Mike Brown

Michael Brown (born August 10, 1935) is an American football executive who is the owner of the Cincinnati Bengals in the National Football League (NFL). The son of Bengals co-founder Paul Brown, he joined the Bengals upon their founding in 1968 and assumed ownership after his father's death in 1991. Before beginning his career as a football executive, he played quarterback at Dartmouth. Early life Brown is the only living son of Paul Brown. His brother, Pete, was the senior vice-president of Bengals' player personnel until his death in 2017. His older brother, Robin, died of cancer in 1978. Brown graduated from Dartmouth College in 1957, where he played quarterback for their football team, and from Harvard Law School in 1960. He played nine games for the Big Green in 1956. In an unusual meeting between future sports owners, eventual New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner hired him to a summer job as a deck hand for Kinsman Marine Transit Company. Brown eventually followed his father into football management. Paul Brown founded the Bengals, then an American Football League (AFL) team, in 1968. (This was several years after Paul Brown was dismissed as Cleveland Browns head coach in a well-publicized falling out with Art Modell.) He began his executive duties with the Bengals as assistant general manager. Along with personnel decisions, he was a spokesman for the team on issues of league rules and team policy.