“Thanks Ted…”

I recently got an e-mail from my father, GoldenChain, on the great Ted Brown.  Please take a moment when considering that NC State is “never been a football powerhouse” and consider the great Ted Brown’s college career and his records that to this day remain unchallenged at NC State.

It’s also important to note that Ted Brown was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1995

A recent article in the Wolfpacker got me to thinking about the unbelievable and outstanding career of perhaps the greatest football player in NC State history. Nope not Phillip Rivers, Mario Williams, Tory Holt, or Russell Wilson, as good as they were, but Ted Brown. To the 50 and up crowd his name comes to mind pretty quickly but somehow Ted got lost in the sports archives of NCSU in the pre 24/7 sports hoopla of cable and sports talk radio. Other than a name on the Ring of Honor in Carter-Finley (known just as Carter Stadium back in those days), most Wolfpack fans don’t know much about him. If you read the rest of this article I hope that’s going to change.

Ted Brown was recruited out of High Point Andrews by Lou Holtz to come as a freshman in 1975. At 5’10” 175bs he was considered somewhat undersized by many schools. Offers were extended from App State, WCU, ECU, and NCSU. He decided to join his high school teammate Johnny Evans (QB, Punter, and color man on the Wolfpack Sports Network) and joining the Pack is what he did, going on to set ACC and school records that stand over 30 years later, many of which have never even been challenged.

His freshman year he was the ACC Rookie of the year and first team All-ACC. He had 913 rushing yards, 13 TDs with a 6.4 yard-per-carry average. A fantastic year for anyone, but think how much better it could have been…..since he didn’t start until the 5^th game of the season!  A stable of upperclassmen studs (formerly know as the “Stallions”) kept him mostly on the bench until then. He went on to post seasons of 1,088yards 13TDs in 1976, 1251 yards 14TDs in 1977, and 1350 yards 11TDs in 1978. His 4602 career yards and 49 rushing TDs still stand tall as ACC and NCSU records.

Here are some other records and achievements that still stand tall:

–          as mentioned, 4602 career rush yards, still #1 in the ACC
–          49 rushing Touch Downs, still #1 in the ACC (he’s second in total TD’s with 51)
–          27 career 100 yard rushing games, #1 in the ACC
–          306 points scored, 1^st in the ACC for a non-kicker
–          4 year All-ACC 1^st team player, the only one in league history
–          consensus All-American 1978
–          1^st round NFL draft choice (16^th Vikings)
–          NCSU record for most rushing yards in a game 251 vs. PSU (ranked 9^th at the time)
–          NCSU record longest run from scrimmage, 95 vs. Syracuse ’77
–          was the first African American athlete names as an All American from NCSU
–          Heisman nominee, 6^th in voting in 1978.

What’s even more amazing is the fact that when Ted played, bowl game statistics were not considered part of your official statistics and back then he only played 11 regular season games. His statistics would be mind blowing if he had a 12 game schedule, a conference championship game, and bowl games to add to his totals! In fact, as it is if you add the 399 yards he had in bowls then Ted would be in the top 15 in NCAA history in rushing yards.

And in case you might think that Ted Brown was the only star on mediocre teams that influenced his stats in a positive way, think again. He played on some of the best teams State has fielded and played against stiffer competition than we’ve played against in many years. Three of the four teams Ted played on went to bowls when there were less than half as many than there are today (the lone year they didn’t was the first year Bo Rein took over when Holtz left for the NFL). 

Among Ted Brown’s teammates were:
–Johnny Evans: Johnny was an option quarterback who rushed more than he threw (think Navy type offense). Johnny went on to play 3 years for the Cleveland Browns primarily as a punter. He then played in the Canadian Football League for three more years. He’s also the Wolfpack radio network’s color analyst.
–Jim Ritcher: who won the Outland Trophy as the best offensive lineman in the country who went on to a fourteen year career with the Bills (finishing with the Falcons) and played in all four Super Bowls for the Bills.
–Mike Quick: another forgotten Packer, who was a 5 time Pro-Bowler as a wide receiver for the Eagles.
-Bill Cowher: who played 5 seasons in the NFL before his storied NFL coaching career.
–Woodrow Wilson: who was Ted’s back-up and probably as good as Ted.

Along with others such as Bubba Green, Lin Dawson, Robert Abraham, and Don Buckey.

Ted graduated in 1978 and while I have heard that some think he didn’t have a great pro career I must disagree. Ted was a first round pick drafted sixteenth by the Minnesota Vikings. He played eight seasons for the Vikings from 1979-86. His 53 career touchdowns (40 rushing and 13 receiving), still rank as the fifth-best in the Viking record book and his 4,546 career rushing yards are still third best in Viking history, and that from a pretty storied fanchise.

One can only think what might have been for Ted Brown in today’s over-hyped big time sports media environment. I imagine that Corso and Herbstreit would be all over Ted in college. And I imagine he may not have even been a one or two star recruit if Scout or Rivals were around back then. But Holtz saw something in him that turned out to be 100% correct. He was “football quick” and “football smart”.

For those of us who witnessed Ted Brown breaking tackles and punishing defenders, all I can say is “thanks Ted”. Seems like college football was a little more amateur, a little more local, and a little more down-home back in those days. I kind of miss ‘em, and I kind of miss Ted Brown and players like him.  (Written by GoldenChain)

As an NC State, thanks Ted for making such a mark at Carter Stadium and on the ACC.  As a son of a legacy, thanks for bringing me up to love the Red and White and admire everything it means.