Legendary running back Jim Brown dies at 87.

Brown, regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time, died Thursday. He was selected in the first round of the 1957 draft, playing with the Cleveland Browns for nine seasons and leading them to the NFL championship three times, which they won in 1964. Brown retired at age 30 and was a three-time MVP. More than a football player, Brown was elected to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1983. He also was a social and civil rights activist and actor.
Shortly before the end of his football career, Brown became an actor. He retired at the peak of his football career to pursue an acting career. He obtained 53 acting credits and several leading roles throughout the 1970s.[9][10][11] He has been described as Hollywood's first black action hero and his role in the 1969 film 100 Rifles made cinematic history for featuring interracial love scenes

I'm probably one of the few still around who saw him play in college and in the pros - I think I was in the 2nd grade and my dad took me to Morgantown to see the game. I remember it snowed pretty hard and of course, Syracuse won... then a few years later we saw the Browns play the Redskins in Washington at old Griffith Stadium - Jim Brown was unbelievable - after a run he would walk/trudge back to the huddle like he couldn't run the ball anymore and then would proceed to run over the entire defense again - And Repeat ---
Great leader in the fight for equal rights!!!

WVAPPeer wrote: ↑

Sat May 20, 2023 11:43 am

I'm probably one of the few still around who saw him play in college and in the pros - I think I was in the 2nd grade and my dad took me to Morgantown to see the game. I remember it snowed pretty hard and of course, Syracuse won... then a few years later we saw the Browns play the Redskins in Washington at old Griffith Stadium - Jim Brown was unbelievable - after a run he would walk/trudge back to the huddle like he couldn't run the ball anymore and then would proceed to run over the entire defense again - And Repeat ---
Great leader in the fight for equal rights!!!

There are a few of us still kickin'...as you mentioned, Brown's on-field shtick was always to take extra time to struggle to his feet from the bottom of the gang-tackle pile that it took to bring him down and hobble back to the huddle like an eighty year-old. When his team broke their huddle, he would limp and almost stagger to the formation of the next play. But when the ball was snapped, he'd take the hand-off and take off like a super-charged bulldozer. He'd break three or four tackles and drag the gang-tacklers an extra six or eight yards and go back into his broken old man act. Despite the drama, he was one of the two or three finest athletes I've ever had the experience of watching, and it was always in sheer amazement.

I have a good friend who grew up in Syracuse and he saw him numerous times - he says he was the best lacrosse player who ever lived -

Didn't he try to come back and play at around age 50?

"Why you wanna do me like that big Sam ?"

bigdaddyg wrote: ↑

Sat May 20, 2023 9:25 pm

Didn't he try to come back and play at around age 50?

No, but in the early 1980s, when Brown was in his late 40s, there were rumors that he might stage a comeback. He never returned, though.

The NFL was dealing with fallout from the 1982 players’ strike, which wiped out nearly half the regular season. (Unlike the 1987 strike, replacement players weren’t used in 1982. In’82, teams played just nine regular season games rather than the usual 16.) Fans were frustrated.

At the same time, cable TV was starting to change sports programming. That’s part of the reason why the original USFL launched in ‘83.

Another thing going on at the time was that Franco Harris was closing in on Brown’s career rushing yardage record. Harris finished his career in Seattle and fell a bit short of Brown’s then-record (12,312), but at the time (1983), it looked like Harris, rather than Walter Payton, might become the first to pass Brown.

As I recall, Brown (who, as far as I’m concerned, is the greatest RB ever) made some unflattering comments about Harris. Brown (in a Raiders uniform, I think) landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated sometime in ‘82 or ‘83. There was a teaser line on the cover touting Brown’s return, which never materialized. Harris easily beat Brown in a 40-yard dash that was televised. Anyone remember that?

After Harris beat Brown, the “Brown can come back after 18 years in retirement” talk died down.