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From Port Moody to the Hall of Fame

Doug Brown recognized for his 11-year CFL career
Doug Brown
Tri-City athlete and former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Doug Brown started his football career with the Port Moody secondary squad in the early 1990s. From there, he went on to stints in the NFL and an 11-year CFL career that saw him named an all star seven times and the Most Outstanding Canadian honour in 2001.

Doug Brown has come a long way from his days running up and down the football field at Port Moody secondary.

The former Winnipeg Blue Bomber and Tri-City resident was inducted into the Canadian Football League hall of fame last week, in recognition of a career that spanned the CIS, the NFL and the CFL.

Brown, who now resides in Winnipeg, got his start in his senior year of high school, when he joined Port Moody during its 1991 provincial championship run. 

His effort earned him some attention from the coaches at Simon Fraser University, where Brown played until being chosen by Wally Buono and the Calgary Stampeders in the 1997 entry draft. 

But Brown never suited up with the Stamps, opting instead to join the Buffalo Bills’ practice roster in the National Football League for the 1997-98 season. He never ended up seeing any regular season action, but later moved on to the Washington Redskins where he played 10 games the following year.

He eventually moved back to Canada, taking up a spot on the Blue Bombers’ roster in 2000, where he would remain for his entire 11-year career, capped with a trip to the Grey Cup in 2011 in Vancouver. 

During his 188 games in the CFL, Brown climbed Winnipeg’s all-time tackles list landing in second place with 429 overall. He was also third on the all-time sack list with 52.

Brown was a seven-time all star and won CFL Most Outstanding Canadian honours in 2001.

Other inductees included in the 2016 class were Rodney Harding, who played with the Toronto Argonauts during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Derrell ‘Mookie’ Mitchell, the long-time Argo and Edmonton Eskimo. Don McDonald will join the hall in the builder category and James West is being inducted for his role with the Stampeders and the Blue Bombers. 

The new inductees will bring the total number of hall of fame members to 283. A bust of each member is featured at the hall, which is expected to be moved to Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton next year. 

“Everyone of these gentlemen had a positive impact on the growth of football in our country, and for that we are forever indebted to them,” said CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge.

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