Drafted by the NFL's Cleveland Browns out of San Diego State, Brian Winfield Sipe never anticipated having much of a pro football career.  "At most I thought I'd have a couple of years as a third-string quarterback... I thought it would be a great party, then I'd move on."

But once Sipe became Cleveland's starter, he would never look back.  A guiding force of the Browns teams of the late 1970's and early 1980's, Sipe would spend a decade in the NFL, throwing for 23,713 yards and 154 touchdowns, including a 1980 season where Sipe threw for over 4,000 yards and 30 scores to propel the famed "Kardiac Kids" to the playoffs.  Sadly the Browns didn't see an NFL championship that year, falling to the Oakland Raiders after "Red Right 88" resulted in an interception that sealed the Browns playoff fate.  He would earn the NFL's Most Valuable Player Award for his performance that season.

During the 1983 season Sipe angered Browns brass by negotiating with the USFL's New Jersey Generals and their new owner, Donald Trump.  Sipe would ultimately sign with the Gens, throwing for 2,540 yards and 17 touchdowns in a backfield that featured a pair of 1,000-yard rushers (Herschel Walker and Maurice Carthon) and leading New Jersey to the playoffs.  By 1985, however, Sipe found himself in Jacksonville, and as a back-up at that:  Trump had signed Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie to the Generals, making Sipe expendable.  Once the 1985 season was done, so was Sipe's pro football career.

Sipe moved back to the San Diego area, where he began a real estate firm as well as a residential home design company, deciding to put his football life behind him.  He re-discovered his religious faith during this period, and eventually re-discovered football as well - coaching at the high school level.  Today in addition to his business interests, he's the head coach of the Santa Fe Christian School in Solana Beach, California.

BRIAN SIPE

New Jersey Generals,
Jacksonville Bulls
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