Ole Miss and former NFL star Ray Brown passes away in Jackson County
Ole Miss lost one of its greatest athletes Christmas Day with the unexpected passing of Raymond Lloyd (Ray) Brown, 81, of Pascagoula and Gautier, Mississippi.
Visitation will be held at the Grand Magnolia Ballroom, 3604 Magnolia St. in Pascagoula on Thursday, December 28 from 4 pm until 8 pm. Funeral services will be held at First United Methodist Church, 2710 Pascagoula Street in Pascagoula on Friday, December 29 at 11 a.m. Pallbearers will be his six grandsons.
Born July 7, 1936, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Brown’s death came a week prior to his induction as a Charter Member of the Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame. Brown was to have been in New Orleans next Monday for the ceremony where he would have joined another Rebel, Archie Manning, in the Class of 2018.
Brown, who had already been selected to the All-Time Sugar Bowl team (1955-62), was inducted into Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.
He was preceded in death by his father, Russell L. Brown and his mother, Agnes Brown Mason, and by his wife of 58 years, Carolyn “Lyn” Shoemaker Brown. He is survived by his daughter, Allison Brown Buchanan (Patrick), of Biloxi, son, Raymond L. Brown, Jr. (Virginia Mary), of Houston, Texas, Beverly Brown Dees (Hale), of Ocean Springs, and eight grandchildren, Hawtin and Frances Buchanan; Raymond, III, Thompson, Patrick and Walker Brown; and Wesley and Sydney Fontaine. He leaves two brothers, Jerry Russell Brown and Donald Hays Brown of Greenville, and a sister, Sally Rebecca (Beki) Brown Morgan, Montgomery, Alabama.
A strong-running, triple-threat player, Brown earned three letters (1955-56-57) for legendary Coach John Vaught’s Rebels and helped lead Ole Miss to the 1955 Southeastern Conference Championship and a three-year record of 26-5-1, including a 14-13 victory over TCU in the 1956 Cotton Bowl and a 39-7 win over Texas in the 1958 Sugar Bowl. He was selected first-team All-SEC by United Press International in 1957, while also being a second-team All-SEC pick of The Associated Press and International News Service.
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