Although he never won a major trophy, he was regarded as one of football's most inventive tactical minds and earned a reputation for honesty and openness amongst his peers.
However, growing up during the Great Depression as part of a large working-class family, Brown's parents were unable to afford to pay for his further education.
[2] Brown was a cousin of the England international footballer Austen Campbell, who played as a half-back for Huddersfield Town and Blackburn Rovers.
In his first season at the club Brown formed what became known as the "Iron Curtain Defence" with fellow defenders Reg Attwell, George Bray, Arthur Woodruff, Harold Mather and goalkeeper Jimmy Strong.
Another good season followed in 1947–48 with Brown missing just six games and Burnley managing to finish third in the First Division, with only goal average separating them from Manchester United in second place.
This was seen as a shock move by Burnley as Brown was still club captain and a first team regular, although this was a huge amount of money at the time to recoup for a 34-year-old defender.
After a few years he was persuaded by the then Secretary of the Football Association, Stanley Rous, to return to the game, and in 1951 he joined Sheffield Wednesday as a coach.
His arrival back at the club was not well received by some of the senior players at Burnley who were unhappy in anticipation of being managed by such a figure of moral integrity.
Undeterred by the potential backlash, Brown set about instilling in the club the same values of integrity, hard work and honesty that he held dear.
[4] Perhaps to compensate for his own poor treatment as a youngster, Brown, with the support of new chairman Bob Lord, developed a strong youth setup at Burnley which continued to be fruitful long after his departure.
Brown was appointed as Sunderland manager at a time when the club was in the middle of a series of scandals over illegal payments to players and was struggling at the bottom of the First Division table.
The board had specifically targeted Brown with the aim of cleaning up the club in the wake of the match fixing scandal that had recently affected the Owls.