The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Gridiron great fought for civil rights
Jim Brown, the unstoppable running back who retired at the peak of his brilliant career to become an actor and prominent civil rights advocate during the 1960s, has died at the age of 87.
One of the greatest players in Anerican football history and one of the game’s first superstars, Brown was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1965 and shattered the league’s record books from 1957-65.
Brown led the Cleveland Browns to their last NFL title in 1964 before retiring in his prime after the ’65 season to become an actor.
He appeared in more than 30 films, including Any Given Sunday and The Dirty Dozen.
An unstoppable runner with power, speed and endurance, Brown’s arrival sparked the game’s burgeoning popularity on television.
When he finished playing, Brown became a prominent leader in the Black Power movement during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. In later years, he worked to curb gang violence in Los Angeles.
On the field, there was no one like Brown, who would blast through would-be tacklers, refusing to let one man take him down before sprinting away from linebackers and defensive backs.
He was also famous for using a stiff arm to shed defenders in the open field or push them away like they were rag dolls.
“My arms were like my protectors and weapons,” Brown said.
At 6ft 2in and 16st 6lb, 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.
Off the field, Brown was a contentious character.
While he had a soft spot for those in need and his generosity changed lives, he also was arrested half a dozen times, mostly on charges of hitting women.
In June 1999, Brown’s wife, Monique, called 911, saying Brown had smashed her car with a shovel and threatened to kill her. During the trial, she recanted.
She was with him when he died at their home in Los Angeles.
Brown was acquitted of a charge of domestic threats but convicted of vandalism. The Los Angeles judge sentenced Brown to six months in jail when he refused to attend domestic violence counselling.
Among his films were 100 Rifles, Mars Attacks!, Spike Lee’s He Got Game, Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday, and the satire I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, in which he parodied the blaxploitation genre.
In 2002, Brown was the subject of Lee’s HBO documentary Jim Brown: All-American.
When Brown walked away from the game at age 30, he held the league’s records for yards (12,312) and touchdowns (126) – and despite his bruising style, never missed a game.