Player Spotlight: Willie Brown

University Of Southern California Trojans Football

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Here’s “Touchdown” Willie Brown in the 1963 Rose Bowl, which turned out to be the national championship game as No. 1 USC held off No. 2 Wisconsin, 42-37. Brown was USC’s original I-formation tailback and led the Trojans in rushing in 1962. He continues to work in the USC athletic dept. today. As always, I will note the great helmets with numbers on them, designed especially for this game.

That’s right end John Brownwood (88) and left guard Pete Lubisich (69) on the ground.

20 thoughts on “Player Spotlight: Willie Brown

  1. What makes the helmets with numbers on them great? They look boring to me. The current helmet is perfect.

    • Bucket’s leather helmet has stitched on numbers……..sweeeeet!!!!!!

  2. Dear Daily News,
    Always begin your video blogs with Reid Silverman and end with Reid Silverman.. If you need to add Wolf, do it as least as possible.
    Please and Thank you

  3. Willie Brown was my first favorite Trojan football player. He could do it all. Very exciting RB and WR. Acrobatic, big plays. You never forget your first.

  4. Willie is one of the oldies that would see the football field in today’s game
    And by the way, comparing footballers from the past to the present is not downgrading the past. Heck, some of the best games ever were the 1963 Rose Bowl, 1964 upset of Notre Dame, 67 OJ over Beban, 69 questionable td beats SUCLA, and the 72 and 74 and 78 national championship teams, not to mention No. 2 ranking in 76 and 79
    Them’s pretty nice memories

    • We must be about the same age, as I remember every one of them, especially that VanderKellen comeback that didn’t in the fog of the rose bowl. That Wisconsin rose bowl game, along with the Anthony Davis 6 TD game rank among my top favorites, EVER!.

      • Carter, disagree on the 63 Rose Bowl, but AD’s 6 TD game against ND, is in my opinion, the greatest SUCC running back one game performance in my life time, and probably of all-time.

  5. One of the great players on one of the greatest teams in USC history. 1962!

    • McKay and SUCC lucked out, because Wisconsin just ran out of time. At that point, SUCC couldn’t have stopped a kitten from scoring.

          • A lot of “ifs” there. The soccer reference was their length of games and the extra time added on after regulation time ends. Seems you would like that in USA football. Disagree? I could not care less if you don’t think Brown and the ’62 Trojans were great.

          • Wisconsin come up short, time expired. No changes required. Soccer on the hand, is like watching grass grow. Adding extra time to a Soccer game is like digging the hole for a gopher.

          • Good! We have the same opinion of soccer. Now we can get after each other on CFB.

  6. He was a great high school player at LB POLY;he trampled my high school Lakewood; at SC,along with Ben Wilson at fullback,they could run it as quite a tandem;I sat through that game as the fog rolled in,it probably helped SC to hang on;VanderKellen got red hot,like Unitas to Berry…GREAT MEMORIES

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