(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) – Ron Brown, running backs coach at the University of Nebraska who has served on NU’s coaching staff under both Bo Pelini and Tom Osborne for a combined 22 years, has been elected to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Hall of Champions.
FCA is the world’s largest Christian sports ministry.
Brown, who served as FCA’s State Director in Nebraska for four years in between stints as a Cornhuskers assistant, has been a contributing writer to FCA Magazine (formerly Sharing the Victory) for a decade, and hosted FCA’s national radio program, Sharing the Victory, for two years. He has also been a frequent speaker at FCA events through the years.
Brown joined Nebraska’s staff in 1987 following a four-year stint as an assistant at his alma mater, Brown University in Providence, R.I. He worked for legendary Cornhuskers coach and current Director of Athletics Tom Osborne from 1987-2003, helping Nebraska win three national championships during that time. The 2012 season marks the fifth year Coach Brown has worked as an assistant to Pelini. Last year, Brown was nominated for the Frank Broyles Award, which is given to the nation’s top assistant football coach.
Brown’s reputation as a man of exemplary and uncompromising Christian character put him in position last fall to help bring healing to the college football world. It was Brown, whose Cornhuskers were playing at Penn State in the Nittany Lions’ first contest after legal charges were filed against former PSU assistant Jerry Sandusky, who was invited by Penn State’s team to lead the two teams in prayer prior to kickoff of a nationally televised game.
Brown, a two-time All-Ivy League selection as a defensive back at Brown who is a member of the university’s All-Century Team and its Sports Hall of Fame, joins former NFL quarterback Neil Lomax and longtime high school athletic trainer and Indiana Fever chaplain Kathy Malone Sparks as this year’s inductees into FCA’s Hall of Champions.
The honorees are determined by an FCA selection committee following a nomination process that includes staff, volunteers, athletes and the organization’s Board of Trustees.
The Hall of Champions was established in 1991 to honor individuals who have demonstrated a consistent commitment to Jesus Christ through the ministry of FCA. They are considered volunteer “All Stars” who have given above and beyond the call of duty and have upheld the Four Core Values of FCA – Integrity, Serving, Teamwork and Excellence.
— Mickey Seward, National Director of Communications, Fellowship of Christian Athletes