JIM BROWN

'James Nathaniel 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. At one time he was acclaimed as one of the best running backs of all time, untill the careers of Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith. In 2002 was named by ''The Sporting News'' as the greatest professional football player ever. Sportswriter Bert Randolph Sugar named Brown #1 in his book ''The Greatest Athletes of All Time''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Professional career

Post-football career

Career accolades

Personal life

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Brown was born on St. Simons Island in coastal Georgia and grew up in a devoutly Baptist family.^[1]
His parents divorced when he was a toddler. He later 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, baseball, basketball, and lacrosse, while also running track.
Despite his many talents, Brown was unable to obtain an athletic scholarship until a local benefactor paid for his first year at Syracuse University. By the time he was finished at the school in 1957, Brown earned not only a scholarship, but All-American recognition in both football and lacrosse. Even today he is considered one of the best lacrosse players of all time.

Professional career

Players like Chuck Bednarik, David D. Deacon Jones, Johnny Sample, and Sam Huff remembered how Jim Brown was never intimidated, he couldn't be intimidated. Sam Huff tried and he failed miserably. He would say stuff like "Way to go D," or "Nice tackle Sam." "Way to go D. Come right back at you again you hate that. I'd rather he call me some nasty name or something," David "Deacon" Jones said. "You'd gang-tackled him, did what ever you could, give him extracurriculars. He'd get up slow, look at you, and walk back to the huddle and wouldn't say a word, just come at you again, and again, said Chuck Bednarik. "You'd just say 'What the hell? What's wrong with this guy for heaven sake when is he gonna stop carrying the ball, how much more can he take?"
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. He still holds the career record for yards per carry by a running back (5.2), and 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.
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.

Post-football career

Brown had begun his career as an actor with an appearance in the film ''Rio Conchos'' in 1964, and 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. Brown acted with Fred Williamson in films such as: 1974's ''Three the Hard Way''; ''Take a Hard Ride'' in 1975, 1982's ''One Down, Two to Go'' and ''On the Edge'' in 2002. Perhaps Brown's most memorable role was as Robert Jefferson in the aforementioned 1967 movie, ''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!''.
Brown was the centerfold of ''Playgirl'' magazine in September 1974. The pictorial included a host of tasteful, full frontal nude shots.
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.
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 and Cleveland through the Amer-I-Can^[2] program, which he founded in 1988. It is a life management skills organization that operates in inner cities and prisons.

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 ''; a retrospective on Brown's professional career and personal life.

Personal life

Brown was friends with comedian Richard Pryor. Pryor often included Brown in his act, citing his intimidating stature ("I'm about as big as one of Jim Brown's legs."). In the 1990s, he dated Playboy model and video vixen, Ola Ray (best known as playing Michael Jackson's scared girlfriend in the video ''Thriller'' (1984). In 1997, Jim took a paternity test because Ola claimed she was pregnant after their brief love affair. The paternity test proved Brown was not the father of her daughter.

References

1. http://www.adherents.com/people/pb/Jim_Brown.html
2. http://www.amer-i-can.org

External links

★ Sporting News: Football's 100 Greatest Players page on Jim Brown (#1)

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★ OrangeHoops Profile on Jim Brown

★ Jim Brown at Yahoo movies

★ National Lacrosse Hall of Fame profile

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