Every day, every step of the way, Travis Brown honours the legacy of his father.
“Daniel T. Brown 03.13.09” is tattooed on the left inside wrist of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Run Game Co-ordinator and Linebackers Coach.
On the outside wrist, there is this inscription: “He didn’t tell me how to live. He lived and let me watch him do it.”
Travis watched his dad, and learned invaluable lessons from him, as far back as he can recall.
In 1995, for example, Dan Brown was the Birmingham Barracudas’ Defensive Line Coach during the third and final year of the CFL’s American expansion experiment.
Travis had just turned five when the Barracudas played their one game against the Roughriders, on July 22, 1995 in Alabama.
“I definitely remember being in Birmingham,” said Travis, who is now in his second season with the Roughriders. “I remember the CFL, the logo, and all that.
“And then — fun fact — I actually went through a tornado in Birmingham, which was terrifying.
“I’ve got five siblings and we were all playing on a mega softball/T-ball diamond. We’re all separated and then the tornado alarm goes off, so my dad grabbed three kids and my mom grabbed three kids — because my parents took different cars to the diamond — and they raced home.
“My mom felt like the tornado was right on us, so we ducked into a Denny’s, got under the sinks, and waited it out. We were shaking around a little bit.
“When we walked out, the Denny’s sign fell over and almost hit the car as we were inside it. My dad powered straight through the tornado and went straight to the house.
“When we got to the house, a 100-foot tree was ripped out of the ground and there was a 20-foot sinkhole.
“Crazy story.”
Dan and Mindy Brown and their six children — Travis, Korissa, Tara, Larry, Eric and Jordan — lived in various places, as is often the case with the families of football coaches.
Although Dan coached in the pro ranks with Birmingham and the USFL’s Memphis Pharaohs, most of his time was spent in the collegiate ranks.
He coached for six seasons at Boise State — where he had played linebacker for a Division 1AA national-championship team in 1980 — and later spent close to a decade at Fresno State.
Sadly, Coach Brown never got to see Travis play for their beloved Fresno State Bulldogs.
Travis was a senior at Clovis West High School in Fresno, Calif., when his father passed away on March 13, 2009 after battling brain cancer for two years. He was only 50 years old.
“The day I knew I wanted to be a coach was at his funeral,” Travis recalled. “The church where we had the funeral probably held 800 people. Right across the street was the Fresno State stadium, where he had been the Defensive Co-ordinator. They ended up filling up a good chunk of the stadium with people who watched a live feed of the funeral.
“There were so many ex-players and ex-coaches and long-term friends who showed up. Getting to see that as a young kid, I thought, ‘Man, that’s pretty cool to have that many people still care about you and appreciate you and want to show up.’ ”
Travis made his debut with Fresno State on Sept. 5 of that year, helping the Bulldogs blank UC Davis 51-0.
His father’s initials — D.B. — were spray-painted on both ends of the field at Bulldog Stadium.
“My final gift to him was that I committed to Fresno State,” Travis said. “He was so excited about that. I got to see him light up one more time.
“He was still the Defensive Co-ordinator when I committed. He was excited to have a chance to coach me. Ultimately, it didn’t work out, but he coached me my whole life.”
Playing the position at which his father had excelled, Travis was a standout linebacker for four seasons at Fresno State — where two of his brothers (Jordan and Eric) also played.
Travis signed with the Ottawa REDBLACKS in advance of their inaugural season.
In fact, his first CFL game of any description was a pre-season contest at historic Mosaic Stadium on June 14, 2014.
Travis played in 17 games with the 2014 REDBLACKS and appeared in four more contests the following year before a shoulder injury curtailed his playing career.
Naturally, he soon went into coaching. Just as inevitably, he joined the staff at Fresno State.
He was the Bulldogs’ Defensive Quality Control and Linebackers Coach for one year before returning to the CFL and working with linebackers north of the border.
After serving on the coaching staffs with Edmonton (2018-19) and B.C. (2021-24), he was hired by the Roughriders in December of 2024.
“I talked to a lot of people who have worked with him in the past — players, different coaches — and everybody had great things to say about him,” Head Coach Corey Mace said.
“Looking at the success his players have had at all the stops prior to coming here, I think that parlays into the kind of coach that he is.
“When you get to know him and his background and how he was raised, he comes from a football family. His dad was a coach forever at the collegiate level and at Fresno State. It’s through and through with Trav.
“Now, being able to work with him, you see it. He’s a heck of a coach, a hell of a guy, and he has an excellent appetite.”
Not to mention excellent timing.
His first season in Saskatchewan was capped by a Grey Cup championship win.
Early in his second season as a Roughrider, he visited his first CFL home. The Roughriders —— the Ottawa REDBLACKS on Friday.
Although the Roughriders/REDBLACKS game was the main thing, Travis reserved a few seconds before kickoff to say a quiet, heartfelt thank you to Daniel T. Brown for making all this possible.
“The biggest thing I took from him,” a proud son reflected, “is that I got to watch a great man do great things.”
