Ted Brown missing from Hall of Fame

I REALLY love it when our ‘younger fans’ exhibit a strong grasp on NC State sports history and tradition. So, when this article from Technician ran through my Twitter feed yesterday I was very pleased.

Playing in Raleigh under head coach Lou Holtz and the late Bo Rein, the North Carolinian rushed for an ACC record 4,602 yards (not including the 399 yards he racked up in bowl games) in four prolific years. It has been 34 years since he stepped off the field at the then recently named Carter-Finley Stadium, and his record has stood its ground. However, for the consensus All-American and first round NFL draft pick, it is becoming increasingly more likely that the High Point native will never join Gabriel and Ritcher in College Football’s official list of immortals.

And you won’t hear Brown, already humbled to be honored by a school he deeply loves, campaigning for a northwest Indiana ceremony anytime soon.

[snip]

Following his four years in Raleigh, Brown went on to have a respectable eight-year career with the Minnesota Vikings. The undersized back’s football passion, however, never left the program he blossomed in, and he said he will be emotional when coming back for the N.C. State Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony in early October.
“I’m very proud and very humbled to be a part of that first group that goes in,” Brown said. “If you take into account all of the athletes and all of the coaches who have been through N.C. State and then to be one of the 10 of the Hall of Famers… I think that is a great honor.

Clearly, we have discussed Ted and his career in the past at SFN. So, we would very much encourage you to take peak at our Ted Brown tag and do a little more surfing and reading.

Since Ted Brown graduated, who would you vote as the THREE best running backs in NC State football history?

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NCSU Sports History Tradition

30 Responses to Ted Brown missing from Hall of Fame

  1. runwiththepack 07/05/2012 at 9:56 AM #

    I expected him to be in the inaugural 10, but I’m glad I didn’t have to choose the 10 and hear the howls of disagreement! He was really something else. Great pro career, too.

  2. wolfbuff 07/05/2012 at 10:10 AM #

    It is unfathomable that Ted Brown would be left out of the College Football HOF. Anyone who holds a major record – rushing yards, not some minor statistical category – for 34 years and counting, not only for a school, but an entire conference should be in there. Pull out the Ouija boards and ask JoePa if he thinks Brown should be in. He absolutely destroyed the mighty PSU during their hay-day.

    But I am glad to see him in the inaugural NC State HOF class.

  3. 61Packer 07/05/2012 at 11:08 AM #

    Reminds me of a long-ago tv interview with Bum Phillips, the Oilers coach, just before a game against the Cowboys.

    Announcer: “Bum, what do you think of the Cowboys being called America’s team?”

    Phillips: “Well, they may be America’s team, but we’re TEXAS’ team!!”

    And Houston promptly took the field and kicked Dallas’ tails.

  4. JSRy2k 07/05/2012 at 11:28 AM #

    Best NCSU RB since Ted Brown? In the 14 years I’ve been closely following NCSU athletics the best RB we’ve had has been Ray Robinson. He had the most consistent career since 1998.

    Tell me about some of the others before ’98. Who were some of the most consistent on the list here?

  5. StateFans 07/05/2012 at 11:47 AM #

    First and foremost — the CLEAR #2 to Ted Brown is Joe McIntosh. The real race is to try and determine #3-#5

    http://www.statefansnation.com/index.php/archives/2009/05/22/because-joe-mcintosh-deserves-his-own-entry/

  6. rtpack24 07/05/2012 at 12:29 PM #

    Another factor that most people forget is that Ted played on the JV team the first 2 or 3 games his freshman year. I believe his first game and start was against Clemson and he ran wild that day and scored at least 4 touchdowns. Holtz would not recruit him at first because he thought he was too small however Johnny Evans kept bugging him to recruit Ted who was from Johnny’s high school but a year behind. Holtz would tell Johnny he was too small and Johnny would tell him that no matter what size he was nobody could tackle him. The rest is history!

  7. VaWolf82 07/05/2012 at 1:45 PM #

    The votes for TA say more about the average age of the voters than anything else.

  8. Old MacDonald 07/05/2012 at 1:52 PM #

    I don’t follow that Bum Phillips analogy at all. I seriously don’t want to be the Oilers compared to the Cowboys.

  9. TheCOWDOG 07/05/2012 at 1:58 PM #

    I cry foul SF. I get your point in phrasing the straw poll as post Brown, but I don’t think one can add NC State football history into the same sentence.

    Not when quite possibly 4 of the top other 3 in State history came just a scant year and two before Brown.

  10. bill.onthebeach 07/05/2012 at 2:15 PM #

    ^ + 1000 … Mr. Dog !

    Burden, Young, Fritts, Hooks all in the same backfield….

    Top that … anywhere since… including the SEC !

  11. PackPearl 07/05/2012 at 2:24 PM #

    StateFans,
    Agreed Joe McIntosh is #2 to TB on this list.Not even close! Let’s not forget who the Head coach(s) were when He played.
    #3-5 is a toss up.#3 Tremayne Stephens,# 4Ray Robinson. #5(tuff one) Anthony Barbour Or TA? AB,TA was in the “tub” too often.

