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Brown comes from long line of Tornado kickers Photo by Bob Pennell From front to back, Kelly, Rob and Russ Brown have kicked for the Tornado. By GREG STILES North Medford junior Kelly Brown is following in proud footsteps. Like his father and grandfather, Brown is handling the kicking chores for the Black Tornado. The 5-foot-10, 150-pounder was among the Southern Oregon Conference's leading scorers and earned second-team all-conference honors. His grandfather, Russ Brown, kicked for Medford's dominating teams of 1932-34 that were 26-1-2, playing in three unofficial state championship games. "In those days, we didn't know what a tee was," says the senior Brown. "We didn't even have (grass) turf." The only loss Russ Brown played in during his three-year varsity career was in 1932, when Jefferson routed Medford, 33-0. In those days, there were no playoffs sponsored by the Oregon School Activities Association. "The sports writers up in Portland selected what they thought were the best teams," Russ Brown says. "We were undefeated three years, and they picked another undefeated team to play us." After the loss to Jefferson, Medford went unbeaten the next two falls. Brown kicked a PAT in a 7-0 victory over Bend at Van Scoy Field (on the present McLaughlin Middle School site). But he didn't get a chance to break a 6-6 tie against Washington of Portland in 1934. "The field was ankle-deep in mud," says his son, Rob, second in the line of Brown kickers, who has often heard the story. "When they scored, the coach decided to run for the extra point (only worth one point at the time). They didn't make it, and Dad was upset about that because he always thought he could have made it." Football tales aren't the only ones told by the Browns. Russ Brown, now 83, remembers a mischievous activity in which he participated. "My senior year, the basketball starters went over and painted a big red `M' on the barn at the end of Ashland High School," Brown recalls. "By the time we got back to Medford, everybody knew who did it. We didn't get called to see C.G. Smith, the principal, we got sent to (Superintendent) E.H. Hedrick's office. He ripped on us." Of course, Hedrick had just the right punishment to fit the pranksters' crime. "We got kicked out of school for a week and had to forfeit the game (at Ashland)," says Brown. "We were given the choice of 80 hours make-up time in school or 40 hours of manual labor." The boys chose the latter. "In those years before there were cement sidewalks around the (Oakdale Avenue campus), we had plank sidewalks," Brown recalls. ``Old E.H. hauled in a contractor and the six us spent 40 hours hauling in and wheeling cement to replace the planks." Russ Brown had three sons play for the Tornado: Tim, who is a longtime assistant coach at Ashland; Rob, one of the few sophomores to earn a letter in Fred Spiegelberg's 31 seasons; and Jeff, an all-state linebacker and Shrine Game performer in 1974. Rob Brown suffered a leg injury late in his sophomore season and wound up on the sidelines when Medford played Hillsboro in the state quarterfinals. The Spartans advanced, 7-6, when the Tornado couldn't convert the point after. Medford failed to make the playoffs the next two seasons but won the state title in 1969. "I saw Danny Miles kicking for Medford when I was in the fifth grade," says 48-year-old Rob Brown. "That's when I set a goal that I was going to try to kick for Medford." He used to work out with Chief McLean during his Roosevelt Elementary School days, kicking the ball over a fence in lieu of a goal post. Later, as an eighth-grader at Hedrick Middle School, he practiced while his dad shagged balls. "I developed a passion and it worked into the fact that Medford needed a kicker," Rob Brown says. "But I was never as good as Kelly." His forte was wrestling. After winning the 148-pound high school and freestyle wrestling titles -- and finishing second in Greco-Roman -- he enrolled at Oregon State in 1969. Brown reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 1971 and helped OSU place second in the NCAAs in 1973. The team was led by All-Americans Greg Strobel, Greg Jones, Tom Phillips, Jim Hagan and Jim Crumley. Among his fondest memories, however, was the day he got a call from a football coach at OSU. "The team had lost a couple of games by a point and apparently somebody wrote a letter saying there was a kicker in their own backyard," Brown recalls. Colleges still had freshman teams, and the Rooks were scheduled to play Oregon and needed a kicker. "I got a call the Wednesday night before the game," he says. "I practiced Thursday and then went out Friday and played the game. We won 7-6. I didn't know anybody on the team. It was kind of a weird feeling. The kick was partially blocked, but it still made it over. That was my college career, one kick." The first two Browns were straight-on kickers; the latest is a sidewinder. Kelly Brown, like many kids of his generation, began playing soccer early in life. By the time he was a freshman, however, he had swapped shin guards for golf gloves. But when the freshman football team found itself in need of a kicker, several of his buddies coaxed him into playing. He was stuck at defensive end between kicking assignments. Since then, however, he's concentrated on kicking. "He's playing the two mind games of life," says Rob Brown. "Golf and kicking. You're either a hero or a goat real quick." But Kelly Brown sees that as part of the fun. Brown has converted 41 of 46 PATs this fall and is 3-for-5 in field goals, with a long of 41 yards. He's quick to give credit to his holder, Aaron Breitenbach, and long snapper, Shad Thomas. "The team has done so well that it kind of made me look good, scoring a lot of points," Brown says. "As the year has gone on, I've gotten a lot more comfortable." The Tornado offense has been too good for Brown to have many field goal attempts. "It seems like once we get down into the 30-yard area, we always seem to score," he says. "We haven't had a lot of missed opportunities." And three generations of Browns -- and the Tornado's fans -- would just as soon that continue for a couple of more weeks. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.