SOUTH BEND, Ind. — One of the most decorated defensive players in the history of college football, Ross Browner, passed away at the age of 67 on Tuesday. Browner was a two-time national champion with the Irish and a College Football Hall of Fame inductee.
Browner was a four-year starter under Ara Parseghian and Dan Devine during his time at Notre Dame and was a member of the national championship Irish teams in 1973 (under Parseghian) and 1977 (under Devine). He totaled 340 tackles, 77.0 tackles-for-loss, 12 fumble recoveries, 10 deflected passes and two blocked kicks in his career. He is the school record holder for career tackles by a defensive lineman, tackles-for-loss in a single season (28.0, 1976), career fumbles recovered (12) and career tackles-for-loss (77.0).
In his junior season of 1976, Browner was a unanimous All-American and was named the Outland Trophy winner as the nation’s best defensive lineman. He was also named the United Press International Lineman of the Year in 1976.
During his senior campaign, he was a unanimous All-American and was named UPI Lineman of the Year again, the only player to ever win the award twice. He was also named the Maxwell Award winner as the nation’s best player and the Lombardi Award as the nation’s best lineman. He was the only lineman to win the Maxwell during the 70’s and he finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting in his last season with the Irish.
Browner was selected with the eighth overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1978 NFL Draft. He was named the team MVP during his rookie season in 1978 and at the time, set the Super Bowl record for tackles by a defensive lineman (10) in Super Bowl XVI against the 49ers. He played nine seasons with the Bengals (1978-86), started in 121 games and is ranked fifth on the Bengals all-time sack list with 58.
Ross is survived by his wife Shayla and his two sons, Max Starks and Rylan Browner.
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