To say Mayor Randy Brown’s life has been a whirlwind these past few months would be an understatement.
Brown agrees.
“It’s been a crazy month if you think about the month we had,” he said.
Brown won the Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens as the team’s kicking coach.
The Ravens topped the San Francisco 49ers 34–31 in a close game on Feb. 3.
Brown has 21 years of NFL experience and had previously attended a Super Bowl as a consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2004 season.
The win comes as redemption for the Ravens following a disappointing 2011 season. Former Raven and Pro Bowl kicker Billy Cundiff missed a 24-yard field goal, which would have tied the AFC Championship game late in the fourth quarter against the New England Patriots, sending them to the Super Bowl that year.
Super Bowl XLVII was the first of its kind for numerous reasons.
There was a heated sibling rivalry between head coaches and brothers Jim and John Harbaugh, and South Jersey was seemingly behind both Brown and Audubon native quarterback, Joe Flacco.
“I really wanted to thank thepeople in Marlton for their support, especially the kids,” Brown said, adding he received hundreds of text messages, phone calls, emails and signed shirts from students and kids from Evesham. “They’re tremendous. It felt like I was coaching not just the team, but the town.”
The game was close.
The Ravens seemed to be holding an unbreakable 21–6 lead before the halftime show.
Minutes after the halftime entertainment, provided by Beyoncé Knowles, half of the lights in the Superdome went out.
The blackout lasted more than 30 minutes, acting as an unexpected second halftime.
After the game resumed play, Ravens wide receiver Jacoby Jones ran for a 108-yard touchdown on a kick return, breaking records and making Super Bowl history, making it 28–6 after the extra point.
The 49ers then scored 17 unanswered points, closing the gap to 28–23.
“It [the blackout] affected us the same way [as the 49ers]. They were going to come back no matter what,” Brown said. “I wish it wasn’t that long of a wait either, but we were able to hold on to the win.”
Brown’s kicker Justin Tucker kicked two field goals in the fourth quarter, the second of the two a 38-yarder that solidified the Ravens’ win.
The victory was more exciting for Brown surrounded by family.
His wife, children, brother, sister-in-laws and mother traveled to New Orleans for the game to cheer and support the coach.
“Winning was 100 times better than I ever could have thought,” he said, noting the importance of his family. “It really was incredible.”
Brown got his chance to hold the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the first time on the field after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell presented it to the team.
“It was breathtaking,” Brown said. “You always dream you would have a chance to hold that trophy, but when you consider the odds, it gets small. It’s an amazing feeling.”
He was excited to be able to hold the trophy again on the plane ride home, he said.
Two days after the win, the team returned to Baltimore for the parade and celebration.
“The parade was so incredible because of the pure size and numbers of people that came out. There were hundreds of thousands of people,” Brown said. “When we got into the stadium, there had to be 95,000 people. The stadium seats 75,000, they had to let people on the field.”
Brown’s family participated in the parade. His 4-year-old daughter Mackenzie told her mom her arm hurt from waving so much.
“Trish told her she better get used to it because the princesses in Disneyland are going to be doing that much waving,” Brown said.
While the Browns aren’t traveling to Disney World like Flacco, they look forward to their continued celebration and family vacation in Anaheim in the spring.
“We’ll forever be the 2012 world champions,” Brown said. “We were the 47th team to do it.”
For pictures from the game and parade, visit baltimoreravens.com.
