Cliff Brown is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 quarterback

Quarterback

Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

 for the University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...

, and was the first African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 quarterback to start a game for the prestigious program.

Following the graduation of future Hall-of-Famer

College Football Hall of Fame

The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

 Joe Theismann

Joe Theismann

Joseph Robert "Joe" Theismann is a former quarterback in the National Football League and Canadian Football League . He achieved his most enduring fame in his 12 seasons playing for the Washington Redskins, where he was a two-time Pro Bowler and quarterback of the winning team in Super Bowl XVII...

 in 1971, Irish head coach

Head coach

A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...

 Ara Parseghian

Ara Parseghian

Ara Raoul Parseghian is a former American football player and coach of Armenian descent. He served as the head football coach at Miami University , Northwestern University , and the University of Notre Dame , compiling a career college football record of 170–58–6...

 selected Pat Steenberge

Pat Steenberge

Patrick W. Steenberge is a former American football quarterback who played at Cathedral Preparatory School in Erie, Pennsylvania and at the University of Notre Dame. He is currently the owner and operator of , which organizes competitive events for young amateur athletes worldwide...

 to start

Starting lineup

A starting lineup in sports is an official list of the set of players who will actively participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as starters, whereas the others are substitutes or bench players.The starters are commonly the best...

 the first two games in the fall. Following a leg injury to Steenberge, backup Bill Etter

Bill Etter

William F. Etter is a former American football quarterback. He was an All-American at in Spokane; a two-game starter for the University of Notre Dame until a knee injury ended his college career; and a three-year backup for the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats, from 1973-1975...

 would start the next two games, but then he too would go down with a knee injury that would end his season. Cliff Brown was then forced into action in the second quarter against Miami

Miami Hurricanes football

The Miami Hurricanes football program competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference of the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the University of Miami. The program began in 1926 and has won five AP national championships...

, and would lead the team to a 17-0 victory. Brown would start all games through the remainder of the season, losing only to USC

University of Southern California Trojans football

The USC Trojans football program, established in 1888, represents the University of Southern California in college football. USC is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I FBS and the Pacific-12 Conference . The Trojans have been a football powerhouse throughout NCAA...

 and LSU

LSU Tigers football

The LSU Tigers football team, also known as the Fighting Tigers or Bayou Bengals, represents Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States in NCAA Division I FBS college football. Current head coach Les Miles has led the team since 2005. Since 1999 when Nick Saban took over as...

.

The following year, Brown would yield the starting job to sophomore Tom Clements, but would remain the primary backup over the next two years. Brown's last touchdown at Notre Dame would come in the final regular-season game of the 1973 national championship season—a 6-yard run at the end of a 44-0 rout of Miami

Miami Hurricanes football

The Miami Hurricanes football program competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference of the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the University of Miami. The program began in 1926 and has won five AP national championships...

. Brown would be selected in the 17th round of the 1974 NFL Draft

NFL Draft

The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...

 by the Philadelphia Eagles

Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

as a running back, but he would not make the final roster.