The Greatest Running Back in NFL History, Jim Brown Passes Away at Age 87

Legendary Cleveland Browns running back, actor and civil rights icon Jim Brown has passed away at age 87.

The most iconic player in the history of the Cleveland Browns, Jim Brown has passed away at the age of 87 according to his wife. Otto Graham and numerous others won more championships than Brown and a host of players including Clay Matthews Jr. have played with the team longer, but his consistent presence with the team and the high regard both players and coaches still had of him even at his weakest were a testament to just how tremendous a presence he was. Brown was a titan.

As a football player, no one was better than Brown. He never missed a game due to injury. Brown led the league in rushing in eight of his nine seasons. His career averages of 5.22 yards per carry and 104.3 rushing yards per game. Football has never been a numbers game the way baseball was, but fans who watched Brown play and historians of the game can rattle those numbers off almost like their favorite player's statistics off a baseball card.

Jim Brown Created the Template for Athletes Making an Impact Beyond Sports

Brown retired after nine seasons in part because of the money, partly due to pride. He could make more of it acting and could act far longer than he could play football. Brown also didn't like being told what to do and when Art Modell dared to suggest he'd be fined for missing time, Brown let him know that no one owned him and walked away from football without a second thought.

Brown also ran out of achievements to chase. He loved to be challenged and football ran out of ways to challenge him. He had a championship. No one could touch his achievements from rushing yards to touchdowns.

Before it became a cliché for players to call themselves Superman, it was understood that Brown was the man of steel on the gridiron. No one could match him physically and no one ever knew if he was hurt. He got up slowly after every play as a way to keep the opponent guessing, so that if he ever did feel pain, they would never know.

Brown loved to play mind games with opponents. He warmed up with pushups and various other exercises to intimidate players on the other team and to marvel fans everywhere.

When he was at Syracuse, Brown more than deserved to win the Heisman Memorial Trophy in 1956 and be the first black athlete ever to win the award. It went to Paul Hornung of Notre Dame that year, a team that finished 2-8. Ernie Davis, a fellow Syracuse alum and future teammate would be the first black man to win it in 1961.

While at Syracuse, Brown also played LaCrosse and there are those who believe he was the greatest ever to play that sport in addition to football.

There Will Never Be Another NFL Career Like Jim Brown’s

Even into the 1980s, there were still articles being written about whether Brown would return to the game of football. He was revered by athletes and competed against many who were younger than he was, physically dominating them in games like basketball. His pride and his temper were both infamous and he beat up a few of his opponents along the way.

Those two qualities also played a role in the issues Brown had with women. He was charged with crimes up to and including assault, battery and even rape against women over the course of multiple decades. Most of those chargers were dropped, but he did end up serving six months in jail in 2000 when he refused to take part in anger management classes. Far too often Brown treated women like the opponent he sought to dominate them on the field mentally as well as physically.

Brown also spent time trying to help young black people afflicted by gang violence. He founded the Amer-I-Can program and invited some of the most notorious gangs to his home to try to educate them as well as try to negotiate peace.

Brown was a flawed man. His failures were ignominious and his achievements unparalleled. The team may have been named after Paul Brown, but much like many of his movies, Jim Brown was perfectly cast to play for the Cleveland Browns.