Sometimes, all it takes is a number.
No. 22.
Without question, Timmy Brown was my favorite Eagle when I was a kid.
What? You're surprised it's not Norm Snead? No, not Pete Liske, Jack Concannon or any other of a largely non-descript bunch of teams I followed with a passion as a kid.
But there are a couple things about him I didn't know. He wasn't drafted by the Eagles; he was actually selected late in the 1959 draft by the Green Bay Packers.
My memory of Tim Brown is as the best player - an All-Pro - on a collection of very bad Eagles teams. What I did not realize was the Brown also was a member of the Eagles' 1960 NFL championship team.
Even in that there is a bit of irony. Brown was drafted by Packers' icon Vince Lombardi, but only played one game in Green Bay before joining the Eagles.
A year later, he was part of the team that beat the Packers in the NFL title game, the only playoff blemish on Lombardi's legendary career.
Brown starred as a kick returner for the Birds. In fact, he still holds the team record for return yards, as well as most touchdown returns - five.
It was in that role that he forever etched a special place in my memory when he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns as the lowly Eagles beat Tom Landry's vaunted Dallas Cowboys, 24-23, on November 6, 1966.
There is one other memory of Brown, and again it's tied to the Cowboys, and part of the immense dislike Eagles fans have for those guys with the stars on their helmets.
During a game in 1967, Cowboys' linebacker caught Brown with what most consider a cheap shot, laying out the Eagles running back and breaking four of his teeth.
Any Eagles fan will tell you that's what fueled one of the most passionate rivalries in sports that continues to this day.
en we really started.
Brown stands sixth on the Eagles' all-time list for touchdowns (62), seventh in total yards from scrimmage (7,049), eighth in rushing (3,703 yards) and seventh in TDs rushing (29).
His total of 4,483 kickoff return yards is still a Birds' record, so is his five kickoff returns for touchdowns.
After retiring, Brown enjoyed an acting career, appearing in movies such as "MASH."
Brown was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame in 1996.
He was Hall of Fame in this young fan's heart long before that.
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