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Andy Brown
Goalie Andy
Brown – twice a Racer While Andy Brown is best known as the last NHL goalie to not wear a mask during regular play, the former resident of the Beach Strip was also a noted race car driver. Born in 1944, Brown started his hockey career with Hamilton’s Police Minor Association, and then went on to Guelph in Junior A hockey. He also played football at Hamilton’s Central Secondary School, and won a Golden Gloves title in the heavyweight novice division in Buffalo in 1964. By 1968, the son of former NHLer Adam Brown was playing goal for the Johnstown Jets of the Eastern Hockey League. He also had played an exhibition game with the Boston Bruins at this time. He then minded the net for the Baltimore Clippers of the American Hockey League. Meanwhile, Brown was building and racing cars at local tracks such as Cayuga Speedway. His mentor in this sport was Beach neighbor and one of Canada’s best short-track racers, Jimmy Howard. Brown not only raced stock cars, he made a serious attempt at open-wheeled, Indy-style car racing. He also raced Sprint Cars and Super Modified throughout Canada and the eastern US. “Being the son of a former NHL player,
I naturally would like to make the NHL,” Brown said in an
interview in 1968. “But
I think there would be more satisfaction in just driving in the
Indy.”
Brown was a racer of note in the early 1970s, as this report from Cayuga Speedway in 1972 indicates: “Both Brown and Makara (Jerry) driving Chevelles led a field of 25 cars at an average speed of 102 miles per hour. Brown and Makara, running inches apart at speeds of more than 130 mph on the back straight of this 5/8ths-mile paved oval, held the fans in suspense until the checkered flag. Brown was passed when Makara edged into the inside forcing the NHL Detroit net minder to the outside high on the turn.” Brown was with the Red Wings organization at the time, playing in the minors with a 10-game stint for the Red Wings. Despite this, he was traded early in 1973 to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and played nine games that year. After a 36-game stint with the Penguins in the 1973-74 season, long-term plans with the club did not include Brown, so he went to play with the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association in 1974-75. It was then that injuries hampered his hockey career, first with a pulled back muscle during the 1975-76 season, and then spinal surgery which limited him to just 10 games the next season. His playing was over in 1978 at the age of 33. While Brown would wear a mask in practice, he refused to do so during the games, saying it impaired his on-ice vision. His nose was broken multiple times. He had a cracked jaw, along with a broken cheekbone. His eyes would sometimes swell shut, and he lost teeth. “Yeah, I took a couple of smacks on the pumpkin,” Brown said in a 1992 interview about not wearing a mask and his injuries. “But it was no big deal. It just turned out that I never wore one.” Brown played 62 games in the NHL for Detroit and Pittsburgh, and 86 games in the WHA, all for Indianapolis. After his retirement from hockey, he stayed in Indiana raising horses. Honours: * 1966 Eastern Hockey League (North) All-Star Second Team, Johnstown
Jets, 1965-66 Tom McCabe's memories of Andy Brown: Andy Brown was my favorite Hockey player growing up in Baltimore. He was a tough, fearless player that would do whatever to get the job done for his team. He had cat like reflexes and could snatch a streaming puck out of the air that the naked eye couldn’t see. I have vivid memories of Andy making save after save keeping the Clippers in the game. He never wore a goalie mask. I asked him why he didn’t wear a mask and if he was worried about getting hit with the puck. He said he couldn’t see the puck as well with a mask on and actually felt safer not wearing a mask. He was the first goalie I ever saw fight. Wow could he could fight. Once the league found out Andy’s fighting skills were as good as his goaltending skills no one messed with him. My Dad worked in the Baltimore City Circuit Court. There was a small restaurant near the court named “The 203.” It was located at 203 Davis street. This is where allot of the AHL Baltimore Clipper Hockey players used to eat lunch after their morning practice. My Dad and Andy became friends and were on first name basis. Andy came to one of my little league baseball games and drove us home in his Pontiac GTO. I was disappointed when he left after the AHL days but he finally got his chance to play in the NHL for Pittsburgh and Detroit. I did get a chance to see Andy play again in Baltimore when the WHA Baltimore Blades played the Indianapolis Racers. Andy was their starting goalie for several years. The Baltimore WHA team only lasted a short time before it folded but it was worth it. I saw Gordie Howe and sons, Gerry Cheevers, Bobby Hull as well as several other NHL greats. Thanks for keeping the memory of Andy Brown alive in Hamilton. Believe me they should be proud of him. Tom McCabe
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