By Barbara Mason

 He immortalized the #24, and cornerback was his position.  He played with a passion not often seen in the NFL.  He drove himself to be the best that he could be, culminating with his induction into the Hall of Fame in 1984.  Willie Brown came to the Oakland Raiders in 1967, after signing as a free agent to the Houston Oilers.  He played with the Oakland Raiders for a total of sixteen years.  From then on , until present day, his life has been totally devoted to the Oakland franchise, both as player and as coach.  It was not even two weeks after retirement from the field as a player, that he went into coaching. He has come full circle as a player and then has naturally progressed to assistant defensive backfield coach and Director of Player Development.  The icing on the cake for Willie has been his induction into the NFL Hall of Fame as well as the Bay Area Hall of Fame, which inducts athletes from every sport.  The history Willie made during his playing days is testament as to the level of play he brought to the field every Sunday. 

     Raiderdrive.com/Bay Area Sports had the opportunity recently to sit down with this soft-spoken gentleman and found out what he is up to these days and how he has remained so focused on this sport that he loves.  Born in Mississippi, Willie Brown has now reached the ripe young age of 61, which would put the span of his football career at the 40 years plus mark.  He comes from a family of eleven.  Yes, I said eleven; six brothers, two sisters, mom, dad and Willie make eleven.  He grew up in a warm family atmosphere.  “Mom and dad, they took care of everything, all our needs.  We never wanted for anything,” said Willie. 

     When Willie entered high school, he took up the sports of football, basketball, and also ran track, sampling them all before he made the choice that would change his life forever.  Much of what he learned during his high school years came through watching his coach, and Willie admits that his high school coach would probably be considered his sports hero as he grew up.

     I asked Willie who his mentors were when he first became a part of the NFL.  “Oh, Eddie Robinson from Grambling University, where I went to school.  He was the one who was very instrumental in my playing in a different position.”   One of the things that I found most amazing was the fact that Willie had never played defensive back until he came to the NFL.  He has to be what one would call a quick study, an athlete who is versatile to the point of being able to adjust to anything that is asked of him.

     Although Willie absolutely loves his job coaching, he still maintains that being a player on the field is definitely more satisfying.  “No one can play forever and I realize that. I am happy that I am able to do what I love and what I do best now, and that is coaching. Now my satisfaction comes from watching the guys making plays in the defensive positions that I played.  Watching them do some of the things that I did throughout my career.  My gratification comes from seeing them execute the things that I am teaching them.”

     As well as being the assistant defensive backfield coach, Willie is also the Director of Player Development.  A position of this nature needs a firm yet compassionate and supportive personality.  “I provide counseling for the players while they are here.  I try to keep tabs on what is going on in their lives, trying to guide them in the right direction and giving them and their families any assistance that they may need.” Handling both of these positions is a tall order, and Willie has admitted to losing sleep over the stress of it all, and especially before a big game.  “If you don’t feel comfortable about how practices went, or sometimes things happen during the course of the practices preparing for a game that just didn’t feel right, you can stress out.  Yeah, you can really lose some sleep over that.”

     What were Willie’s feelings the moment he found out that he had been inducted into the Hall of Fame?  Much of the time players pretty much know that they will be inducted, and those around Willie led him to believe that he would get in his first year of eligibility.  “I kind of felt it coming, but you never know.  You think about all the other ball players who are eligible at the same time as you are and you wonder.  It’s a great honor to not only get in but to be named.”  The exact moment that he learned of his induction was right before the Raiders were getting ready to play the Washington Redskins in the Super Bowl.  “We were in Tampa Bay on a Saturday, and it was great because all my former teammates were there, and they were so happy for me.  I have to say that it happened because of all the guys around me, like Tatum, Atkinson, Skip Thomas, and surely all the defensive linesmen that I played with.  They helped me get in there.”

      “The way I grew up and the way I see things, any worthy cause that can help others I feel is very important.  Anything that has to do with kids, I am all for it.”  Also being involved with this group allows Willie just a little more time with his special Raider buddies from his playing days like, Gene Upshaw, [his roommate for ten years], Art Schell, Otis Sistrunk, Jack Tatum, George Atkinson, Fred Bilitnikoff, and Stabler.  All the guys that played on the team were always very close, and we still have that closeness today.”

     I asked Willie to describe himself.  “Well, I am a soft-spoken guy, very concerned about community things and very concerned about others.  I am not a selfish person; in fact,  I would rather see others with and let me go without.  I am at peace and happy within myself.”

     One of the joys in Willie’s life, when he has a free moment, is going fishing.  Although he has a real love for this, there is one more thing that really makes this guy happy, and that is (get this one) cutting his lawn.  “I have this big tractor lawn mower, so I jump on that and put my music on [jazz and blues]with a diet Pepsi beside me and just cut my lawn.”  When that monumental task of cutting his lawn is at long last finished, Willie delights in an evening meal of red beans and rice.

     How has this insatiable love, this fire for football, been kept alive for all these years?  It has been more than forty years, and most of us tend to burn out from whatever it is that we have worked at most of our lives.  What has kept Willie Brown striving to become the best—year after year—whether it be playing on the field or coaching from the sidelines?  “The satisfaction of watching young men play, and keeping them focused, trying to get them to understand what this game is all about, and helping them as much as I possibly can is what I live for.  You don’t get burned out because it is something that you love to do.”

     For many of us there are things that we have always dreamt of doing, when all the madness is over and there is time.  For Willie Brown, there is absolutely nothing that he can think of that he has always dreamt of doing.  All of his dreams are being realized in the here and now.  “I am enjoying myself right now and having a good time.”    

     It was with a bit of regret that our time together ended.  I must say that Willie Brown is indeed a humble, caring, generous, and genuine human being.  We should be so very proud to have had him on our team and thankful that he has continued on in a coaching capacity.  Men like him just don’t come along very often.  Despite the greatness that he has achieved, he will never sit back on his laurels. He will continue on, working to make young men into great football players because that is what he was made to do, and that’s what he loves to do.  He has come full circle, and then some.