#23 Ted Brown
For the rest of N.C . State’s history, no other football player will ever wear the number 23. Ted Brown’s name and number are one of only eight to be displayed in the Ring of Honor at Carter-Finley Stadium.
Ted Brown began his football career at High Point Andrews High School. Brown was only about 5’9″ and 170 pounds, but his agility and strength put him on the radar for a number of North Carolina college coaches. Brown received scholarship offers from Western Carolina, Appalachian State, East Carolina and N.C . State. After much deliberation, former coach Lou Holtz convinced Brown to join the Wolfpack .
Brown was placed on both the junior varsity team and the bench for the first five games of the season and at one point considered transferring to ECU. Eventually Brown would get his chance, and began rewriting the history of ACC football.
By the end of the 1975 season, Brown had rushed for 913 yards, 12 touchdowns and was a first-team All-ACC selection. He was also awarded the ACC Rookie of the year award. Brown’s 1976 sophomore season was no different for the running back, who compiled another 1,088 yards and 13 touchdowns.
As a junior, Brown set the NCSU single-game rushing record with an astonishing 251 yards against Penn State. That same year he recorded the school’s longest run — 95 yards against Syracuse. Brown was named to the All-ACC team for the third time and led the Wolfpack to a Peach Bowl win against Iowa State.
Brown closed out his illustrious college career with a record-setting senior season. He rushed for 1,350 yards and averaged more than 122 yards per game. He recorded 11 touchdowns and was named a consensus All-American, the first African-American in school history to do so. At the end of the season, Brown had finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting. Ted Brown’s jersey was retired before his final home game on Nov. 18, 1978. Two months later, he would lead State to a 30-17 bowl victory over Pittsburgh.
Brown is the only player in the ACC’s history to earn four consecutive first-team All-conference honors. His 49 career rushing touchdowns still sits at the top of the NCAA record books. No running back has ever recorded as many 100-yard rushing games and no player other than a kicker has scored as many points (312). Brown also has the most career rushing yards in the ACC at 4,602.
What is even more remarkable is that during Brown’s career, the NCAA did not include bowl accomplishments as part of a player’s total stats. If Brown’s 399 bowl-game yards were included, he would be one of only fifteen running backs in NCAA history to rush for more than 5,000 yards in his career.
After graduating from State in 1978, Brown was picked No. 16 overall in the NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings. Throughout his eight-year career, he scored 53 total touchdowns, the fourth-best mark in Viking history. His 4,546 career rushing yards ranks No. 5 in the history of the franchise.
After retiring from the NFL, Brown settled down in Apple Valley, Minnesota. He currently works as a juvenile probation officer in Ramsey County. In 1995, Brown was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame; and in 2003 was named to the ACC’s 50th Anniversary Football Team.