Why Tennessee football Vol For Life Eddie Brown backs Josh Heupel 100%

John Shearer
·4 min read
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As a star punt returner and defensive back for the Tennessee Vols a half-century ago, Eddie Brown was known for having great peripheral vision that helped him succeed and become an All-American.

“I could almost see behind me. That was God’s gift. I had it and used it,” he said.

Now looking at the world exactly 50 years later with a different kind of hindsight, he still likes what he sees from his life experiences. He also feels the future looks bright, too, for the Big Orange football program under third-year coach Josh Heupel.

“Coach Heupel is doing a great job, and he is so welcoming to all of us (former players),” he said. “He’s turning it around, but I can’t wait until he gets all his people in here.”

Eddie Brown, who was a standout safety and punt returner for the Tennessee Vols 50 years ago, stands outside the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center on Oct. 31, 2023. The former all-American tries to attend UT football practices on a weekly basis.
Eddie Brown, who was a standout safety and punt returner for the Tennessee Vols 50 years ago, stands outside the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center on Oct. 31, 2023. The former all-American tries to attend UT football practices on a weekly basis.

Brown knows about the welcoming part, as he tries to attend a morning team practice once a week or so, often with his brother-in-law and earlier Vol player Bill Baker. In fact, as he was interviewed on Oct. 31, Brown seemed more typical fan than former star with an easily approachable manner.

The scrappy former player’s stats tell otherwise. He was UT team captain in 1973 and went on to enjoy a solid NFL and USFL career that included intercepting a pass for the Los Angeles Rams against Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XIV in 1980.

Brown, who now lives in Greeneville after moving there while enjoying a long career with Jostens, said he had first latched on to the Vols as an elementary school youngster growing up in Marion County.

His father, Paul Brown, who went on to work for 44 years for the Crane manufacturing company in nearby Chattanooga without missing a day of work, took young Eddie to the now-famous Tennessee-LSU game of 1959. After the Vols won with a defensive stand on a two-point try, he was a Vol fan for life.

He would go on to be a Vol player for life, too, despite the overtures of Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, who along with Crimson Tide trainer Jim Goostree would call him every Thursday night in high school.

Eddie Brown in his playing days at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Eddie Brown in his playing days at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Wearing No. 25, Brown initially signed when Doug Dickey was the coach but would play under Bill Battle. While he thinks Dickey could have built Tennessee into a 1970s-era dynasty if the coach had not left for his alma mater of Florida, Brown still enjoyed playing for Battle, who also had early success. “He treated us like men and expected us to do what we were expected to do,” he said of Battle. “He was a great man.”

Following in a long line of standout defensive backs for Tennessee at that time, he had as many big plays against Kansas in 1973 as many players enjoy in an entire career.

He blocked a field goal in a play that resulted in damage to four teeth, but he came back to run an interception back 73 yards, had two long punt returns, recovered a fumble, and made the game-saving tackle on a two-point attempt in the 28-27 UT win in Memphis.

While he was named Sports Illustrated player of the week, he did not get to enjoy the accolades because of having to serve as a pallbearer at the funeral of his wife’s grandmother and getting his teeth fixed. “It was a long ordeal,” he quipped.

Another contrast came in a Nov. 3 game that year at home against Georgia. Despite an 85-yard punt return by Brown for a TD in the third quarter, Georgia came back to win 35-31 after a botched fourth-down fake punt attempt and a TD by the late Bulldog quarterback Andy Johnson, who picked up a fumbling bouncing ball.

“It was back and forth, and it was one of those bad bounces,” Brown said.

Another memorable experience at UT was being traveling roommates with running back Haskel Stanback, a Black teammate, at a time when UT was still in the early days of being an interracial team. Brown remembers that his parents even became like second parents for Stanback. That team also included pioneering SEC Black quarterback Condredge Holloway.

The University of Tennessee football player Eddie Brown scoring a touchdown against Georgia on a punt return in 1973.
The University of Tennessee football player Eddie Brown scoring a touchdown against Georgia on a punt return in 1973.

Someone who became like a father figure to Brown was NFL coach George Allen of the Redskins and later Rams, under whom he played and who took a liking to Brown’s style and work ethic.

Brown had planned to go to vet school before he was drafted. Although he pondered being a coach and even talked with noted NFL coaches Don Shula and Marv Levy about positions after his playing days, he ended up working for Jostens.

That work included ordering rings for UT’s championship teams. The pieces of jewelry literally symbolized an unbroken circle for him − a longtime connection to UT that included once being a big man on campus.

“Since 1959, I have bled orange,” he said with emotion.

The University of Tennessee football player Eddie Brown.
The University of Tennessee football player Eddie Brown.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football Vol for Life Eddie Brown likes coach Josh Heupel