East cleveland browns running back jim brown has passed away at the age of 87His family made the announcement on Friday.
Brown led the NFL in rushing yards in eight of his nine seasons in the league. No other player in NFL history has led the league in rushing more than four times.
Brown retired after nine seasons to pursue a career in entertainment. He was also an activist in the Civil Rights Movement.
See glimpses of his life in pictures:
Brown graduated from Syracuse in 1957 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army ROTC.
Brown rushed for 2,091 yards and scored 26 touchdowns during his college career at Syracuse.
Brown lettered in four sports (football, lacrosse, basketball, and track) during his college career at Syracuse.
Brown sits with teammates in the Syracuse football locker room.
Brown, who was selected in the first round of the 1957 draft, played nine seasons for the Cleveland Browns (1957–65) and led the league in tackles eight of those years.
Brown sits in front of his home with family, wife Sue and 19-month-old twins Kim and Kevin.
Brown rushed for 12,312 yards and averaged 5.2 yards per carry in his career. He was also named a Pro Bowler every year he played.
Brown met Elvis Presley in between scenes for his film “Roastabout”.
He led the Browns to the league championship game three times, winning the title in 1964, and was named MVP three times.
Brown with Les Keeter and Howard Cosell at ringside for the 1964 Cassius Clay-Sonny Liston boxing match.
In June 1967, Brown organized “The Cleveland Summit”, a meeting of the nation’s top black athletes, including Bill Russell and Lew Alcindor, who would later become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to support the fight for boxer Muhammad Ali, who was serving in Vietnam. Organized.
In later years, Brown worked to curb gang violence in Los Angeles, and in 1988, he founded Amer-I-Can, a charity to help disadvantaged inner-city youth and ex-offenders. There was a program.
Brown interviewed Muhammad Ali about his upcoming fight with George Foreman in 1974, The Rumble in the Jungle.
Brown with then-Cleveland Browns coach Bill Belichick in 1994.
Brown watches action from the sidelines during a training camp practice in 2014.
Brown was honored with a statuette at First Energy Stadium in Cleveland in 2016. “It’s a great moment,” said Brown when the statue was unveiled, “because I feel it in my whole body, especially in my heart and mind.”
“To the world he was an activist, actor and football star,” his wife Monique said in an Instagram post Friday afternoon announcing Brown’s death. “To our family he was a loving and wonderful husband, father and grandfather. Our hearts are broken…”
