Starting From Scratch : Former Raider Willie Brown Faces Perhaps His Biggest Challenge at Jordan

Deep in the heart of South Central-Los Angeles, far removed from his glory days in Oakland, Willie Brown has set up shop as football coach at Jordan High.

Instead of being cheered by thousands of screaming fans in a large stadium, Brown conducts his business these days on a makeshift field bordering the Nickerson Gardens housing project in Watts.

Adding to the challenge is that Jordan has not won a varsity football game in three years. Coaches have to compete against gangs for available athletes.

For a player who started his career as a star at Grambling State in the early 1960s and went on to fame as a defensive back with the Raiders, the begging question is “why”?

Why would a seven-time All-Pro football player elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility take on one of the most unattractive high school coaching jobs in the nation?

For Brown, 51, there are no easy answers.

Friends and assistant coaches say he has a heart of gold and felt it was time to give something back to the community. Others speculate he did not have many other coaching opportunities.

It is not unprecedented for former professional players to coach on the high school level. Doug Williams, who quarterbacked the Redskins to a victory in Super Bowl XXII, coached at two high schools in Louisiana from 1991-93. He is currently an assistant at Navy. Louis Wright, an All-Pro defensive back for the Broncos, is in his first season as coach at Montbello High in Denver.

Neither Williams nor Wright, however, took over a program as down and out as the one at Jordan.

“The bottom line is that these kids need help,” said Brown, who spent 12 of his 16 seasons in the NFL with the Raiders. “If I can help on or off the field or in or out of the classroom, then I have made some kind of a contribution. It’s the very least these kids deserve.”

After retiring from the Raiders in 1978, Brown worked as an assistant with the team until Tom Flores resigned in 1988. He was an assistant under George Allen at Long Beach State in 1990 and succeeded Allen after he died later that year. His first head coaching job lasted only one season, however; the school canceled the program.

When Jordan lost its coach before the start of last season, new Principal Etta McMahan went into the community to find a replacement. McMahan, a Grambling State graduate, heard Brown was available and called him.

To her surprise, Brown, who lives in Torrance, agreed to coach the team on a volunteer basis.

The transition was difficult. Eligibility problems forced the team to forfeit its opener, and it did not get any easier from there. Jordan scored only five touchdowns in the next eight games and finished 0-9.

Losing games did not deter Brown, who decided to come back for a second season--and not as a volunteer. He studied for the state’s teaching certification exam last spring and passed it in June. He is now a full-time employee of the Los Angeles Unified School District, running the football program and trying to keep kids out of trouble.

That is no small task. Jordan, which has an enrollment of nearly 2,000, is located in one of the Southland’s most troubled areas.

“Do you know what a big deal it is to have a man like Willie Brown in charge of your football team?” McMahan asked. “He is a big role model in a school in desperate need of them. This is someone for the kids to look up to and seek advice. I am eternally grateful.”

Local role models have been scarce since Watts made national headlines in 1965 for riots that erupted because of racial tensions. The ethnic makeup of the neighborhood has changed from predominantly black to Latino, but many of the students still come from broken homes and poverty prevails. Brown said several players have to hold down jobs to help pay the rent and buy groceries and perform other family duties. Graffiti and gangs are also prevalent.

“This is not like the pros where you know the players are going to show up every day at the time you ask them,” said Brown, defensive captain for the Raiders for 10 years. “You tell these kids what’s going on, but many of them have other obligations or have to be told more than once before it sinks in. It gets frustrating.”

With almost no athletic budget and an annual coaching stipend of $1,500, Brown is being asked to perform nothing short of a miracle. When he arrived last season, there were only 18 kids out for the team and many had never heard of him.

In addition, the field was nothing more than a dirt box and there were no blocking sleds. The equipment was in shambles. It was impossible to watch game film; there is no video equipment. Players with injuries usually had to go without athletic tape.

Such obstacles are one reason it has been difficult to find a head coach for the program. Ben Merchant has been a physical education teacher and football assistant at the school for 10 years. He has turned down the head coaching job every time it has been offered because he said it is an impossible task.

Brown does not see it that way. He promises morale changes and victories.

Things appear to be changing. Before, many of the neighborhood athletes would attend nearby Locke High; now, many enroll at Jordan. The team has more than doubled in size and attendance at games has increased significantly.

Many have noticed the difference. Quarterback Kevin Harris said the coaching staff cares more about the players.

There is also increased interest from the community. The school’s first summer camp drew more than 100 participants of varying ages. Local businesses that used to ignore the program now are donating food, money and other supplies. A dinner and dance is planned for the end of the month for Jordan graduates, with proceeds going to the athletic department.

The Raiders have been particularly generous, donating balls, pads and shoes.

“Without the Raiders’ help, I don’t know that we could have fielded a team this season,” Brown said. “We were basically out of equipment. My goal is to get 80 kids out for the team next season, but then I will have to worry about how I’m going to get them all suited up.”

Brown knows rebuilding tradition will take time. The school last won a City Section football title in 1980. Its losing streak has reached 30 games.

As word of Brown’s NFL fame has spread, expectations have increased. One disgruntled fan yelled that Brown should go back to the Raiders after a recent loss to league rival Jefferson.

He shrugs it off.

“I don’t walk around talking about who I am or what I’ve done,” Brown said. “Most of the kids have seen me on some NFL highlight show, and perhaps my experience gives them a greater appreciation for what I’m telling them to do. They know I’m not making it up.”

The Bulldogs lost their opener to Harbor City Narbonne on a last-second field goal and have played competitively in losses to Jefferson, Roosevelt and Bell.

For a man who has spent most of his adult life involved in professional football and in the spotlight, the differences are noticeable. Most of his work is done anonymously from a small office with a telephone that barely works.

The schedule changes every day, as players and coaches show up when they can. There is always a different set of problems.

“You have to worry about the kids getting their physicals and making sure they attend class,” said Brown, who is always seen wearing a blue and white Jordan cap. “You have to tell them everything three or four times. A lot of times they need money for lunch or a ride home from practice.

“You wear a lot of different hats.”

None of it has deterred Brown. He will not speculate on how long he plans to coach at the school, but he said he will not be satisfied until a solid program is intact for his players.

And he wants to turn them into winners.