Breaking News:Jerome Brown has been gone for 32 years. The Eagles still make his family and hometown feel close to him;”because he says… See more details

Breaking News:Jerome Brown has been gone for 32 years. The Eagles still make his family and hometown feel close to him;”because he says… See more details.

The Eagles’ Super Bowl success gave Jerome Brown’s family in Florida a chance to celebrate and remember the late defensive tackle whose life and stardom were cut short at 27.

Calvin Brown was sitting on his brother’s couch in Brooksville, Fla., watching the Super Bowl last month, when he saw someone familiar. It was an Eagles defensive tackle. He was big, aggressive, and getting double-teamed for most of the game.

This wasn’t a successful strategy for the Chiefs. While Jalen Carter soaked up most of their attention, the rest of the Eagles’ defensive line was freed to rush the quarterback.

Brown turned to his brothers.

“That reminds me of Jerome,” he said.

About 60 miles away, in Orlando, Dee Brown thought the same thing.

“Jalen is aggressive, playful, talking trash the entire game,” he said. “That definitely reminds me of the old man

Brown turned to his brothers.

“That reminds me of Jerome,” he said.

About 60 miles away, in Orlando, Dee Brown thought the same thing.

“Jalen is aggressive, playful, talking trash the entire game,” he said. “That definitely reminds me of the old man

The old man — Dee’s father — is the late Jerome Brown, the legendary Eagles defensive tackle, whose size paled only to his personality. Like Carter, he played with an edge. Brown would fling ballcarriers to the ground with disgust. He’d lunge his 292-pound body at scrambling quarterbacks, and was not above throwing a punch in There are other similarities. Carter wears No. 98; Brown wore No. 99 (and No. 98 in college). Both players are from Florida: Carter grew up in Apopka, an hour-and-a-half east from Brown’s Brooksville hometown.

Both Carter and Brown were picked ninth overall by the Eagles in the NFL draft, 36 years apart, for their rare combination of speed and mobility.

The comparisons make Brown’s brother smile.

Carter] was a stud,” Calvin said. “Just like Jerome was a big stud, right in the middle.”

It’s been 32 years since Brown died in a car crash at age 27. His death was tragic and a blow to Buddy Ryan’s defense, one that once seemed destined to end the Eagles’ Super Bowl drought.

In the decades since, Brown’s family and close friends have remained devoted to keeping his memory alive. Cynthia, Brown’s sister, likes to collect photos of her brother when he wasn’t donning a jersey.

Calvin carries Jerome’s worn-out wallet with him wherever he goes.

Advertisement
“It reminds me of the times he’d open it up and help people,” he said.

Brown’s friends and family have also remained devoted to the Eagles. In 2018, when they played the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII, Cynthia turned the game into an event. A friend designed matching T-shirts with Jerome’s face on them, and then made new shirts in 2023, when the Eagles faced the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.

The tradition continued in 2025
Relatives from Alabama to Indiana to Georgia to New Jersey wore a fresh batch of shirts, emblazoned with Brown’s face, as they watched the Eagles win their second Super Bowl title on Feb. 9.

Advertisement
“I was elated,” Cynthia said. “I was just in awe. I thought it was going to be a close game, but they dominated, and I remember hearing, ‘Oh, the defense is playing with the spirit of Jerome and Reggie [White].’ That’s what I kept hearing. Oh, they were there. Oh, they were there.”

Win it for Jerome’
Brown’s presence still looms large in Brooksville, where No. 99 jerseys are as easily found as stories about the boisterous defensive lineman. There is a Jerome Brown mural at City Hall, and a Jerome Brown Community Center (located at 99 Jerome Brown Place). A few bars and churches in town held Eagles-themed Super Bowl parties last month.

Tim Jinkens, Brown’s high school football coach, watched the game from home. Like many of the late defensive tackle’s loved ones, his relationship with the Eagles is bittersweet.

His phone isn’t ringing anymore. The former bar owner wishes he could see his friend on the sideline or in a suite during these big events, and has had a hard time watching games for that reason. But the Super Bowl was different.

“Win it for Jerome,” Jinkens said. “That’s what I was thinking. I know they’ve got other reasons why they want to win. But in my mind, in Brooksville’s mind …”
For years, Jinkens and Brown had a routine. After Brown was done with his pregame meal in Philadelphia, he’d call the Red Mule Pub, where Jinkens worked.

“He’d say, ‘Tim, you gotta watch tonight,’” Jinkens recalled. ‘”I’m going to get in a fight.’”