It was the year 1996. 25-year-old Gary Lee Brown, the offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers, was dripping with sweat.
He knew how many of his family and friends were watching from home. He knew the teenage athletes at his old high school were counting on him to prove it could be done.
What he didn’t know was how drastically his life would change in the next few hours. Because that was the day that Brown gained the right to call himself a Super Bowl Champion.
Every town, every high school, can boast about their distinguished alumni. Among Brentwood’s are legendary actors, company moguls, and of course, professional athletes.
At his book signing held at the Brentwood Public Library on Monday, Dec. 18, at 4:00 p.m., Brown had a chance to give back to the hometown that made him.
“Whenever I travel whenever I’ve done an interview…they say oh, you’re from New York,’ and I [say] no, no, I’m from Brentwood, New York,” Brown said during his interview the Brentwood Public Library. “And it’s a major difference because I believe Brentwood is responsible for who I am today.”
Brown began playing football at age six through his town’s little league. Football ended up being all or nothing, however, after watching a Monday night NFL game in 1986.
James Robert McMahon Jr., who was playing for the Chicago Bears at the time, wasn’t playing anywhere near his best. The Bears were down four points and as the camera zoomed in on McMahon, Brown watched as the quarterback pulled his headband around his neck and absolutely annihilated the Green Bay Packers.
According to Brown, there was no coming down from that secondhand adrenaline. Brown spent the next several years as a quarterback for the Brentwood High School Indians. But when his senior year rolled around, he was told that all of his hard work had failed to pay off: he wasn’t being scouted.
With his head low and a jab to his spirit, he accepted an athletic scholarship to Nassau Community College and worked even harder. Within a year, he was picked up by Georgia Tech. On his first day in Atlanta, nose tackle Gilbert Brown made it clear Brown’s time there would be short.
“I didn’t even have a friend and I was already making enemies,” Brown said. “I remember being so put off by it. I just kept telling myself I wasn’t scared of anything or anyone. Fake it till you make it, right?”
Fortunately, Gilbert Brown was wrong. In fact, both players would go on to fix their bad blood and reach heights of glory.
“The Green Bay Packers were a special team of athletes,” said Brown. “We bonded so fast; it wouldn’t have been that way if I went in there desperate. We went on to win the Super Bowl.”
After the win, Brown felt that he had officially made it. He’d received a $157,000 cash bonus and was being offered sponsorships from big time companies. He was also welcomed into the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame.
He assumed this feeling would last forever, but all good things must come to an end. After being transferred to the 49ers for a year and again overseas for another, Brown was right back where he started: his parents’ couch. He’d recklessly spent his entire bonus giving him no choice but to move back home and find a job.
In two years, he’d gone from winning the most favored game in America to scrubbing toilets.
“It wasn’t being a janitor or not playing anymore that got to me,” said Brown. “It was what people thought of me. All of the pity.”
The turning point came when Brown began to do some volunteer work with Big Brothers, Big Sisters, an organization dedicated to cultivating meaningful mentorships between adults and young people.
“It was like, you know, maybe I went through all of this pain and agony and embarrassment to put me in this position, and I’m [going to] open up my heart…and the day I volunteered, things just turned around for me,” Brown said.
Brown’s book, Reflections of a Champion, provides insights into the incredible highs and lows of his journey as a professional athlete. A true representative of what it means to be “Brentwood Strong,” he teaches us how to persist in times of hardship and become better for it.
