ROYCE BROWN
He doesn’t have the name recognition of Marlin “The Magician” Briscoe, Joe “Lupe” Arenas or Greg “The Leg” Zuerlein, but before any of those UNO graduates made their living playing football there was Royce “Jug” Brown, the university’s first professional athlete. Brown played four years at Omaha University, calling signals as a fullback, making a third of the tackles on defense and punting. After graduating in 1938 he joined the Cincinnati Bengals, an independent team with no connection to the current NFL Bengals. With Brown, Cincinnati played three NFL squads that year and beat them all, including George Halas’ Chicago Bears, while finishing 7-2-1. Bob Nead, assistant Bengals manager, wrote the World-Herald with high praise of Brown. “Royce won his position against tremendous odds, as three highly-touted backs were trying for his position. Brown’s attitude is very fine, he is well liked by teammates and is regarded as an Adonis by our feminine fans.” It would be Brown’s only year in pro football, though. He returned home and went to work for Swift & Co. “It’s a great life, but there’s no future in professional football,” Brown said. “I think I’ll string along with the meat packing business.”