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The 'meanest' man in NFL history was a 49ers star who saw his father killed in front of him

When the meanest man in the NFL was four years old, his father was shot dead in front of him.

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That day in 1928, young Hardy Brown Jr.’s mother was hiding from her husband at a neighboring farm in miles-from-anything Childress, Texas. Hardy Brown Sr., though, tracked her and their four children down. He pursued her into a bedroom, cornering her, until the neighbor, Absolam Gossett, gun in hand, told Brown to clear out. Gossett then shot three bullets straight to the chest, felling Brown dead on the spot.

“He was in the room when his dad was shot,” Hardy Brown Jr.