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Ronald James Brown (born March 31, 1961) is an American former athlete and professional football player. He won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Brown played as a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He went to Arizona State University.

High school career

Brown played high school football at powerhouse Baldwin Park High School in Baldwin Park, California until his senior year. He then moved to Northern California and played for Northgate High School in Walnut Creek.

Track and field

Olympic medal record
Men's athletics
Representing the  United States
	1984 Los Angeles	4 × 100 m relay

Brown was also a track star, he ran the second leg in the 4 × 100 metres relay team that won the gold medal and set the world record in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with a time of 37.83 seconds.

Brown also competed in the 60 meters, 100 meters and 200 meters, posting personal bests of 6.64 seconds, 10.01 seconds and 20.44 seconds, respectively.

Football career

Brown was drafted in the second round of the 1983 draft by the Cleveland Browns, but never reported to them as he was training for the Olympics. The Browns traded their rights to the Los Angeles Rams, and Brown joined the Rams after the Olympics. He caught 23 passes in 1984 for 478 yards with four touchdowns as a rookie in 1984 before being tasked to return kicks the following year. In 1985, he returned 28 kicks for 918 yards for three touchdowns (his touchdowns and 32.8 yards per return were league highs). This resulted in Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors. Only his 1989 year would exceed that season, with him returning 47 (a league high) for 968 yards. In his eight seasons, he recorded 1,000 all-purpose yards (receiving + returns) four times (1985–87, 1989) before his career ended in 1990 at the age of 30.

Brown appeared in the 1986 Rams promotional video, Let's Ram It, where he went by the name "Speedball Brown" and claimed to be the fastest man in town.

Personal bests

References

1. "1983 Cleveland Browns". databaseFootball.com. Archived from the original on February 25, 2008. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
2. "A year ago, Ron Brown turned down a multi-million..." UPI. August 17, 1984.
3. Metcalfe, Jeff (July 30, 2014). "ASU's Ron Brown preferred track to football, leading to 1984 Olympic gold". Azcentral Sports.
4. https://web.archive.org/web/20241201013212/https://www.raiders.com/news/all-gold-everything-raiders-in-the-olympics-ron-brown
5. "Rams". Los Angeles Times. November 13, 1986. p. 129. Retrieved April 18, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
6. "Ram IT (NFL Rams Football Team) Song". Retrieved April 17, 2018 – via YouTube.

External links

• Ron Brown at World Athletics

v t e 1984 USA Olympic track and field team
Qualification	1984 United States Olympic trials (track and field)
Men's track and road athletes	Ray Armstead Alonzo Babers Kirk Baptiste Ron Brown Tonie Campbell Don Clary Paul Cummings Brian Diemer Marco Evoniuk Greg Foster Sam Graddy Johnny Gray John Gregorek Danny Harris Tranel Hawkins Jim Heiring Thomas Jefferson Earl Jones Roger Kingdom Steve Lacy Carl Lewis Henry Marsh John Marshall Antonio McKay Walter McCoy Edwin Moses Sunder Nix Daniel O'Connor Vince O'Sullivan Doug Padilla Pete Pfitzinger Pat Porter Alberto Salazar Carl Schueler Steve Scott Calvin Smith Willie Smith Jim Spivey John Tuttle Craig Virgin
Men's field athletes	Duncan Atwood Willie Banks Earl Bell Tim Bright Ed Burke Art Burns Michael Carter Mike Conley Sr. John Crist Milton Goode Bill Green Al Joyner Dave Laut Carl Lewis Jud Logan Doug Lytle Mike McRae Larry Myricks Doug Nordquist Tom Petranoff John Powell Steve Roller Dwight Stones Mike Tully Mac Wilkins Augie Wolf Jim Wooding
Women's track and road athletes	Evelyn Ashford Sharrieffa Barksdale Joan Benoit Jeanette Bolden Cindy Bremser Valerie Brisco-Hooks Alice Brown Judi Brown Julie Brown Robin Campbell Chandra Cheeseborough Mary Decker Diane Dixon Benita Fitzgerald-Brown Kim Gallagher Randy Givens Florence Griffith Joyner Joan Hansen Denean Howard Sherri Howard Julie Isphording Missy Kane Lillie Leatherwood Pam Page Diana Richburg Kim Turner Angela Wright-Scott Ruth Wysocki
Women's field athletes	Jodi Anderson Carol Cady Laura De Snoo Leslie Deniz Cindy Greiner Lorna Griffin Joni Huntley Jackie Joyner Carol Lewis Ramona Pagel Louise Ritter Karin Smith Pam Spencer Lynda Sutfin Cathy Sulinski Angela Thacker
Coaches	—

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• USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
• 1961 births
• Living people
• American football return specialists
• American football wide receivers
• American male sprinters
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics
• Arizona State Sun Devils football players
• Los Angeles Raiders players
• Los Angeles Rams players
• Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics
• National Conference Pro Bowl players
• Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
• People from Baldwin Park, California
• Sportspeople from Walnut Creek, California
• Players of American football from Contra Costa County, California
• Players of American football from Los Angeles
• Track and field athletes from Los Angeles
• Baldwin Park High School alumni
• 20th-century American sportsmen
• American track and field athletics Olympic medalist stubs
• American football wide receiver, 1960s birth stubs