Jim Brown

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (October 2007)

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (February 2008)

Jim Brown
Jim Brown during his tenure with the Cleveland Browns
Position(s): Running back	Jersey #(s): 32
Born: February 17, 1936 (1936-02-17) (age 72)
Career Information
Year(s): 1957–1965
NFL Draft: 1957 / Round: 1 / Pick: 6
College: Syracuse
Professional Teams
Cleveland Browns (1957-1965)
Career Stats
Rushing Yards	12,312
Yard Per Carry	5.2
Touchdowns	126
Stats at NFL.com
Career Highlights and Awards
9x Pro Bowl selection (1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965) 9x All-Pro selection (1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965) NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team NFL 1960s All-Decade Team 3x NFL MVP (1957, 1958, 1965) 3x UPI NFL MVP (1958, 1963, 1965) 3x Pro Bowl MVP (1961, 1962, 1965) Lacrosse Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame

James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown (born February 17, 1936) is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor and social activist. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. He is widely considered the best running back of all time. In 2002, he was named by The Sporting News as the greatest professional football player ever.^[1] Uniquely, Brown was every bit as good a lacrosse player, with the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame stating that he was "widely considered to be the greatest lacrosse player ever." Sportswriter Bert Sugar named Brown #1 in his book The Greatest Athletes of All Time.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Brown was born on St. Simons Island in coastal Georgia, the son of Theresa, a housekeeper, and Swinton Brown, a professional boxer.^[2] He grew up in a devoutly Baptist family.^[3] He was raised for six years by his grandmother after his mother left him at age 2 to work on Long Island (his father left the family shortly after Brown's birth). At age eight, he moved to Long Island in the 1940s to live with his mother, who at the time was working as a housekeeper for wealthy homeowners. At Manhasset High School, Brown earned 13 letters playing football, lacrosse, baseball, basketball and running track.^[4][5]

[edit] College career

Brown attended Syracuse University. As a sophomore, Brown was the second leading rusher on the team. That winter, he was Syracuse's second leading scorer in basketball, averaging 15 points. He also earned a letter in track that spring. As a junior, he rushed for 666 yards (5.2 per carry), averaged 11.3 points in basketball and was named a second-team All-American in lacrosse. In his senior year, Brown was first-team All-American in both football and lacrosse (43 goals in 10 games to tie for the national scoring championship). He averaged 6.2 yards in running for 986 yards -- third most in the country despite Syracuse playing only eight games -- and scored 14 touchdowns. In the regular-season finale, a 61-7 rout of Colgate, he rushed for 197 yards, scored six touchdowns and kicked seven extra points for 43 points. Then in the Cotton Bowl, he rushed for 132 yards, scored three touchdowns and kicked three extra points. But a blocked extra point after Syracuse's third touchdown was the difference as TCU won 28-27.

Brown wore the number 44. Since 1954, 11 players have worn the number and three earned All-America honors. The three most famous #44s — Jim Brown, Ernie Davis and Floyd Little — certainly rank among the finest running backs to ever play the game.

[edit] Professional career

Brown was taken in the first round of the 1957 draft by the Cleveland Browns.^[6]

Brown announced his retirement on July 14, 1966 after Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell insisted that Brown report to training camp instead of finishing his work on the movie The Dirty Dozen. He departed as the NFL record holder for both single-season (1,863 in 1963) and career rushing (12,312 yards), as well as the all-time leader in rushing touchdowns (106), total touchdowns (126), and all-purpose yards (15,549). He was the first player ever to reach the 100-rushing-touchdowns milestone, and only a few others have done so since, despite the league's expansion to a 16-game season in 1978 (Brown's first four seasons were only 12 games, and his last five were 14 games). Brown also set a record by reaching the 100-touchdown milestone in only 93 games, which stood until LaDainian Tomlinson reached it in 89 games during the 2006 season. total seasons leading the NFL in all-purpose yards (5: 1958-1961, 1964), and is the only rusher in NFL history to average over 100 yards per game for a career. Brown was also a superb receiver out of the backfield, catching 262 passes for 2,499 yards and 20 touchdowns. Every season he played, Brown was voted into the Pro Bowl, and he left the league in style by scoring three touchdowns in his final Pro Bowl game. Perhaps the most amazing feat is that Jim Brown accomplished these records despite never playing past 29 years of age.

He told me, 'Make sure when anyone tackles you he remembers how much it hurts.' He lived by that philosophy and I always followed that advice.

