Former San Francisco Bay Area Seals player CJ Brown was inducted into the Chicago Fire's elite "Ring of Fire" this past May, 2012.  Brown played for the San Francisco Bay Area Seals from 1995 - 1997, when he was picked up at #1 by Bob Bradley in round one of the supplemental draft that year.

 

Brown was not drafted by the MLS after graduating from San Jose State University, and played with the Seals, who were then in the USL Pro League (D3).  

 

Tom Simpson, then Head Coach of the Seals recalled that "CJ was not our full time starter in 1995.  We had a strong defense on an experienced team.  We had dominated the PDL for two years by that time.  That year we played the Richmond Kickers in the semifinals in the National Championship, and while he didn't start, we finished play with him.  After that, he started every match for us," said Simpson.

 

Brown moved to the center back position for the Seals in 1997, where he lead the defense in the Seals amazing run of 17 straight victories, and right on into the semi-finals of the U.S. Open Cup.  That run included wins over the then A-League Seattle Sounders, MLS Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting KC), and a 2-1 win over the MLS San Jose Clash (now Earthquakes).

 

The Seals lost to DC United 2-1 in a hard fought semi-final match that year.

 

After getting his opportunity in Chicago, Brown went on to become the longest serving team member, playing 13 years before retiring at the end of the 2010 season.  His record includes team all-time leader in competitive appearances (372), starts (364) and minutes (32,538), MLS regular season (296), MLS Cup playoff (35) and U.S. Open Cup (26) appearances. 

 

"CJ Brown will live forever in the hearts and minds of the Seals fans," says Simpson.  

“That was, soccer-wise, that was… we played for fun,” said Brown in his retirement conference call.  “We were playing because we enjoyed the game, we didn’t get paid. I would travel over an hour and a half just to get to practice. It was just a group of guys that loved to play the game and that was a lot of fun."

 

“We had a great year just before getting picked for the MLS. We ended up playing three MLS games. We ended up losing to DC United, who back then was one of the best teams in MLS,” he said of the Open Cup run.

 

“And I look at it as they didn’t like the fact that we were a USL team that made it that far, so they sent the big team after us,” he added with a chuckle.

 

Brown was hired in January of 2011 by Real Salt Lake as an Assistant Coach, and continues to be a part of their all MLS alumni coaching staff.

 

While with the Fire, Brown served as the Assistant Director of Coaching for the Chicago Fire Juniors and the Director of Coaching for the Elmhurst (Ill.) Elite youth clubs. He has earned his National “B” License for coaching from the United States Soccer Federation and wants to earn the USSF “A” License in the near future.

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