Born August 14, 1935, in Menlo Park, California, John Riley Brodie grew up in Oakland's Montclair district and attended Oakland Technical High School, where he excelled as a standout athlete. He played college football and golf at Stanford University, earning consensus All-American honors in football as a senior in 1956. Remarkably, Brodie rejected an athletic scholarship and played as a walk-on while also competing on Stanford's golf team, which kept him out of spring football drills. He nearly chose professional golf for his career, playing in several PGA Tour tournaments after college before committing to football.