    VaWolf,I agree with you also.

    COWDOG,Stan Fritts,Willie Burden,Roland Hooks,Charlie Young. Oh, yea I kinda liked Ricky Adams.( I know he came after)

    IMHWPO.

  12. wolfonthehill 07/05/2012 at 3:31 PM #

    Agree with 82’s assessment of the votes for TA. He had the ability to be one of the top backs in school history… but that potential was never realized on a regular basis, and he’s not in the top 5… and it’s not even close.

    I loved me some Anthony Barbour… hit him with a screen pass on astroturf, and the dude could fly…

  13. PackPearl 07/05/2012 at 3:43 PM #

    wolfonthehill, I think you are right.I’ve changed my mind.(see my previous post) TA is not top 5. Anthony Barbour #5, Andre Brown #6, & then….???

  14. Hungwolf 07/05/2012 at 4:08 PM #

    Tremayne, Joe, and Ray. TA had some good moments, but his fumbling, selfish attitude, and off the field issues not to mention making a dump going pro early decision kept him off my list of the next best three. TA fumbled his way out of at least 2 NFL camps and out of my list!

  15. highstick 07/05/2012 at 5:38 PM #

    Bill, you’re old…like me and Cowdog…None better that those guys before or after as a group…

    And I almost “pooped in my pants over” TA..but it was predictable for the reasons stated.

  16. bill.onthebeach 07/05/2012 at 6:32 PM #

    ^ speak for yourself ‘Stick…. I was in the third grade when you were at State.

    “old” is a self-inflicted mental disorder…. for which I have the antidote.

  17. NOT A FAN OF BLUE 07/05/2012 at 6:59 PM #

    I want talk of our former athletes to be the norm. More is good. Where are they they? What did they do? What are they doing now?

  18. Lunatic Fringe 07/05/2012 at 7:58 PM #

    I graduated college right before TA years and surely did not vote for him in the top 3. In my mind, a great RB needs to be consistently great and not just great at times so that automatically knocks him out of the conversation.

    I can’t speak for McIntosh (age showing on that one I guess) , but Tremayne & Ray Rob just never seemed to turn it over or get negative yardage.

    I actually saw some glimpses of this with Moose his first year so let’s hope he can recapture it.

  19. BJD95 07/05/2012 at 8:54 PM #

    I voted AB, McIntosh (maybe the first Pack football player I can remember idolizing), and Tremayne. In roughly that order, though AB and McIntosh are very close IMHO.

  20. SaccoV 07/06/2012 at 8:12 AM #

    I voted for TA third merely because his ability to break a long touchdown run, or even a short, Earl-Campbell-style score, was unparalleled by anyone else we’ve ever had. His one great year was as great as anyone’s (even though the GT game at home is still killing me to this day!). Ted Brown is the clear #1. I never watched him play, but his career statistics were incredible and still holdup. My second was Anthony Barbour who held the NC high school rushing record for so long. He was consistent and played on some solid teams. Tremayne was good, and Robinson had some good games in two years (notably State’s first win at FSU). Sorry for my age discrepancy. I do not remember Joe McIntosh at all.

  21. Pack78 07/06/2012 at 8:39 AM #

    I voted for Joe, AB, and Tremayne-McIntosh reminded me of TB with his ability to patiently wait for an opening and explode through it (played on the weakest teams of the three IIRC). AB could turn the corner and outrun defenders angles like no other Packer that I remember and Trmayne was a great blend of power and speed-RayRob would be my fourth-I became a Wolfpacker right after the great backs of the early 70’s that the DOG references…

  22. 66pack 07/06/2012 at 9:28 AM #

    Stan Fritz and Willie Burton are 3 AND 2 behind Brown

  23. highstick 07/06/2012 at 9:51 AM #

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Burden

    Willie played in the CFL..

    http://historicalstate.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/0011442

    Stan played a couple of years for the Cincinatti Bengals

    http://historicalstate.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/0010012

    Charley played for the Dallas Cowboys starting and backing up Walt Garrison for 3 years.

  24. highstick 07/06/2012 at 9:53 AM #

    Bill, “we are all old” by standards of those under the age of 30. However, “old” is also a state of mind that I have not reached mentally yet…

    I may not move as fast, but my mind only reminds me not to try to!

  25. highstick 07/06/2012 at 10:01 AM #

    Not necessarily a Hall of Famer, but Joe Scarpati was fun to watch. “Little Joe” played both ways at State

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Scarpati

    Also Tony Kozarsky

    http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/north-carolina-state/1961.html

    Both of these guys played in the Italian Mafia backfield, Scarpati, RB, Jim Rossi, QB, Pete Falzarao, FB, and Kozarsky, RB.

    Obviously Kozarsky was Italian, but that didn’t matter…He may have been the only one from North Carolina.

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