Where are they now: Larry Brown

July 27, 2026

by Steve Thomas

Welcome to another edition of my “Where are they now” series, where I do a deep-dive into the post-Redskins and post-NFL careers of interesting Washington players.  To date, we’ve done defensive ends Dexter Manley (click here to read) and Charles Mann (click here to read), as well as running backs Timmy Smith (click here to read), Stephen Davis (click here to read), and Gus Frerotte (click here to read).  Part of my selection process for the subjects of these columns is certainly that the player should have played an interesting, probably high-profile role with the team, but also be someone who has a post-career story worthy of telling that, of course, I can actually research.  Some of these former players have very little about their post-football careers out in the open on the internet.  One player who checks all of the boxes, and whom at least a couple of our readers suggested, is running back Larry Brown.

Confession time: Brown is before my time, so I never got to see him on the field.  Regardless, though, he played a monumental role in team history during a highly successful era of Redskins history, along with a fairly incredible life outside of football.  So without further ado, let’s get into it.

Brown, born in 1947, is originally from Clairton, Pennsylvania, which is a small town south of Pittsburgh.  He was born deaf in his right ear[1], and his ability to overcome this disability played a major role both in his playing days and in his post-football life.  Also, the fact that he is an African-American who grew up in the pre-Civil Rights era and ended up becoming a star for the team with  the worst racial record in the league makes him a very prominent figure in NFL history.  Washington was forced to integrate a few years earlier in 1962 with the signings of Ron Hatcher, who only played in 3 games, and Hall of Famer Bobby Mitchell.  Nevertheless, Brown was a key part of the early racial integration of the team during owner George Preston Marshall’s final year of his life.

Brown began his college football career at Dodge City Community College, then later transferred to Kansas State University from 1967 – 1968.  In his two seasons at Kansas State, he played in a total of 20 games, and had 161 carries for 684 yards, 4.2 yards per carry, and 2 touchdowns, plus 18 receptions for 165 yards and 1 touchdown.  Considering the enormity of his later success in the NFL, it appears as though he was underutilized at Kansas St.  Brown’s stats fits the narrative that he was primarily used as a blocking back in college.

The Redskins, coached that year by the legendary Vince Lombardi, drafted Brown in the 8th round of the 1969 draft, with the 191st overall pick.  He ended up spending 8 seasons in the NFL, all in Washington, and played a total of 102 games, including 85 starts, and had 1530 carries for 5875 yards, 3.8 yards per carry, and 35 touchdowns, plus 238 receptions for another 2485 yards, 10.4 yards per reception, and 20 receiving touchdowns.

Coach Lombardi noticed that Brown was having trouble hearing the play calls in the huddle and was slow off the snap, and realized that his delayed reaction was due to his hearing disability.  Lombardi then petitioned the NFL to allow the team to place a hearing aid in this helmet, which went a long way towards solving the problem as an accommodation for Brown’s disability.[2]

Brown’s best season was certainly 1972, then coached by George Allen, which concluded with Washington’s first Super Bowl appearance in a loss to the Miami Dolphins.  That year, Brown had 285 carries in the regular season, for 1216 yards, an average of 4.3 yards per carry and a league-leading 101.3 yards per game, and 8 touchdowns, plus 32 receptions for 473 yards and 4 touchdowns.[3]  In the playoffs that season, he had another 77 carries for 261 yards, 3.4 yards per carry, and 7 receptions in 8 targets for 42 yards.  For his regular season efforts that year, Brown earned the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award, the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year Award, the UPI NFL Player of the Year Award, First-Team All-Pro Honors, and was selected to the Pro Bowl.

Beyond 1972, Brown’s other best seasons were his first three with the team, 1969 through 1971.  He made the Pro Bowl in each of those seasons and earned First-Team All-Pro honors in 1970.  During those four years, 1969 through 1972, he played and started 52 games and had a total of 977 carries for 4177 yards, 4.3 yards per carry, and 21 touchdowns, plus 119 receptions for 1292 yards, 10.9 yards per reception, and 8 touchdowns.

Certainly, Brown’s final four years in the NFL were much less successful from a statistical perspective, due in no small part to the cumulative impact of various injuries.  From 1973 to 1976, which was his final year in the NFL, he played in 50 games, with 33 starts, and had 553 carries for 1698 yards, 3.1 yards per carry, and 12 touchdowns, plus 119 receptions (exactly like in his first four years), for 1193 yards, 10.0 yards per reception, and 12 touchdowns.  He did not receive any honors during those final four seasons.  Brown retired after the 1976 season.

Brown was selected both as one of the 70 Greatest Redskins[4] and the 80 Greatest Redskins[5], as well as a member of the Washington Ring of Fame[6].  He was considered in the early stages of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection process on multiple occasions, including by the Senior Committee, but never became a finalist.[7]

Brown transitioned into a business career after his retirement in 1976, first as a salesman for the brokerage firm E.F. Hutton until 1981.[8]  At that point he moved to the Xerox corporation, where he stayed until 1993.[9]  His final corporate employment was with a commercial real estate firm, NAI Michael, first as a sales associate and later as a vice president.  He was with NAI Michael until his retirement in 2016.

Today, Brown lives in South Carolina.  He published a book in 1973 titled, I’ll Always Get Up.

 

[1] https://deafstars.aslmail.com/brown_larry/index.html

[2] https://columbiamohearingcenter.com/for-you-football-fans/

[3] All NFL stats courtesy of https://www.pro-football-reference.com/.

[4] https://www.commanders.com/news/larry-brown-3447308

[5] https://www.commanders.com/team/history/80-greatest-redskins-old

[6] https://www.commanders.com/team-history/ring-of-fame

[7] https://www.profootballhof.com/news/52-seniors-advance-in-voting-process-for-pro-football-hall-of-fame-s-class-of-2026

[8] https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/lawrence-larry-brown-jr

[9] https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/lawrence-larry-brown-jr