Duane Brown: An Arena Champion

Duane Brown is a wide receiver for the Albany Firebirds of the Arena Football One league. The six-foot 190-pound receiver won an Arena championship last year in his rookie season as a professional playing for the Billings Outlaws, where he caught five touchdown passes in the title game. He signed with Albany for the 2025 AF1 season and is looking to make an impact in Year One with the Firebirds.

BORN TO PLAY

Duane Brown was born in the Sandlewood/Vandergrift area of Pennsylvania. Brown was born to be a football player. From as young as he can remember, he always had a football in his hands or was running around playing tackle football. His family moved around when he was younger, eventually settling in the Spring Church area of Pennsylvania. 

Usually, you hear about the defensive back who started at wide receiver but couldn’t catch the ball, so they got moved to defense. It was much the opposite for Brown. He started out on the defensive side of the ball, but during his sophomore year, they tried him out on offense, and he hasn’t looked back. It started at running back, where Brown had a game with eight touchdowns and 456 rushing yards and another one with seven touchdowns. 

He tore his ACL summer going into his senior year, something that forced him to work harder in the gym. That’s something he wishes he’d started earlier, as he can’t get enough of it now. Brown recovered in record time, getting back on the field in less than five months. He’d play all over the field, getting time at quarterback, running back, and wide receiver, and still managing to score 20+ touchdowns despite missing the first four games of the season. 

FROM RuNNING BACK TO WIDE RECEIVER

Unfortunately for Brown, the bigger college teams that were interested in his services prior to his ACL tear quickly disappeared after his injury. He garnered some DII and FCS attention, and ultimately, it was coach Paul Tortorella at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) who won him over. Brown was one of three freshmen to play right away, and the team made the final four and won their conference championship. 

Brown academically redshirted for his sophomore season and it ended up being a blessing in disguise. Duane was playing wide receiver on the scout team in practice and just handing it to the first-team defense. He made the switch from running back to wide receiver for his redshirt sophomore season. He racked up almost 1,000 receiving yards and 19 total touchdowns. 

His senior year, they won the conference championship again. Brown had 1,145 yards and 18 receiving touchdowns. That vaulted him to second place in school history on the all-time receiving yards, receptions, and total touchdowns lists. Brown injured his MCL in his final regular season game of his senior season, which hampered his postseason opportunity and hurt his draft stock. 

ARENA FOOTBALL CHAMPION

After his college career was over, Brown found himself 1,700 miles away from home in Billings, Montana. He joined the Billings Outlaws of Arena Football with Coach Cedric Walker. Brown said the transition to Arena Football took a little time. The team wasn’t even able to practice at their own facility right away. He was blown away by the speed of the game in a condensed setting like the arena. It didn’t take him long to adjust, though. “At the end of the day, it was just ball to me.” 

In his rookie season as a professional, Brown made it all the way to the championship game, where his Billings Outlaws faced the Albany Firebirds (now his new team). Brown absolutely balled out in that game, catching nine passes for 125 yards and five, yes, FIVE touchdowns. Brown played a huge part in bringing the Outlaws their first championship. 

Brown didn’t really want to leave Billings after the magical season that was. But when an opportunity to play for the Firebirds came up that put him closer to family and, most importantly, his daughter, it was too good for Duane to pass up. Being just a few hours from home instead of 25 hours away while still getting to chase his lifelong dream of professional football was a no-brainer for Brown. 

Brown has the same game day routines before every game. He wakes up and starts his day with a couple of YouTube videos. The first one is “How bad do you want to be successful” by Eric Thomas. “It’s the 14-minute one though, you gotta watch the whole video,” Brown said to get all the motivation, there’s no cutting corners to success! The other video is the Inky Johnson story. Those two get his game days rolling and “puts me in that mode, locked in.” Those videos and his bands with his family's initials written on them are his game-day must-haves. 

In his downtime, Duane can’t get away from working out. It’s become one of his favorite hobbies off the field. He’s a huge movie buff who loves everything from Harry Potter to history movies and everything in between. That and being a dad, “as a dad, there are no off days.” He loves spending time with his one-year old daughter, they’ve watched about every princess movie there is to see, Brown said. 

When I asked Duane what he’s most looking forward to with the Firebirds this season he said “Just being able to showcase what I can do, this team is a powerhouse with a great team and great fanbase” “I’m ready to compete, and get to work.” When asked for a message for the Firebirds fans Duane responded “Can’t wait to come perform for you guys and hopefully get you a championship, I’m excited.”