Rockne's Roundtable

I received word this morning from 1986-89 Notre Dame defensive lineman Bryan Flannery that Dean "Big Happy" Brown, the starting right tackle on the 1988-89 Notre Dame teams that won a school record 23 straight games, passed away suddenly. He was the Louis Nix of his day, even though he played offense: He looked mean as hell — ESPN even used him to growl at the camera in one promo — but just a beautiful, effusive figure and always a great quote who uplifted his teammates and the campus community, hence his nickname.

He recently moved back to Ohio to run a charter school after serving as a true "Dean" in Washington D.C. One of his daughters played basketball with the daughters of fellow Ohio natives Flannery and Frank Stams.

Remember him in your prayers. Here's a link to a story I did on him in 2005: