In 1937 Brown started in the rodeo at Willcox, Arizona at age 16. In 1941 he rode his horse to Cody, Wyoming,—a long distance—where he won his first bull trophy, then rode back again.
Brown enlisted to join the U.S. army, and undertook basic training in Fort Sill. He studied horseshoeing while stationed at Fort Riley. He was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services and "did his part by helping to train Chinese paratroopers in secret". The war ended in the summer of 1945, and Brown "returned to China to compete in a Red Cross-sponsored event in which U.S. pack mules were used in place of saddle-broncs and barebacks and native cattle were rounded up for bull riding. Brown left China with the all-around title".
Brown was injured badly in October 1962 at the rodeo in Portland, Oregon. While riding a bull name "Black Smoke" for 8 seconds, the bull flipped Brown, who fell on his head, paralyzing him. The doctor "pulled on his head and feeling returned to his right side and left foot". He was operated on and put in traction for 34 days, followed by a plaster cast "from his waist to the top of his brow for over 2 months". He had saved enough money to win the Championship. His earnings in 1962 were $18,675. During that year he won the World Bull Riding Championship at the National Finals Rodeo while he was on the sidelines watching.
Tornado, the unrideable bull
Brown is remembered for riding an "unrideable" bull named Tornado in December 1967. The bull, owned by Jim Shoulders, had thrown over 200 riders over a 14-year period before Brown's successful ride, and was considered the ultimate challenge on the bull-riding circuit, but Brown stayed on for the 8 seconds required, in front of 6,000 people. Tornado died in 1972 as unridden by 220 professional riders except for Brown and two others, and was buried on the grounds of the Cowboy Hall of Fame, near two notable bucking horses, Midnight and Five Minutes Til Midnight. Brown, this ride, and Tornado are all memorialized in Red Steagall's song, "Freckles Brown".
He was the youngest of 10 brothers and sisters. Brown had a wife named Edith, and a daughter named Donna Harrison, and two grandchildren. Brown had retired at age 53 to his 600-acre ranch in Soper, Oklahoma. Brown was found to have prostate cancer in November 1982. He was advised to go to Houston for radiation treatment, but was determined to go to the December finals beforehand, where a dance was held to raise funds to support his treatment. By March 1983 he had returned home to give interviews. His cancer returned in 1987, after being in remission for four years. Another fundraiser was planned for March 1987, but Brown died two days before at his ranch in Soper, Oklahoma. The fund raiser went forward nevertheless and US$41,000 was raised to help with Brown's medical bills. He was a friend and mentor to bull riding champion Lane Frost, who is buried next to him in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hugo, Oklahoma.
