Jim Brown, the Cleveland Browns fullback who was acclaimed as one of the greatest players in pro football history, and who remained in the public eye as a Hollywood action hero and a civil rights activist, died on Thursday night at his home in Los Angeles. He was 87.
He had an illustrious sports career, earning all-American honors at Syracuse University in football and lacrosse! He then played for the Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. Brown helped take Cleveland to the 1964 NFL championship.
Brown was voted football’s greatest player of the 20th century by a six-member panel of experts assembled by The Associated Press in 1999. A panel of 85 experts selected by NFL Films in 2010 placed him No. 2 all time. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971, the Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1984 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995.
Brown was still in top form and only 30 years old when he stunned the football world in the summer of 1966 by retiring to pursue an acting career. His film career included the 1964 western “Rio Conchos”, “The Dirty Dozen”, "Ice Station Zebra", "100 Rifles" and "El Condor".
Brown's popularity grew even more during the boom of "blaxploitation" cinema in the early 1970s portraying tough "no nonsense" characters in "Slaughter", "Black Gunn" and "Three The Hard Way". Brown then resurfaced in Hollywood films beginning with his role as an assassin in "The Running Man", and explored his comedic chops in the comedies "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" and "Mars Attacks!". He ironically played an ex-football legend in "Any Given Sunday".
When the modern civil rights movement gained momentum in the 1950s, few elite athletes spoke out on racial issues. But Brown did not hesitate to get involved. Working to promote economic development in Cleveland’s Black neighborhoods while playing for the Browns, he founded the Black Economic Union as a vehicle to create jobs. It also facilitated loans to minority businessmen in poor areas — reflecting his long-held belief that economic self-sufficiency held more promise than mass protests. In the late 1980s he founded the Amer-I-Can Foundation to teach basic life skills to gang members and prisoners and steer them away from violent activities. The foundation expanded nationally and remains active to this day.
R.I.P Jim Brown.
He had an illustrious sports career, earning all-American honors at Syracuse University in football and lacrosse! He then played for the Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. Brown helped take Cleveland to the 1964 NFL championship.
Brown was voted football’s greatest player of the 20th century by a six-member panel of experts assembled by The Associated Press in 1999. A panel of 85 experts selected by NFL Films in 2010 placed him No. 2 all time. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971, the Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1984 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995.
Brown was still in top form and only 30 years old when he stunned the football world in the summer of 1966 by retiring to pursue an acting career. His film career included the 1964 western “Rio Conchos”, “The Dirty Dozen”, "Ice Station Zebra", "100 Rifles" and "El Condor".
Brown's popularity grew even more during the boom of "blaxploitation" cinema in the early 1970s portraying tough "no nonsense" characters in "Slaughter", "Black Gunn" and "Three The Hard Way". Brown then resurfaced in Hollywood films beginning with his role as an assassin in "The Running Man", and explored his comedic chops in the comedies "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" and "Mars Attacks!". He ironically played an ex-football legend in "Any Given Sunday".
When the modern civil rights movement gained momentum in the 1950s, few elite athletes spoke out on racial issues. But Brown did not hesitate to get involved. Working to promote economic development in Cleveland’s Black neighborhoods while playing for the Browns, he founded the Black Economic Union as a vehicle to create jobs. It also facilitated loans to minority businessmen in poor areas — reflecting his long-held belief that economic self-sufficiency held more promise than mass protests. In the late 1980s he founded the Amer-I-Can Foundation to teach basic life skills to gang members and prisoners and steer them away from violent activities. The foundation expanded nationally and remains active to this day.
R.I.P Jim Brown.
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