Charles "Kippy" Brown, a Super Bowl-winning American football coach and the first Black quarterback in University of Memphis history, has died at the age of 71. His cause of death has not been disclosed, and tributes have poured in from across the National Football League, where he spent decades as a respected assistant coach and mentor to players.

Brown played quarterback at Memphis from 1974 to 1977 before beginning a coaching career that spanned nearly four decades, including spells at Louisville, Tennessee and with NFL teams such as the New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks, as well as a year as head coach of the XFL's Memphis Maniax. He was most notably the Seahawks' wide receivers coach from 2010 to 2014, helping guide the team through consecutive Super Bowl appearances while coaching players including Doug Baldwin, Golden Tate, Jermaine Kearse and Sidney Rice. He was inducted into Memphis's M Club Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2019, and is survived by his wife, Deon, and two children, Jennifer and Jeome.