Jim Brown, legendary NFL running back, dies at 87
Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown, the unstoppable running back who retired at the peak of his brilliant career to become an actor as well as a prominent civil rights advocate during the 1960s, has died. He was 87.
A spokeswoman for Brown's family said he passed away peacefully in his Los Angeles home on Thursday night with his wife, Monique, by his side. His wife confirmed the news in an Instagram post.
"To the world he was an activist, actor, and football star," she wrote. "To our family, he was a wonderful and loving husband, father, and grandfather. Our hearts are broken."
His former team, the Cleveland Browns, posted a tribute saying: "It's impossible to describe the profound love and gratitude we feel for having the opportunity to be a small piece of Jim's incredible life and legacy. We mourn his passing, but celebrate the indelible light he brought to the world. Our hearts are with Jim's family, loved ones, and all those he impacted along the way."
An all encompassing star, Brown burst onto the scene as a multi-sport standout at Syracuse in the 1950s, excelling in basketball and track while becoming an All American in both football and lacrosse.
Jim was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1983, the first African American to receive such an honor. But, he became a legend on the gridiron. Brian was drafted six overall by the Cleveland Browns in 1957, and immediately was a star rushing for an NFL record 237 yards in just the ninth game of his rookie season, he went on to be named the league's most valuable player. The next year, Jim broke the single season rushing record by nearly 400 yards with a remarkable 1,527 yards in rushing in only a 12 game season, winning another MVP. He would go on to play some nine seasons, continuing to stamp his name across the NFL record book.
Jim retired after the 1965 season when he won his third and final Most Valuable Player Award, holding both the single season rushing record 1,860 yards in 1963 and the career mark with more than 12,000 yards - the first running back ever to eclipse the 10,000 yard mark. Jim was named to the Pro Bowl in each of his nine seasons, while leading the league in rushing a record eight times and he remains the only player in league history to average more than 100 yards rushing per game. He was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.
But Jim was much more than a football player. He was an accomplished actor, with credits in dozens of films, including box office hits like The Dirty Dozen and Ice Station Zebra, but his lasting impact just may have been through his civic work. Ron was a major figure in the civil rights movement and in support of Muhammad Ali, who refused his draft induction during the war in Vietnam, led to an iconic summit in 1967, alongside Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and other top African American athletes. There, Brown forged a very special bond with Ali. Brown would continue his work founding the Amer-I-Can program in 1988 to help gang members and prison inmates to learn life management skills and personal growth techniques. A civil rights champion, a world class athlete, Jim Brown will always be remembered for the mark he left the sports world and society as a whole.
"Jim Brown was a gifted athlete — one of the most dominant players to ever step on any athletic field — but also a cultural figure who helped promote change," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement Friday.
"During his nine-year NFL career, which coincided with the civil rights movement here at home, he became a forerunner and role model for athletes being involved in social initiatives outside their sport. He inspired fellow athletes to make a difference, especially in the communities in which they lived."
"My arms were like my protectors and weapons," Brown said during an interview with NFL Films.
Indeed, Brown was unlike any back before him, and some feel there has never been anyone better than Cleveland's incomparable No. 32. At 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, he was dominant, relentless and without mercy, his highlight reels featuring runs around and right through opponents, fighting for every yard, dragging multiple defenders along or finding holes where none seemed to exist.
After Brown was tackled, he'd slowly rise and walk even more slowly back to the huddle — then dominate the defense when he got the ball again.
