Jerome Brown and HMS Grenville (H03)

Willie Jerome Brown, III (February 4, 1965 – June 25, 1992) was an American football defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. He played his entire five-year NFL career with the Eagles from 1987 to 1991, before his death just before the 1992 season. He was selected to two Pro Bowls in 1990 and 1991. He played college football at the University of Miami.

Contents 1 College career 2 Professional career 3 Brooksville 4 Death and legacy 4.1 Legacy 5 References

College career

Brown played college football at the University of Miami, where he was a standout player for one of college football's most successful and perhaps its most dominant program. He graduated from the university in 1987.

Among his more notable moments as a Miami player, five days before the 1987 Fiesta Bowl, at a promotional Fiesta Bowl dinner with the Penn State team, Brown led a walkout by the Miami players. Leading the walkout, he asked: "Did the Japanese go sit down and have dinner with Pearl Harbor before they bombed them?" Brown and his teammates felt that the Penn State players had disrespected them by openly mocking Miami's coach, Jimmy Johnson, at a pre-game banquet. Penn State beat the heavily favored Hurricanes 14-10, and were declared National Champions.

Days earlier, Brown and fellow University of Miami players drew even greater national controversy when each were seen deplaning a chartered University of Miami plane at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport, wearing Battle Dress Uniforms. Professional career

Brown was drafted in the first round (ninth overall) of the 1987 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. During his five-year professional career with the Eagles, he was twice selected to the Pro Bowl (in 1990 and 1991). Brooksville

Jerome Brown graduated from Hernando High School in Brooksville, where he was often seen in the off season running laps around the track. In June 1988, Jerome Brown received praise for his calm demeanor as he helped disperse a group of Ku Klux Klan protesters in his hometown of Brooksville, Florida. Death and legacy

Brown died on June 25, 1992, at the age of 27, following an automobile accident in Brooksville, in which both he and his 13-year-old nephew were killed when Brown lost control of his ZR1 Chevrolet Corvette at high speed and crashed into a utility pole. Brown was buried in his hometown of Brooksville.

In 2000, the Jerome Brown Community Center was opened in Brooksville in memory of Brown.

Brown's son Dee Brown (born 1982) plays professional baseball as an outfielder for the Winnipeg Goldeyes.

Brown and former teammate Reggie White were documented in A Football Life. It was White who broke the news to many Philadelphians the day of Brown's death, as he was informed moments before he was to speak at a Billy Graham Crusade at Veterans Stadium that night and relayed the information to the crowd. Legacy

Along with teammate Reggie White, Brown helped anchor an Eagle's defense that intimidated and dominated offenses of the late 80's and early 90's. By the end of the 1991 season, Brown had established himself as one of the league's premier defensive tackles, being elected as an All-Pro for a second consecutive year. Brown was not only a fan favorite, but a favorite of his first NFL head coach Buddy Ryan, who once remarked, “if you had 45 Jerome Browns, you would win every game.”

Brown's jersey number (#99) was retired by the Eagles on September 6, 1992 in an emotional pre-game ceremony at Veterans Stadium, prior to the Eagles' first game of the 1992 season. After his death, Eagles players and fans started the unofficial motto "Bring it home for Jerome," an indirect reference among Eagles fans to bringing a Super Bowl title to the city in Brown's honor.

Brown is mentioned in The Wonder Years (band) track "We Could Die Like This" off their 4th album The Greatest Generation with the lyrics: "We watched the 92' Birds take to the field without Jerome Brown".

HMS Grenville (H03) and Jerome Brown

HMS Grenville (H03) was the flotilla leader for the G-class destroyers, built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1930s. She spent most of the pre-war period as part of the Mediterranean Fleet. The ship was transferred to the British Isles to escort shipping in local waters shortly after the beginning of World War II. In January 1940, Grenville struck a mine outside the Thames Estuary and sank with the loss of 77 of her crew.

Contents 1 Description 2 Service history 3 See also 4 Notes 5 Footnotes 6 References

Description

Grenville displaced 1,455 long tons (1,478 t) at standard load and 2,053 long tons (2,086 t) at deep load. The ship had an overall length of 330 feet (100.6 m), a beam of 34 feet 6 inches (10.5 m) and a draught of 12 feet 9 inches (3.9 m). She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines, driving two shafts, which developed a total of 38,000 shaft horsepower (28,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). Steam for the turbines was provided by three Yarrow side-fired, water-tube boilers. Grenville carried a maximum of 470 long tons (480 t) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 5,530 nautical miles (10,240 km; 6,360 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). The ship's complement was 175 officers and men.

The ship mounted five 45-calibre 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark IX guns in single mounts. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, Grenville had two quadruple Mark I mounts for the 0.5 inch Vickers Mark III machine gun. She was fitted with two above-water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for 21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes. One depth charge rail and two throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried, but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began. Service history

Ordered in 1934, the ship was laid down by the Yarrow Shipbuilding Company at Scotstoun in Glasgow on 29 September 1934, launched on 15 August 1935, and completed on 1 July 1936. Excluding government-furnished equipment like the armament, the ship cost £275,412. Aside from a brief period when she was assigned to the 20th Destroyer Flotilla after her commissioning, Grenville spent the prewar period as the flagship of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla with the Mediterranean Fleet. She spent ten months deployed off the Spanish coast in the Western Mediterranean during the Spanish Civil War before returning to Portsmouth for a brief overhaul between 24 May and 9 June 1937. The ship returned to the Mediterranean until she was given a more thorough refit in Portsmouth between 7 June and 25 July 1938.

On the outbreak of war in September 1939, Grenville was deployed in the Mediterranean. On 22 October, Grenvilleand her sisters HMS Griffin, HMS Grenade and HMS Gipsy were transferred to the Western Approaches Command and arrived at Plymouth on 2 November. Grenville and Grenade collided during the night of 7/8 November and Grenville '​s No. 3 boiler room was flooded. She was under repair at HM Dockyard, Devonport until 1 December. While the ship was under repair, her flotilla had been transferred to the Nore Command at Harwich for local patrol and escort work. Grenville rejoined them the on 3 December and participated in several attempts to intercept enemy shipping traffic off the Dutch and German North Sea coasts. Whilst returning from one of these missions on 19 January Grenville struck a mine 23 miles (37 km) east of Kentish Knock Light Vessel. Seventy-seven of the ship's company were killed as the ship sank. See also List of shipwrecks in 1940 Notes Footnotes ^ a b Whitley, p. 107 ^ English, p. 141 ^ English, pp. 88, 90 ^ English, p. 90 ^ a b English, pp. 90–91 ^ Rohwer, p. 13
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