Only four men have played in both Major League Baseball and the National Football League – Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson, Jim Thorpe (!) – and Blair’s own Tom Brown. Tom grew up in the Montgomery Hills area, and was active in almost all of the youth programs sponsored by the county. While at Blair, Tom played football, basketball, and baseball for three years, and went on to win an athletic scholarship to the University of Maryland. At Maryland, he was an All American in both football and baseball, and started his professional career in the Washington Senators organization. He made it to the Major Leagues by 1963 and was the Opening Day starter for the Senators (note: later that year he faced his Blair teammate, Steve Barber, who was pitching for the Baltimore Orioles).
Tom left baseball and immediately began his career in the National Football League with the Green Bay Packers. He was the starting free safety on the Packers teams that won the first two Super Bowls (note: while playing for the Packers one of Tom’s assignments was to guard the San Francisco 49’ers tight end and fellow Blair grad Bob Windsor).
Since retiring from professional sports Tom has established Tom Brown’s All Stars, a groundbreaking youth program, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.