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Dothan native Johnny Mack Brown (1904-1974) gained fame in two very different arenas: college football and Hollywood Westerns. A gifted athlete, he first achieved notoriety as an All-American running back for the University of Alabama for his efforts in a stunning upset of the heavily favored University of Washington Huskies in the 1926 Rose Bowl. The subsequent media attention brought the notice of Hollywood legendary director and producer King Vidor, and Brown went on to a successful career as an actor in film and television.

Brown was a star football player at his high school, and his athletic abilities earned him both the nickname "the Dothan Antelope" and a football scholarship to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa—one of five Brown brothers recruited. He played first under popular coach Xan Scott, but his potential reached its fullest under Coach Wallace Wade. Brown led the team to the 1926 Division 1-A championships and earned a spot on the Wheaties cereal box. In addition to his athletic endeavors, Brown participated in drama club events and courted and married his college sweetheart, Cornelia Foster, the daughter of a prominent judge, with whom he would have four children (this was the judge for whom Foster Auditorium is named).

He achieved financial success in his career, and the family resided in a large, Tudor-style Beverly Hills home with a swimming pool and a skeet-shooting range. Brown continued athletic hobbies, playing polo with stars such as Leslie Howard and Spencer Tracy; swimming with Duke Kahanamoku and Johnny Weissmuller; and duck-hunting with Clark Gable and Charlie Starrett, the "Durango Kid."

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