johnson, at a pre-game banquet. Penn State beat the heavily favored Hurricanes 14–10, and were declared National Champions.
Days earlier, Brown and fellow University of Miami player Dan Sileo drew even greater national controversy when each were seen deplaning a chartered University of Miami plane at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport, wearing Battle Dress Uniforms. He graduated from the University of Miami in 1987.
