Villanova Univeristy Athletics

Dan Brown was Villanova’s leading receiver twice during his career and he later went on to play one season in the NFL as a defensive end for Washington in 1950. He was a member of the Wildcats varsity squad from 1946-49 and graduated in 1950. Brown was part of the third-ever induction class to the Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1976.
 
As a scholastic football player Brown as the captain at West Catholic in 1943 and led his team to a Philadelphia title that season. Brown was a two-time all-scholastic player in high school but delayed the start of his collegiate career to serve in the Army during World War II. His collegiate career began in 1946 and Brown played three seasons under Hall of Fame coach Jordan Olivar as well as in the first year of James Leonard’s two-year head coaching stint.
 
Brown was a freshman in 1946 when he led the Wildcats with 264 receiving yards. He made 16 catches and scored two touchdowns on the year while averaging 16.5 yards per reception. Brown’s best performance of the season came in a narrow 26-21 loss to Miami (Fla.) at Shibe Park when he had a career-high 78 yards on four catches.
 
Villanova went 6-3-1 in 1947 and made the first of two straight bowl game appearances that season when it faced Kentucky in the Great Lakes Bowl in Cleveland. Brown had five catches for 89 yards that season, including a season-high 71 yards in a 14-12 victory over Georgetown at Shibe Park. He followed up the 1947 campaign with 14 receptions for a team-high 231 yards as a junior in 1948. The Wildcats went 8-2-1 on the year and averaged 25.6 points per game en route to the program’s first-ever bowl game victory, a 27-7 triumph over Nevada in the Harbor Bowl in San Diego.
 
As a senior in 1949, Brown had six catches for 119 yards and tied for the team lead with three receiving touchdowns. The team went 8-1, with its notable wins coming against Texas A&M for the second straight season and later in the year at home against North Carolina State at Franklin Field. Villanova wound up going 28-10-2 (.725) during Brown’s collegiate career.
 
Brown was chosen by Washington in the 11^th round of the 1950 NFL Draft and went on to record one fumble recovery in his only NFL season later that year. Brown passed away in 1995 at the age of 69 in Havertown, Pa.