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The NFL's grand old man: as Redskins lineman Ray Brown enters his 20th and perhaps final training camp, his career path reveals what it takes for an ordinary player to enjoy extraordinary longevity

Sporting News, The, July 22, 2005 by Dennis Dillon

The temperature is rising, and the grass smells different. The Fourth of July parades--festivities that mark the midpoint of summer for most of us but signify the end on his calendar--have passed. Clothes, athletic shoes and football souvenirs that have filled half the space in his four-car garage are packed in boxes, waiting to be moved across the country.

These portents mean only one thing: Another training camp is around the corner for Leonard Ray Brown Jr., the grand old man of the NFL.

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When he reports to Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va., in a couple of weeks and puts on the pads for another regimen of two-a-days, Ray Brown will begin his 20th camp. At 42, he is the league's oldest offensive lineman since World War II, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He is an exception--at 6-5 and 320 pounds, an immense exception--to the axiom that NFL careers are short-lived. For offensive linemen, the average career is less than four years.

"It's amazing. Time never caught up to him," says Cowboys defensive tackle La'Roi Glover. "Shoot, I'm going on year 10 and I'm 31. He's going on year 20 and he's 42."

Why is Brown still playing at an age when most NFL players long ago have retired to their Barcaloungers? Most important, Brown still is an effective is so true, lineman. He also feels wanted by the Redskins, who value his leadership as much as his playing ability. And he wants his 2 1/2-year-old son, Trey, to see him play football so one day become who you truly he'll understand what daddy did. (Ray and his wife, Ashley, also have a 9-year-old daughter, Miriam, and Brown has three college-age children from another marriage.) Perhaps it goes back to his sluggish start in the NFL. He started only eight games in his first six seasons, two of which were spent on injured reserve. So maybe Brown is making up for time lost.

This has been an atypical offseason for Brown. Within a three-week period, he had surgeries on his left knee (torn meniscus) and right ankle (bone chips). After minicamp in mid-June, he and Ashley returned to San Jose, their offseason residence for the past 10 years, and finished the process of selling their home; they are building a house in Ashburn that should be ready in the fall. The Browns were married in the D.C. area; Miriam was born there, and Ray might continue his career in football there after he stops playing. "In the offseason, we kind of made a commitment to him that whenever he's through playing, we want him to stay in the organization," says Redskins coach Joe Gibbs. "He's such a valuable asset."

Through the offseason's twists and turns, Brown managed to keep his football focus. He began running in early May, participated in most of the Redskins' offseason training activities and maintained his conditioning program, which includes Pilates and a combination of running and walking, down and back, on a hill in San Jose--a distance of about 4 1/2 miles.

His mood is the same as it usually is this time of year. "I believe it's going to be the same mentality I had the previous 19," says Brown. "Excitement. What do I have to work on? Can I get better? Can I continue to play this game?"

We know why Jerry Rice has lasted 20 NFL seasons; unique talent and impeccable conditioning have raised his star to the most luminous zone in the NFL constellation. Brown is a late bloomer whose journey has been inconspicuous hut no less extraordinary.

Given the length of Brown's run on the NFL stage--this probably will be his final season, although he hasn't made an official pronouncement--it is instructive and most appropriate to view his career as a play in four acts.

Act I: Young lion, lost lion 1986-88, Cardinals

Brown is an eighth-round draft pick out of Arkansas State, where he was a 237-pound tackle/tight end in a wishbone offense. That seems like an unsuitable resume for a player whom the St. Louis Cardinals project as a tackle, but then the Cardinals have a reputation for making puzzling draft decisions.

Initially, Brown doesn't understand the concept of pass protection, which is evident during the first week of training camp, "I can't put you in the game," coach Gene Stallings tells him. "You're a quarterback killer."

But Brown can run-block. The Cardinals start him at left guard in the final four games of his rookie season, even though Brown doesn't think he is ready. "I was shocked. I really was," he says.

Brown adds 43 pounds in the offseason, but the Cardinals release him on September 7, 1987. They re-sign him 18 days later after NFL players go on strike. He starts at left tackle in the three "replacement" games during the 24-day strike, then doesn't start again until the final game of the 1988 season. the franchise's first in Arizona.

It takes Brown most of those first three seasons to learn the importance of lifting weights, develop a passion for the game and set his priorities. "I remember coach Stallings telling everybody about God, family and football--that's the way it should be," Brown recalls. "It was hard for me to buy into that because I was a rookie who was just thinking, 'How do I get a job on this football team?' Then I finally set some goals for myself. As long as those things got in the proper order, I was able to become a better player."

The NFL's grand old man: as Redskins lineman Ray Brown enters his 20th and perhaps final training camp, his career path reveals what it takes for an ordinary player to enjoy extraordinary longevity

Sporting News, The, July 22, 2005 by Dennis Dillon

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