Catching up with Indy's forgotten football star 'Touchdown' Eddie Brown

INDIANAPOLIS – During Eddie Brown’s heyday, fans in Indianapolis often stopped him for autographs, handshakes and pictures. If you remember the Indiana Firebirds of the Arena Football League, you remember Eddie Brown. He was a walking adrenaline rush. He had speed. He had moves. He had swag.

His nickname was “Touchdown” Eddie Brown. The moniker fit. He once scored nine touchdowns in a game. Afterward, he celebrated by smoking his first cigar.

“My kids looked at me like I was crazy when I lit up,” said Brown. “I told them, ‘When you score nine touchdowns, it’s okay to smoke.”’

To put Brown’s 10-year Arena League career in perspective, he was voted the greatest player in league history. Better than Kurt Warner, a former AFL star who became an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback. Better than Jay Gruden, now coach of the Washington Redskins.

Today, the 47-year-old Brown remains in football as coach at Boyd Anderson High School in Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. Meanwhile, his touchdown-making legacy continues in the NFL.

Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers is Eddie Brown’s son. That figures. Antonio is arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL. Those moves you see him make, the creative touchdown celebrations? That flair comes from his father, who retired in 2003.

In 2004, the Firebirds folded. But Brown and his fans hold fond memories of those days in Indianapolis, which became the Firebirds’ home after the franchise moved from Albany in 2001. He had never been to Indianapolis before, but Brown quickly became one of the city’s most popular athletes.

“I loved Indy and I still love Indy,” said Brown. “I loved playing at Conseco Fieldhouse and we’d always go to St. Elmo’s Steakhouse after the games. I used to order that shrimp cocktail, get that rush — felt like your nose was going to blow off. Then you’d dive back in, get that rush all over again.”

Brown also gets a rush watching Antonio make plays for the Steelers, and being both a coach and mentor at Boyd Anderson. Brown takes his role as a football coach seriously, knowing young athletes often look to him for guidance.

“My high school basketball coach saved my life,” Brown said. “When you grow up in the inner city of Miami like I did, you have to decide which side of the road to take. You’re either going to be on the hustler/drug dealer side, or you’re going to be on the education/hard work side.

"In the eighth grade, my high school basketball coach came to my house. His name was Irv Balkman. He told me I was going to college. I thought he was crazy. I knew my mother couldn’t afford college. But he picked me up at six o’clock every morning, took me to school. He made that sacrifice, for me, to keep me out of trouble, to show me the right path. The sacrifices he made for me? I feel that’s my obligation to the kids I coach today.”

Brown coached in Indianapolis for several years, working on the staff at North Central, Broad Ripple and Ben Davis high schools before relocating in 2007. His star pupil at Ben Davis was wide receiver Tandon Doss, who became a standout receiver for the Indiana University, followed by a brief NFL career with the Baltimore Ravens.

As for Brown, he never played an NFL game, despite his Arena League prowess. After catching nine touchdown passes during his college career at Louisiana Tech, Brown went undrafted in 2001 and was cut after being invited to Arizona Cardinals training camp.

The allure of playing in the NFL faded for Brown once he became an Arena League star.

“I really didn’t do much to pursue an NFL career after I got cut,” said Brown. “I didn’t have an agent, and I was doing well with what I was doing. My highest salary in the Arena League was $125,000. I was earning a nice check taking care of my kids and myself. I wasn’t going to spend years chasing a dream when I knew if I stayed in the Arena League, I was going to keep earning that nice check.”

Watching Antonio play for the Steelers gives Eddie a vicarious NFL experience, as their father-son relationship grows. During the season, Eddie watches tapes of Antonio’s games, knowing he will usually get a Monday or Tuesday phone call from his son, looking for a critique.

“He wants me to analyze the game he just played,” Eddie said. “He wants to know what I saw, what he did good, what he did bad. I have to do my homework so those can be good conversations.”

Brown’s father-son relationship with Antonio has come a long way. They were not always on speaking terms. They lived together for a time in Albany when Eddie played for the Firebirds, and Antonio was a junior in high school.  But they grew apart after Antonio moved back to Miami to live with his mother, who had remarried.

At one point during high school, Antonio was kicked out of his mother’s house and was forced to live with friends. Eddie, who has five children, began to repair his relationship with Antonio when he was in college at Central Michigan and Eddie was still living in Fort Wayne coaching the Fusion, an arena team that lasted just one season.

“Every father who has ever been separated from his kids is grateful to get that relationship back,” Eddie said. “But there’s going to come a time when your son is going to say to you, ‘Where the (expletive) were you, Dad?’

“It wasn’t easy. I remember going onto the field after one of his games against Ball State. I had a sideline pass. He gave an interview after the game, then walked by me like he didn’t even know who I was. But the next week, I went down to Western Michigan to watch him play again. I wanted to be accessible and ready to talk. Tony (Antonio) and I were finally able to have that conversation we needed to have. Once we did, and he was at a mature level to understand, it was great.”

Though he would love to become a college coach, Brown has found satisfaction coaching at Boyd Anderson.

“Getting a college job is about who you know,” said Brown. “Right now, I don’t have any friends that do the hiring and firing in the college ranks. I’m at the point that if the opportunity comes, it comes. But if it doesn’t, no regrets.”

In the meantime, Brown is preparing for another high school season. He said he might return to Indianapolis on Nov. 12 to watch his son and his Steelers teammates face the Colts. Last Thanksgiving against the Colts, Antonio Brown scored three touchdowns.

Reminded of that performance, Brown started laughing.

“Like father, like son,” Brown said.

Follow IndyStar reporter Clifton Brown on Twitter: @CliftonGBrown.