—John Mackey, 1999

Brown's 1,863 rushing yards in the 1963 season remain a Cleveland franchise record. It is currently the oldest franchise record for rushing yards out of all 32 NFL teams. While others have compiled more prodigious statistics, when viewing Brown's standing in the game his style of running must be considered along with statistical measures. He was very difficult to tackle (shown by his leading 5.2 yards per carry), often requiring more than one person to bring him down.

Brown retired far ahead of the second-leading rusher and remains the league's eighth all-time leading rusher (although at the start of the 2008 NFL season, both LaDainian Tomlinson and Fred Taylor are within reach of overtaking him), and is still the Cleveland Browns all-time leading rusher.

[edit] Post-football career

Brown had begun his career as an actor with an appearance in the film Rio Conchos in 1964, then played a villain in a 1967 episode of I Spy called "Cops and Robbers", went on to star in the 1967 war movie The Dirty Dozen (during the filming of which he announced his retirement from professional football), the 1970 movie ...tick...tick...tick..., as well as in numerous other features. In 1969, Brown starred in 100 Rifles with Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch. The film was one of the first to feature an interracial love scene. Raquel Welch reflects on the scene in Spike Lee's Jim Brown: All-American. Brown acted with Fred Williamson in films such as 1974's Three the Hard Way, 1975's Take a Hard Ride, 1982's One Down, Two to Go, 1996's Original Gangstas and 2002's On the Edge. He also guest starred in a handful of television episodes of various programs with Williamson. In 1998, he provided the voice of Butch Meathook in Small Soldiers Perhaps Brown's most memorable role was as Robert Jefferson in The Dirty Dozen, and in Keenen Ivory Wayans' 1987 comedy I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. Brown also acted in 1987's The Running Man an adaptation of a Stephen King story. He played a coach in Any Given Sunday and also appeared in Sucker Free City and Mars Attacks!.

In 1983, seventeen years after retiring from professional football, Brown mused about coming out of retirement to play for the Los Angeles Raiders when it appeared that Pittsburgh Steelers running back Franco Harris would break his all-time rushing record. Brown disliked Harris' style of running, criticizing the Steeler running back's tendency to run out of bounds, a marked contrast to Brown's approach to fighting for every yard and taking on the oncoming tackler. Eventually, Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears broke the record on October 7, 1984, with Brown having ended thoughts of a comeback. Harris himself, who retired after the 1984 season after playing eight games with the Seattle Seahawks, fell short of Brown's mark. Another Steeler running back, Jerome Bettis (whose running style more resembled Brown), would later surpass Brown.

Brown's autobiography was published in 1989 by Zebra Books. It was titled Out of Bounds and was co-written with Steve Delsohn.

In 1993, Brown was hired as a color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a role he occupied for the first six pay-per-view events.

Brown currently works with kids caught up in the gang scene in Los Angeles, California and Cleveland through the Amer-I-Can^[7] program, which he founded in 1988. It is a life management skills organization that operates in inner cities and prisons.

[edit] Wife-Beating

On June 15, 1999, Jim Brown's wife, Mrs. Brown, made a desperate 911 call from the couple's Los Angeles home, claiming that Brown threatened to kill her. This incident led to charges of terrorist threats and vandalism against Brown, who pleaded not guilty to both counts. Suspiciously, Mrs. Brown later retracted her allegations in court, claiming that Brown "has never laid a hand on me..." This turnabout has yet to be explained; however, possible reasons for the change of heart include financial payoffs or further threats against Mrs. Brown.

[edit] Career accolades

Brown's memorable professional career led to his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971, while the The Sporting News selected him as the greatest football player of all time. Brown's football talents at Syracuse garnered him a berth in the College Football Hall of Fame. Brown also earned a spot in the Lacrosse Hall of Fame, giving him a rare triple crown of sorts as well as being one of the few athletes to be a Hall of Fame member in more than one sport.

In 2002, film director Spike Lee released the film Jim Brown: All-American; a retrospective on Brown's professional career and personal life.

Jim Brown, November 2007.

[edit] Further reading

• Brown, Jim; Myron Cope (1964). Off My Chest. Doubleday, 230.  (autobiography)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Jim Brown

• Jim Brown at the Internet Movie Database
• Jim Brown at Allmovie
• OrangeHoops Profile on Jim Brown
• Jim Brown at Yahoo movies
• National Lacrosse Hall of Fame profile

|}