The third time was a charm for legendary NC State running back Ted Brown, who was announced as a member of the newest class of College Football Hall of Fame inductees on Tuesday.
Brown, who played for the Wolfpack from 1975-78, still holds the ACC rushing record with 4,602 yards, and he is also the only four-time first-team All-ACC selection in the league's history. The even more impressive fact about Brown's record is that players have more games in a season nowadays and can also count statistics accumulated in bowl games towards their career totals — Brown played in just 43 games and rushed 860 times (5.4 yards per rush average). He rushed for an additional 399 yards in bowl games, which would bring his career total to 5,001 yards if he was allowed to count that towards his career numbers.
The 5-foot-11, 170-pounder from High Point, N.C., was named the ACC Freshman of the Year in 1975 after he ran for 913 yards and 13 scores on just 142 carries (6.4 average).
Brown would eclipse 1,000 yards rushing in each of the next three seasons, and never average less than 4.5 yards per tote. He also totaled at least 11 touchdowns and 160 yards through the air in each campaign, and wrapped up his career with 51 touchdowns, which is another school record. Only Virginia's Wali Lundy has ever scored more in an ACC career.
His 49 rushing scores stands as an ACC mark, and nobody in league history has ever had more than his 27 100-yard rushing games. Brown also holds the ACC standard with an average of 107.0 rushing yards per game, and ranks fourth in conference annals with 5,748 career all-purpose yards.
When he finished his playing career in Raleigh, he ranked fourth on the NCAA Division I rushing list, trailing only Tony Dorsett, Archie Griffin and Ed Marinaro. His No. 23 jersey was the first football jersey retired at NC State.
Brown earned consensus first-team All-America laurels as a senior and went on to play eight years for the Minnesota Vikings, where he finished his career as the club's fifth-leading rusher. He is currently a juvenile probation officer in the Ramsey County (Minn.) court system and enjoys helping at-risk youth throughout the state.
The 14-member Hall of Fame class will be inducted at the 56th National Football Foundation Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 10, 2013, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, and they will be officially enshrined during the summer of 2014.
Brown is the fifth former Wolfpack player to enter the College Football Hall of Fame, joining Jack McDowall (inducted in 1975), Jim Ritcher (1998), Roman Gabriel (1989) and Dennis Byrd (2010). Former Wolfpack mentors Lou Holtz (2009) and Buck Shaw (1972) are also Hall of Fame members.