— By Don Tincher —
One of my favorite things is collecting sports cards. It all started with 1971 Topps baseball cards. Over the years, I have acquired many cards much older. For me, the old pieces of cardboard are about the stories that come with the player and not really about the value.
I’ve been watching the movie and television show M*A*S*H since I was a child in the 1970s. Many years ago I found out that cast member Timmy Brown played in the National Football League mostly for the Philadelphia Eagles, so I was able to purchase one of his football cards. Brown appeared in both the movie and during the first season on television.
A lot of this story has come together in small pieces over the years. Being a graduate of Ball State, it was fun to see that Brown had played there in the 1950s. He was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 1976 long before I began my time there in the 1980s.
Obviously due to my age LOL, I don’t remember one of Brown’s greatest moments on the football field on November 6, 1966.
That day in Philadelphia, Brown became the first player in pro football history to have two kickoff returns for a touchdown in a single game as the Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys 24-23 at Franklin Field. There have been 10 others to accomplish that feat with the last being Nyheim Hines of the Buffalo Bills in 2023.
My hometown of Richmond, Indiana has quite a legacy in professional football. There are six former Red Devils who have played or coached in the NFL.
The exploits of Lamar Lundy, Paul Flatley, Vagas Ferguson and Nathan Davis are well documented in the Richmond area. Less is known about lineman Dick Murley, who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Eagles in 1956. Murley was drafted in the fourth round by the Steelers after playing at Purdue. He and Lundy were teammates with the Boilermakers and members of Richmond High School’s 1951 state championship team.
Born in Richmond in 1907, Weeb Ewbank is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame after leading the Baltimore Colts to league championships in 1958 and 1959 before his New York Jets famously beat the Colts in Super Bowl III.
Over the years, Lundy, Flatley and Ewbank crossed paths on the football field. It is the thought of people from Richmond competing in the NFL against each other, which leads me back to Brown.
Prior to his time at Ball State, Brown graduated from the Indiana Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s Home near Knightstown. What often gets lost is before Brown was placed at the facility, he had been a student at Hibberd Junior High School in Richmond. Brown was born in Richmond on May 24, 1937. His early life is documented in the book “Running Against the Grain” written by Roy Weaver, David Sullivan and Shawn Sriver published in 2022.
Brown was a three-time pro bowler who played 10 seasons in the NFL. He started his career playing just one game with the Green Bay Packers in 1959 before joining the Eagles a year later when they won the NFL championship.
After the 1967 season, Brown was traded to the Colts as they would go on to win the NFL title in 1968 earning a spot in Super Bowl III. With Ewbank on the opposing sideline coaching the Jets in the Super Bowl, Brown returned two kickoffs and four punts during the contest as the Colts would fall 16-7 as he played in his final game before retiring a few months later.
While beginning his singing and acting career during his time with the Eagles, Brown continued that part of his life until his last movie in 2000, which was Frequency starring Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel. Brown passed away in 2020 in California, but he should be remembered as part of the proud NFL legacy in Richmond.