There are various roads a player can travel to reach the National Football League. Greg Brown's resembled San Francisco's Lombard Street.

After three years at Kansas State University, the defensive end transferred to Eastern Illinois where he sat out the season because of the NCAA transfer rule. But before he was eligible to play again, Brown left college and returned to his hometown of Washington, D.C., and earned a living by doing concrete work for a construction company that specialized in office buildings.

Brown was on the job for over two years when John Teerlinck, the line coach at Eastern Illinois, visited and talked about the NFL.

"He said, 'I'm going to contact a team. I know a couple of people, I'll see what I can do,'" says Brown. "I told him if he got me the opportunity to get in there, I wouldn't let him down. I wouldn't let myself down. I just wanted a chance.

DE Greg Brown

"He called and told me that he got me a tryout with the Eagles. They called and said they wanted to take a look at me and to come up and visit."

Visiting the defending NFC champs, a team he had recently watched play in the Super Bowl, certainly could have been intimidating. However, Brown says that wasn't the case.

"I was more excited. I wasn't nervous," Brown said. "The first person I met was Wilbert Montgomery. He thought I was a wide receiver.

"I told him, 'No, I'm a defensive end.' And he was like, 'Oh, you're too skinny! You're better off being another Harold Carmichael.' And I told him, 'No, man, I can't catch. I've got brick hands!'

"I went in and talked with (defensive line) coach Chuck Clausen. He took me around on a tour and told me the things that they were looking for and what they'd expect. At first, he was kind of skeptical. He said, 'I don't know, you're kind of small.' And I explained to him, 'All I want is a shot. I can put more weight on! I've been out of ball for a couple years, I haven't really had the need for the weight.' Coach Clausen said he was going to get the game film on me and would get back with me.

"Coach called and they wanted to take a look at me in the mini-camp. It was me and like 100 guys out there. I went through the agility (drills) and then we had to run 40s and my 40 time was just almost like Wilbert's time. I ran a 4.2, so they were really impressed. I talked with coach Clausen and he said, 'We're going to invite you back, but we would like to see you with at least 15 to 20 more pounds when you come to (training) camp.'"

With contract in hand and not concerned about cholesterol, the 6-foot-5 Brown returned home to prepare for the 1981 season.

"I told my mom that I had to put on some weight. She was like, 'You know what you need to do? Go to McDonald's and have an apple pie and a milkshake,'" he laughed.

"When I came to the mini-camp, I was 222 pounds. When I got back to the two-a-day camp, I was about 230," Brown said. "We weren't usually allowed to eat any dessert until dinner (during camp) but I was allowed to eat ice cream and cake and pies during lunch so that I could keep my weight up. By the time we started the season, I was up to 265."

Brown may have been bigger, but he was still thin on experience. The veterans along the defensive line couldn't have cared less.

"They were really impressed with my talent and said that I could help them out a lot," Brown said. "The guys helped me out a lot -- Claude Humphrey, Dennis Harrison, Carl Hairston and Charlie Johnson, all those guys. It was like a family thing. The D-line was really closely knit and they invited me in. It was just like I was always there."

Serving as a designated pass rusher, Brown collected two sacks in his first game, a 24-10 victory over the Giants, and finished his rookie campaign with 7.5 sacks. Three seasons later, his first as a full-time starter, Brown had a career-high 16 sacks, the second-most in the NFC.

But with the arrival of new head coach Buddy Ryan in 1986, the defensive alignment switched from a 3-4 to a 4-3, which meant Brown was moved from end to tackle.

"I figured it would make us a better team defensively," said Brown, who posted 50.5 sacks during his five seasons with the Eagles. "I didn't like the point that he moved me inside, but I was willing to adjust to anything. I'd do what I had to do.

"I think I played tackle very well, but I just didn't fit into Buddy's scheme. I played a year under Buddy and it was a good year, but Buddy had already decided he was going to break the team up anyway. So I was one of the guys that didn't fit into the scheme."

All told, Brown played in 89 games for the Eagles between 1981-86 and made a nice career for himself.

Now retired and making his home in South Jersey with his wife, Vallery, Brown has three children: Maurice, Greg Jr. and Kasha; and five grandchildren.