Former Giants Running Back Gary Brown Passes Away

Brown spent the final two years of his career with the Giants from 1998 to 1999.

Author:
Giants Country News Desk
Publish date:
Apr 10, 2022 9:20 PM EDT

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Former NFL running back turned coach Gary Brown, who spent his eight-year career as a player with three different teams, passed away in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Brown, 52 years old, was an eighth-round draft pick in 1991 out of Penn State by the Houston Oilers, for whom he played five seasons. His best season with Houston came in 1993 when he rushed 195 times for 1,002 yards.

Brown then spent one season with the San Diego Chargers, that in 1997. That year he finished just shy of posting his second career 1,000-yard rushing campaign, finishing with 945 yards on 253 carries.

Brown's career as a player came to a stop after two seasons (1998-1999) with the Giants. In 1998, he logged his second career 1,000-yard rushing effort, posting 1,063 rushing yards on 302 carries. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury that shortened his 1999 season to just three games with two starts.

Brown, who finished his NFL career with 4,300 rushing yards and logged 631 receiving yards on 84 receptions, went into coaching shortly after retiring. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Williamsport High School, his alma mater. In 2003 he joined Lycoming as their running backs coach, which he held through 2005.

During the 2006-2007 seasons, he was the offensive coordinator for Susquehanna. In 2008 he served as the running backs coach for Rutgers, and then in 2009, he picked up his first NFL assistant coaching job with the Cleveland Browns as their running backs coach. He held the role until 2012.

Brown spent the 2013-2019 seasons as the running backs coach with the Dallas Cowboys under Jason Garrett, who just missed being Giants teammates with Brown by one season.

Brown had most recently been the running backs coach at the University of Wisconsin, which he's held since 2021.