Former Super Bowl Champ is a "Bear" with ‘Wheelers
Gary Stibolt
Thursday April 15, 2004
Meet Bear Brown. Brown is an offensive/defensive lineman for the Quad City Steamwheelers and even though he is playing in the af2, his trek to this point in his career has seen it all—from the glory days of the Superbowl to the battles he endured while growing up.
Brown didn`t talk much about his childhood, but he does praise one person and that is his mother, Gail.
"I love my momma," Brown said. "She is the reason for all of this. She raised me all by herself; a six-foot eight...350-pound guy. Without her, all of this wouldn`t be possible. She kept me straight and out of trouble...well, most of the time anyway.”
Looking at Brown today, you would not have guessed he was a basketball player. He hails from Edwardsville, Illinois where he played both football and basketball in high school.
"I was bad," Brown said. "I started as a true freshman and played for two years at the University of Illinois."
But Brown did not finish his collegiate career at Illinois.
"I left. You could say it was a situation where I left before they had the chance to kick me out. There was some things they said I did that I didn`t do but there was some things I did too so I left."
He then went to Lincoln where he played basketball in 1996. He did not play football. In 1997, he had a son so he stopped playing for a year. When he returned to school he went to BAC, now known as Southwest Illinois College and played basketball. From there he was suppose to go to South Dakota but after being there only a week, he returned home.
"I had some problems back home that I had to tend to so I went back to Edwardsville," Brown said.
When everything was fine at home, instead of returning to South Dakota, Brown decided to go to work and he picked up a gig as a bouncer. He was bouncing for a club in St. Louis when he met Mike Jones. Brown credits Jones for getting him focused back on to football and that is where his trek in football really began. How he met Mike Jones is an interesting story in itself.
While bouncing at this "club," Brown had to take care of "business" with someone who was out of line. It was about 2:00 in the morning when Brown busted through the doors after a guy when he whisked right by Mike Jones. Jones told him then and there, he needs to be doing something with his life. It just so happened there was a combine for the Indoor Football League (IFL) four hours later.
At the combine, Brown met Bruce Cowdrey, who was coaching the Peoria Pirates of the IFL (the af2 bought out the IFL following the 2001 season).
"I did well there," said Brown. “Cowdrey sent me to Topeka to play for the Knights. They thought I sucked."
But three weeks of practice was not very kind to Brown.
"I had three weeks of bad practice and they wouldn`t play me. But on the field, I`m the Beast! It was there in Topeka where I picked up my name Bear."
Prior to that, people called him Antonio, his birth given name.
"They thought I was a dancing bear because of my feet work. But don`t let that fool ya, I`m a tooth chipper too.”
Brown spent about two months in Topeka when the St. Louis Rams called him up.
"They were looking for a left tackle so I went to the Rams and played left tackle. I played a little defensive tackle too."
Brown spent a year and a half with the Rams on their practice squad. He recalls the best part about it.
"The best part was just getting to know the guys,” said Brown. “Tori Holt, Orlando Pace, Marshall Faulk, they`re just great guys. You wouldn`t think that guys making millions would be so down to earth but they took me under their wings especially Adam Timmerman, he`s the best. It was just the experience.”
The Rams sent Brown to play in NFL Europe where he signed on with the Barcelona Dragons.
That’s where Brown first blow out his knee. He returned to the states to the University of Alabama for orthoscopic surgery. After recovering, Brown took a job at the WMCA in Edwardsville where he headed up the afternoon school program. After about six months, he sought out the guy who sent him to Topeka, Bruce Cowdrey.
Brown went to play for the Pirates under Cowdrey but suffered another injury. After the second game of the season, Brown broke his foot. He then recovered only to have it broke again five minutes into the first practice of the next season which was last year.
"That`s why I refuse to get hurt in practice," said Brown. "Now I`m the man in the middle with the Steamwheelers."
Brown will be snapping the ball this weekend against Tennessee Valley because Pete Traynor broke his foot and Jon Verdegan will miss the game to attend his sisters wedding in New Orleans.
Brown had his doubts about playing again. He actually thought about retiring and was hesitant about coming to the Quad Cities.
"I told (Matt) Pike that I was going to retire,” said Brown. “He talked me into playing here. I wasn`t having fun and I always said if I couldn`t have fun, I would hang it up. But I`m having fun here. I`m having a blast. After playing for Coach Ingold, I`ll play till I`m 35-years old. He treats you like a man. He respects me. He respects us and we respect him. We all want to win.”
Now that Brown has a renewed sense of enthusiasm playing football in the Quad Cities and is healthy, he hopes that they can win it all for the fans, his teammates, and his coaches. Then he will have made it back to the top as a champion where it all began.
Gary Stibolt has covered the Quad City Steamwheelers since their 2000 inaugural season. He also owns, operates and is the Chief Editor/Publisher of SteamwheelerFans.com, a website dedicated to the Steamwheelers and their fans. He coresponds for other media outlets covering arenafootball2. In addition to leading the Steamwheelers Fan Club, Gary serves as Coordinator of the National af2 Fan Club. He is married with two sons and works as an Infrastructure Analyst for Deere & Company in their Corporate Computer Center in Moline, Illinois.