(The following is an article about Mendota native Bill Brown that appeared in The Mendota Reporter’s ‘Mendota Sports Legends’ section that was published on Aug. 19, 1998. Brown passed away on Nov. 4, 2018, at the age of 80.)

By KIP CHEEK

Sports editor

You can ask Bill Brown about statistics, about Pro Bowls, about Most Valuable Player Awards and about the glory of a 14-year career in the National Football League, and none of it means quite as much as what is missing from his long list of NFL accomplishments.

In three of his 13 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, the team made it all the way to the Super Bowl. But the Vikings didn't really come close to winning any of them, and that's the one thing Brown would rather see on his resume than Pro Bowls and MVPs.

"I think I was fairly satisfied with my accomplishments in the NFL, but you wanted to win a Super Bowl," Brown said. "That was a taint we got on us. I think a lot of our guys would have been in the Hall of Fame if we'd won a Super Bowl."

Super Bowl bad luck aside, Brown enjoyed much success on the gridiron, and in other sports, beginning with his days at Mendota High School. Brown recalls winning the conference title every year during his days as a Trojan from 1954 until he graduated in 1957.

"We had a goof outfit, a lot of guys go on to play college ball," Brown said. "We definitely had some great experiences. We had a lot of fun games and some that were disappointing, but not many. We were in the hunt most of the time."

Brown also excelled in track and field, winning the state shot put title in his junior year with a toss of 55-2 and finishing second to eventual Chicago Bear teammate Mike Pyle the next year. Brown's best throw ever at MHS was 58-7, a record that still stands today.

Interest was high among colleges for Brown's services on the football field, and he quickly weeded through the inquiries and narrowed the list of choices down to three - Illinois, Wisconsin and Western Illinois. He visited Champaign and Madison, but never made it to Macomb. In the end, he found it was rather easy deciding where to continue his football career.

"I made a decision and it wasn't really hard because my brother Jim was down at Illinois, so that helped," Brown said. "My brother ended up backing me up at Illinois."

Prospects were high for the Fighting Illini, especially during Brown's junior and senior seasons, but the Big Ten title eluded them both years.

"We thought we had a great chance to do things my junior year and we were picked to be one of the top teams in the Big Ten," Brown recalled. "We ended up tying for second, which wasn't bad, but it wasn't what we wanted.

"It was kind of strange because Ohio State won the Big Ten that year, but decided not to go to the Rose Bowl because of academic reasons so they took the second-place team. Because Illinois had been to the Rose Bowl sooner than Wisconsin, Wisconsin got to go."

Brown said expectations were still great for the Illini in Brown's senior year, but injuries, specifically to himself, helped prevent Illinois from claiming the conference championship.

"I got whacked up pretty good and got my knee torn up," Brown explained. "I missed a couple games and didn't play as good when I first came back. The knee came around after a game or two, but that didn't help our team."

Brown caught the attention of professional scouts during his career at Illinois and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 1961. Brown also received offers from the Canadian Football League (CFL), and while the money was better in the CFL, Brown had always had his heart set on playing in the NFL. So even though George Halas' contractual offer was less than what Brown could have made in Canada, he signed with the Bears.

"I was a back-up fullback and played maybe eight to 10 plays a game," said Brown, about his rookie year in the NFL. "I didn't see eye to eye with Mr. Halas, so I told him I wanted him to either play me or trade me.

"Well, he decided to trade me. He talked me into signing the second year, but traded me just before training camp broke the second year to the Vikings."

Bears' loss, Vikings' gain, as Brown proved over the next 13 years.

It didn't take long for Brown to get thrown into the fire with the Vikings. In fact, Brown's first game with Minnesota is one of his most memorable.

"I got here like on a Friday night and we were playing the Packers on Sunday," Brown explained. "I got the playbook on Saturday.

"We got behind 17 points early, I remember. Somebody yelled, "Brown" and I looked around and it was (Norm) Van Brocklin. I looked around because I had just gotten there and didn't know if there was another Brown. Nobody got up so I ran up there. Van Brocklin said we were going to throw the ball a lot, and because I was a good blocker I could release and run the patterns.

"I didn't even know the patterns. All we ran was special teams on Saturday morning when we practiced so I knew none of the plays. I ended up reading as much of the playbook as I could Saturday night, and I got coaching from Tommy Mason and Fran Tarkenton on what I was supposed to do when I got out there, so that helped quite a bit."

Brown ended up playing about three quarters of the game just 48 hours after joining the Vikings.

"That was not expected when you show up two days before," he said. "You'd like to get acclimated first - well, I got acclimated in a hurry.

"It worked out. I got my feet wet and did fairly well in that game, so I played most of the year then."

Minnesota's first appearance in the Super Bowl came in 1970 (1969 season) when it lost a 23-7 decision to Kansas City in Super Bowl IV. The Vikings ended up making two more Super Bowl visits during Brown's career, losing to Miami (24-7) in Super Bowl VIII and to Pittsburgh (16-6) in Super Bowl IX, the final two years of Brown's career.

"We got to three Super Bowls, didn't win any, but we had some great games on the way there," Brown commented. "We fared pretty well until the Super Bowl, but that was our downfall, we could never win the Super Bowl."

While the one thing Brown wanted the most out of his NFL career never came to fruition, a Super Bowl ring, he did accomplish much during his 14 years in a pro uniform. He played in five Pro Bowls, was named the MVP of the Vikings several times and was selected to the Vikings' 25-Year Club on the 25th anniversary of the founding of the franchise.

He also got to play with and against many great players, including Viking teammates Jim Marshall, Carl Eller, Alan Page and Tarkenton, just to name a few. Two of the greats who were on the opposite side of the ball from Brown, and the two he most hated to meet up with on a given Sunday were Hall of Fame linebackers Dick Butkus and Ray Nitschke, also University of Illinois products like himself.

"I ran into those guys twice a year, almost every year," Brown said. "They were two of the defensive players I ran into more than anybody because they followed the fullbacks in those days and they kept track of you, so we got to meet a lot."

The Vikings were one of the first teams to utilize the fullback as a pass receiver out of the backfield, and Brown was the back who got the most balls thrown his way.

"We were one of the originals to start that, it was part of Van Brocklin's theory" Brown said. "We actually did it more than anybody else, so I met up with Butkus and Nitschke more than a few times on those plays."

In addition to all of the awards he won, Brown will also be remembered for his longevity in the game. Fourteen years in the NFL is about four times the average career span for players today, and Brown stayed in the game despite playing in some of the worst weather conditions in the NFL.

"We always liked it outside," Brown said. "I don't think I would have liked playing in the dome."

After his football retirement, Brown, who still lives in the Minneapolis area, spent about four years in the insurance business. He then went to work for the John Roberts Company, a printing business, and is still employed there today.

He also did radio work for Vikings broadcasts for about three seasons and is currently still employed by the Vikings doing promotional work, making speaking appearances and signing autographs at locations around the Twin Cities.