Paul Brown - Later Life and Death

Later Life and Death

Walsh was passed over in favor of Bill "Tiger" Johnson for the head coaching job when Brown retired. In a 2006 interview, Walsh said Brown worked against his candidacy to be a head coach anywhere in the league. "All the way through I had opportunities, and I never knew about them," Walsh said. "And then when I left him, he called whoever he thought was necessary to keep me out of the NFL." Brown stayed on as team president following his retirement, and the Bengals later made two trips to the Super Bowl, losing both games to Walsh and the 49ers. He rarely appeared in public, however. He died on August 5, 1991 at home of complications from pneumonia. He and Katie had three sons: Robin, Mike and Pete. Following Katie's death of a heart attack in 1969, he married his former secretary Mary Rightsell in 1973. His son Robin died of cancer in 1978. Brown is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Massillon.

Brown was succeeded by his son Mike as Bengals' team president, and in 2000 Cincinnati opened a new football facility on the Ohio River, naming it Paul Brown Stadium. Brown was elected in 1967 to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. "I feel he's as fine a coach as the game ever has had," Otto Graham said at the induction ceremony. "I used to cuss him out and complain but now I'm happy that I played under him." In 2009, Sporting News named Brown as the 12th greatest coach of all time; only two other NFL coaches were listed above him.