Brown, who in an era when foul play was still rife in rugby league, wasn't one who often got involved in dirty play, though he did hit replacement Cronulla fullback Rick Bourke with a swinging arm as Bourke crossed for Cronulla's only try of the 1973 Grand Final at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Some 30 years later Brown was able to catch up with Bourke and apologise for the incident (the 1973 GF was known as the toughest of them all with many fights breaking out during the game).
Brown, like South Sydney's dual international winger Michael Cleary, sometimes worked as a model outside of the game at a time when working class rugby league players didn't do such things, and years before players such as Andrew Ettingshausen and Craig Wing were able to use their good looks to earn a living away from rugby league.
In 1999 Max Brown was diagnosed with cancer that he had reportedly had for over 7 years (it was only found out when the tumor burst inside him resulting in emergency surgery).
The cancer was believed to have been caused by a simple rub down cream he and other players had been using for years after training and games.