Green Bay Packers safety Tom Brown played five seasons for the team and was part of three championships, including the first two Super Bowls.
Sometimes a possession is not worth as much as the memories that come with it.
Tom Brown won three championships as a member of the Green Bay Packers, including the first two Super Bowls. The starting safety played five seasons with the team from 1964 to 1968 before following Vince Lombardi to Washington after the legendary coach departed Green Bay and traded for him.
When Brown died in April after a long battle with dementia, it would have been difficult to split up his championship rings among his seven children and stepchildren.
Who wants what? Who gets what?
“What we would do is probably keep it, hold onto it and put it in a safe deposit box,” said Jessie Brown, who is the youngest of the Brown children. “We just felt someone would appreciate it way more than we do, and we had what we wanted. I had my dad for 44 years. That is what I value from him.
“Not to say that materialistic things aren’t great, it’s just not big with us. But I appreciate people who appreciate that history. My dad, I know, loved his rings.”
Brown’s children decided to put his Super Bowl I and II rings, his 1965 NFL Championship ring and a few other items up for auction in Heritage Auctions’ Summer Platinum Night Sports Auction on Aug. 23-24.
It’s the second time this year that a set of rings from the Packers’ three consecutive championships have been publicly auctioned.
The rings from backup quarterback Zeke Bratkowski were sold in February and, like all Packers rings from the 1960s, drew significant prices.
Bratkowski’s Super Bowl I ring went for $118,950 — it includes the buyer’s premium — while his Super Bowl II ring fetched $94,550 and the 1965 NFL Championship ring $40,260.
Brown’s rings already are attracting big interest with two weeks remaining before the final day of the auction. His Super Bowl II ring was $32,940 on Aug. 8 while the Super Bowl I ring was $30,500 and the 1965 ring $10,370.
The three rings are estimated to go for at least a combined $190,000.
The highest auction price for a Super Bowl I ring was set in November 2022, when Packers offensive lineman Fuzzy Thurston’s sold for $216,000.
The record for a Super Bowl II ring is believed to be linebacker and Pro Football Hall of Famer Dave Robinson’s, which sold for $174,000 in August 2022.
“I think with the buyer’s premium and everything, I think each of the Super Bowl I and II rings will achieve six figures or darn close to it,” Heritage consignment director Chris Nerat said. "They just don’t go down in value. We have sold enough of them now, so there is a good record of what the trend is for these early Super Bowl rings.
“The simple fact is, every day that goes on, there are more Packers fans born. With more Packers fans, that means more Packers collectors. The market just keeps growing larger and larger, and these rings become more desirable and more desirable.”
Tom Brown was a two-sport star
Brown was drafted by the Packers in the second round in 1963 and joined the team after playing one season with the Washington Senators in Major League Baseball, hitting .147 with one home run, four doubles and four RBI in 61 games.
He was the first person to hit a home run in a major league game and play for a Super Bowl champion, with only Deion Sanders accomplishing the feat after him.
Brown saved a few items from his baseball days. His oldest child, Tom Jr., wanted to keep his father’s baseball uniform. That one won’t be auctioned.
“Whatever meant something, the little trinkets and treats, they wanted to keep,” Jessie Brown said. “There wasn’t (anything I wanted). I was so fortunate enough to be with him during his Alzheimer's and pretty much his whole life. The time is what I value the most. It’s not tangible. You can’t touch that.”
Brown eventually walked away from baseball and joined the Packers in July 1964.
He had 13 interceptions during his career and two more in the playoffs.
His most memorable one came in the 1966 NFL title game, when he intercepted a pass from Dallas Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith in the back of the end zone in the final seconds to secure a 34-27 win.
Green Bay beat Kansas City in Super Bowl I a few weeks later.
Brown, who was an All-American in football and baseball at the University of Maryland, continued to give back to his community long after retirement.
He operated Tom Brown’s Rookie League from 1989 to 2015 in Salisbury, Maryland, which included baseball, flag football and basketball youth programs.
Many people knew who he was, but he never bragged about his accomplishments.
“He didn’t tell stories just to tell stories,” Jessie said. “I knew more of the stories later in life when he’d give speeches and I would help him put them together. It was really cool.
“He had some great memories of football, but also the life lessons that Lombardi taught. He always talks about finding your niche, and that’s what Lombardi said. All of these cool things that I got to hear later on, but growing up, it was like, that’s my dad.”
Spending time with dad
Brown and his wife, Nancy, were married for more than 40 years when she died in January 2016, just a short time after he started showing signs of dementia.
Jessie moved from Maryland to Florida and took her father with her. She hates the cold, but she wasn’t going to leave without him.
She found a facility that allowed her to be with him every morning and night and to keep him safe during the day when she was at her teaching job.
“That time, I’m just so grateful that I had it with him,” Jessie said. “But to do it right, you have got to have great caregivers. It just takes a whole team. I’m so lucky and fortunate to have been able to put a great team around, and my family was wonderful.
“Couldn’t do it alone, for sure.”
Jessie is appreciative of the “88 Plan” which was named in honor of former Baltimore Colts star John Mackey. It’s a benefit program established by the NFL and the Players Association to provide financial assistance for medical and custodial care to former NFL players who are diagnosed with diseases like Alzheimer’s.
The plan provides players with up to $100,000 per year.
The Brown children wouldn’t have been able to do what they did for their father without the “88 Plan.”
One of Jessie’s brothers, James, has been selling smaller pieces of their father’s memorabilia, with portions of the proceeds being donated to the Alzheimer's Association.
“All of these people who are doing it alone and at home, it just hits harder,” Jessie said. “I’ve gone through it, and I can’t imagine doing it without support and help. So, anything we can do to give back to this. It’s definitely near and dear to our heart.”
Brown could no longer speak by the end of his life. He was in a wheelchair most of the time, but he still was walking in his final week.
At one point, Jessie said Tom Jr. visited and shared stories about his memories of Green Bay.
He was young at the time, but he’s the only one of the Brown children with recollections of the glory years.
Like staying in an apartment complex a quarter mile from Lambeau Field where other Packers players lived or how his mother would pick up players in her station wagon after practice and drop them off back near the locker room.
Turns out, the Brown children had a pretty cool dad.
“It was amazing, because I have never heard these,” Jessie said of all the stories. “And my dad was there to hear them at the end.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Super Bowl I, II rings from Packers safety Tom Brown hit auction block
Category: Football
