Tim Brown and Jerome Bettis ride NFL fame from LA to Canton - Los Angeles Times
Years before the Los Angeles Rams had The Bus — bruising young running back Jerome Bettis — a heralded L. A. Raiders rookie had The Porsche. That car belonged to first-year receiver Tim Brown, the No. 6 overall pick in 1988, who rolled into the NFL as the proud owner of a sleek, black Porsche 928. Like Bettis, the No. 10 pick of the Rams five years later, Brown was a standout at Notre... When a seasoned teammate caught wind of the Porsche, he advised Brown not to bring it to training camp, warning him the veterans wouldn't take kindly to it because Brown had yet to do anything as a pro. In the sideline celebration that followed, that same veteran found Brown on the sideline, telling him, "You can bring that Porsche around here now. Almost three decades later, Brown and Bettis will put the finishing flourishes on their illustrious NFL careers. Unlike Brown, who picked up right where he left off in college, Bettis had to make a dramatic shift when he got to the pros. "I was a fullback, and then when I came to the Rams, Chuck Knox asked me to play tailback," said Bettis, who got "The Bus" nickname at Notre Dame but was also known as "The Battering Ram" when he played for the Rams. "In college I was this tough, physical, boom-boom-boom guy, whereas in the NFL, they asked me to be this graceful ballerina. I still had this workman kind of body, but I had to morph into it. ". For both Brown and Bettis, life in South Bend, Ind. Source: www.latimes.com
