Football legend was actor, activist
NFL star retired early to act, take up civil rights causes
CLEVELAND — Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown, an 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, died Thursday night. He was 87.
A spokeswoman for Brown’s family said he passed away peacefully in his Los Angeles home with his wife, Monique, by his side.
“To the world, he was an activist, actor, and football star,” Monique Brown wrote on Instagram. “To our family, he was a loving husband, father, and grandfather. Our hearts are broken.”
One of football’s first superstars, Brown was chosen the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1965 and shattered the league’s record books in a short career spanning 195765.
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 “The Dirty Dozen.”
A powerful runner with speed and endurance, Brown sparked the game’s burgeoning TV popularity.
As Black Americans fought for equality, Brown used his platform and voice to advance their cause.
“I hope every Black athlete takes the time to educate themselves about this incredible man and what he did to change all of our lives,” NBA star LeBron James said. “We all stand on your shoulders Jim Brown. If you grew up in Northeast Ohio and were Black, Jim Brown was a God.”
In June 1967, Brown organized “The Cleveland Summit,” a meeting of the nation’s top Black athletes, including Bill Russell and Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), to support boxer Muhammad Ali’s fight against serving in Vietnam.
In later years, he worked to curb gang violence in LA and in 1988 founded Amer-I-Can, a
program to help disadvantaged inner-city youth and ex-convicts.
“So many people grew up watching him just dominate every time he stepped onto the football field, but his countless accolades on the field only tell a small part of his story, said Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam. “His commitment to making a positive impact for all of humanity off the field is what he should also be known for.”
On the field, Brown would blast through would-be tacklers, refusing to let one man take him down before sprinting away. He was also famous for using a stiff arm to shed defenders.
“I was too young to remember Jim Brown’s playing days, but I knew his legacy,” said former President Barack Obama. “One of the greatest football players ever, he was also an actor and activist — speaking out on civil rights, and pushing other Black athletes to do the same. Our thoughts are with Jim’s wife Monique, his children, and everyone who knew and admired him.”
Indeed, Brown was unlike any back before him, and some feel there has never been anyone better. At 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, he was relentless, fighting for every yard, dragging multiple defenders along or finding holes where none seemed to exist.
“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. “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.”
Off the field, Brown was a contentious figure.
While he had a soft spot for those in need, and his generosity changed lives, he also was arrested a halfdozen times, mostly on charges of hitting women.
In June 1999, Brown’s wife called 911, saying Brown had smashed her car with a shovel and threatened to kill her. During the trial, Monique Brown recanted. Jim Brown was convicted of misdemeanor vandalism. The Los Angeles judge sentenced Brown to six months in jail when he refused to attend domestic violence counseling.
When his playing days ended, Brown set off for Hollywood and eventually settled there. Brown advised Cleveland coach Blanton Collier of his retirement while the team was in training camp and he was on the set of “The Dirty Dozen” in England.
Among his films were “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 1969, his character was shown having sex with Raquel Welch’s character in the Western “100 Rifles,” the first major Hollywood film depicting a Black man making love to a white woman.
In a 1968 magazine, Gloria Steinem quoted him as saying, “I don’t want to play Negro parts. Just cool, tough modern men who are also Negroes. And not good guys all the time.”
In 2002, Brown was the subject of Lee’s HBO
documentary “Jim Brown: All-American.”
Brown was an eight-time All-Pro and went to the Pro Bowl in each of his nine years in the league. When Brown walked away at age 30, he held the league’s records for yards (12,312) and touchdowns (126).
And despite his bruising style, Browns never missed a game, playing in 118 straight. The Browns erected a statue of Brown outside their stadium in 2016.
A two-sport star at Syracuse — some say he is the best lacrosse player in NCAA history — Brown
endured countless racist taunts while playing at the virtually all-white school at the time. Still, he was an All-American in both sports and lettered in basketball.
Brown was the sixth overall pick of the 1957 draft. He was the Offensive Rookie of the Year that season.
He led the NFL in rushing eight times, gaining a careerbest 1,863 yards in 1963. He averaged 104 yards per game, scored 106 rushing touchdowns and averaged 5.2 yards per carry.
“I’ve said many times, and I will always say, Jim Brown is the best,” Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers once said, “and he will still be the best long after all his records are broken.”
Brown’s No. 32 was retired by the Browns in ’71, the same year he entered the Hall of Fame. But he rarely visited Cleveland during the 1970s and ’80s. He and Cleveland owner Art Modell were at odds over his sudden retirement; the two later patched up their differences and remained good friends.
Many modern players couldn’t appreciate Brown or his impact on American sports.
“They have grown up in a different era,” former Browns coach Romeo Crennel said. “He’s one of the greatest players in NFL history and what he was able to accomplish in his time was tremendous. I don’t know that anybody could do what he did, the way he did it, under the circumstances that he had to operate and the things that he had to endure.
“And for him to go out on top, that’s something that not many guys are able to appreciate either.”