Born in south Yorkshire, Ben Brown was the son of a miner who was killed in a pit accident when Ben was just five. His mother overcame the adversity and made sure Ben received a good education and after attending Mexborough Grammar School he won a scholarship to Oxford where, in 1947 he obtained a first in chemistry. Perhaps surprisingly, he never won a football Blue but was one of the original members of the newly formed Pegasus club in 1948 which was for ex-Oxford and Cambridge men and he maintained the true Corinthian spirit throughout his playing career. He played in goal for Pegasus in the 2-1 win over Bishop Auckland in the 1951 Amateur Cup final, the first to attract a capacity crowd of 100,000 to Wembley Stadium. He was also in the Pegasus goal when they won the cup two years later after beating Harwich and Parkeston 6-0. He won seven England amateur caps between 1951, when he made his début against Scotland at Hampden, and 1954, when he was replaced by Mike Pinner. In 1952 he was in the British squad for the Olympics but Ted Bennett got the call to keep goal in Britain’s only game against Luxembourg. Shortly after the Olympics, Ben had a spell with Cambridge City and in 1953 he joined Arsenal as an amateur but never played a League game for them. In 1954 Dr Ben Brown was elected to an official Fellowship and Tutorship in Chemistry at Oriel College, Oxford. He was later president of the Oxford University Football Club and died in 1992 after a 10 month battle with motor neuron disease (ALS / Lou Gehrig’s disease).
Great Britain