Clifton Brown has been a sports reporter for 45 years. On Thursday, his esteemed career got the recognition it deserves.
Brown is part of the 2026 class of the Black Sportswriters Hall of Fame.
"I am humbled and honored to join this historic group of journalists. I've lived a dream career as a sportswriter, and hopefully I've helped some other journalists realize their dreams," Brown said.
"I didn't expect this honor, but I'm embracing it. Thanks to my family for always understanding when my career took me away from them while working on holidays, at night, or on the road. And thanks to the Ravens organization for bringing me into their flock in 2018 and making me feel like I've been in Baltimore from the beginning."
A Philadelphia native, Brown got his start at the Boca Raton News in 1981. When he covered his first NFL game in 1982, he noticed people staring at him when he took his seat in the press box at the Orange Bowl in Florida. They saw no other journalists who looked like him.
Brown went to the Detroit Free Press in 1983, The New York Times in 1988, Sporting News in 2007, Comcast SportsNet Baltimore in 2013, Indianapolis Star in 2017, and the Ravens in 2018.
He covered every season of the Lamar Jackson-John Harbaugh era as a staff writer for the Ravens and is busy documenting the Ravens' search for their next head coach.
"Cliff weaves beautiful writing and rich storytelling with a genuine desire to get to know people and get information," Ravens Editorial Director Ryan Mink said. "On top of that, he's the classiest person I've met in sports journalism. Cliff is everything a sportswriter should aspire to be, and we are very proud that he's now a Hall of Famer."
Brown also created and hosted the "Black in the NFL" podcast in 2020, which examined what it means to be "Black in the NFL," looking at the experience from many different angles and with many different voices.
Episodes included an in-depth look at the NFL's diversity problem in coaching and front offices, as well as sit-down interviews with Ozzie Newsome, the NFL's first Black general manager, and Sashi Brown, who became the second Black team president in NFL history.
