This is the eighth in a Saturday series looking at the Class of 2011, scheduled for induction Nov. 9 at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo.

It was not easy catching up with Ruben Brown this summer. One day it was Lynchburg, Va., one of his home towns. Another it was Nashville, then Memphis, Little Rock, Dallas, El Paso and on and on to Los Angeles.

Brown, who will enter the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame next month, was always on the move. For a good reason. For a good cause.

The 11th annual Ruben Brown Motorcycle Run was a cross-country endeavor this year from Buffalo to Los Angeles and back through Las Vegas, Wyoming, South Dakota and to Harley-Davidson's headquarters city, Milwaukee, Wis., all for the benefit of the the Salvation Army.

Brown rode an average of four hours each day on a 2011 Harley RoadGlide Ultra.

"It was an awesome performing bike. The seat they gave me was awesome. It made my trip easier and comfortable," Brown said.

Along the way Brown renewed old friendships and made a ton of new ones.

In Little Rock, Ark., he rode with Carl Kidd, a former University of Arkansas and Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker. In Tulsa, he visited with Jerry Ostrowski, who played the opposite guard from Brown on Bills teams in the '90s. In Tucson, he caught up the John Fina, who used to play along side him at left tackle on the Bills' lines from 1995 to 2001.

"We didn't raise a lot of money, but we did raise awareness about the Salvation Army and the things they do in each community," Brown said. "In each town we visited, the media would come out and support it so it was a good thing."

The Salvation Army was the beneficiary charity this year of the Ruben Brown Foundation. Brown participated in Salvation Army programs growing up in Virginia before he headed to the University of Pittsburgh to play football.

Before all his good works, Brown made his name as a truly reliable and consistent offensive lineman at Pitt and in the National Football League with the Buffalo Bills (1995-2003) and the Chicago Bears (2004-07).

Although the Bills championship years in the American Football League came before he was born and he came along too late for the Super Bowl runs of the early '90s, Brown managed to make his mark with Buffalo playoff teams in the late '90s before moving on to the Bears.

Brown played in 181 NFL games (136 with Buffalo) in his career, all of them starts. When Buffalo selected him in the first round of 1995 he was penciled into the lineup at left guard and stayed there week in and week out through the 2003 season. He missed only eight games in his Bills career, but finished sitting out his last game in the '03 season.

"It was an internal dispute with the coaching staff and management [Gregg Williams was coach and Tom Donahoe was president and general manager]. The season didn't go well, and they were going to release me anyway at the end of the season. They just told me to leave early."

The last dispute cast a cloud over Brown's last days as a Bill, but he's back in the organization's good graces -- and they in his -- and remains an avid follower and supporter of the team. Ruben's thoughts on the Bills and the NFL in general are heard each week on the Shredd and Ragan Radio Show on WEDG-FM and also on Time Warner Cable on "The Enforcers," a show he does with ex-Sabre Rob Ray.

Brown made eight straight (1996-2003) Pro Bowls as a Bill then made one more with the Bears. Of all the Bills in history, only Bruce Smith, with 11, played in more. He was named All-Pro first team twice by Pro Football Weekly and was a second-team Associated Press All-Pro selection four times.

With Chicago, Brown enjoyed playing under present Bears coach Lovie Smith and his experience there.

Bright, garrulous and engaged, Brown has the personality that seems to find a home anywhere. He was born in Englewood, N.J., and lived in the Newark area before his family moved to Lynchburg. Ruben has made his home in Orchard Park since coming to the Bills and his family remained there while he commuted to his job with the Bears.

His sons Solomon, 12, and Benjamin, 9, and daughter Isabel, 7, attend Orchard Park schools.

"Going to Chicago rejuvenated me," Brown said. "I made some great new friends there and the Chicago Land area really embraced me. I can't say enough good things about my time there and I got to go to the Super Bowl [2006 season], something I always wanted to do, with the Bears team.

Beside his work in media, Brown stays active through his foundation's work and is involved with Bills Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas in Legends Energy Group, a firm which provides a platform to help businesses reduce energy costs.

Although he is not active in football coaching, his expertise in offensive line play is valued and sought after by his friends in the profession. Last spring, he spent time on a consultancy basis working with the offensive line at the University of Tennessee.

At age 40, Brown looks back on his career with some satisfaction.

"I'm just proud that I made it and did a pretty good job," he says, understating his accomplishments a little bit. "People respect me as a good player and I got a lot of things I wanted out of it.

"I'm happy I did it and I did it pretty good."

The 21st annual Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame dinner will be held at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo on Nov. 9. For dinner tickets, call 888-2977 or go to www.gbshof.com.

mnorthrop@buffnews.comnull