Chad Brown
Chad Brown is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 1992 NFL season. Brown serves as an umpire and has officiated in two Super Bowls (Super Bowl XXXV in 2001, and Super Bowl XLV in 2011) and served as an alternate (standby) official for Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999. His NFL uniform number is 31.Prior to his career as an NFL game official, Brown officiated football in the Big West Athletic Conference. He played college football at East Texas State, now Texas A&M University @ Commerce. As a sophomore offensive and defensive tackle in 1966, A&M Commerce won its very first Lone Star Conference football championship. Brown was a NAIA All-American, an All-Lone Star Conference offensive lineman in 1967 and '68 and a Kodak All-American in 1968, becoming the first African-American to reach All-American status for the college. His athletic accomplishments earned him a 1993 induction into the East Texas State (ETSU) Athletic Hall of Fame. Brown then went on to play five years in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Houston Oilers, and the New Orleans Saints.Outside of the NFL, Brown was employed at the University of California, Los Angeles, campus since 1988, and celebrated his retirement in 2011. At UCLA, he served in several sports management capacities in the Department of Cultural and Recreational Affairs and as an Executive Officer to the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs.In December 2012, Brown was inducted into the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame, joining other NFL inductees, Tim Brown, Charles Haley and Gene Upshaw (posthumous). Brown, along with eleven other inductees in various sports, was recognized for exemplary performance in sportmanship, citizenship, and contributions to the history of sports as a Texas-born, African-American athlete.Brown married Deborah, a municipal transportation manager, in 1986. The two have twin adult sons, Trent and Devin and maintain their primary resident in Carson, California.Brown is on the 2014 NFL officiating crew headed by referee Bill Leavy. Previously, he was on the crew headed by referee Ed Hochuli, whom he worked with during the 1998 and 1999 seasons, as well as from around 2006 to 2010. He also worked with Mike Carey from 2011-2013. Brown began his career in the NFL assigned to the crew led by legendary referee Jerry Markbreit, and has worked on the crews of referees Larry Nemmers, Ron Blum, Pete Morelli, and Bill Vinovich, the latter three California residents like Brown.