Jim Brown is one of the most influential athletes of the 20th century. Not only was he a NFL Champion and inducted into the football Hall-of-Fame, Brown also contributed as a social rights activist as well as having a movie career after football. His mark left on the NFL still stands out as he’s one of the most accomplished players in league history, despite only playing nine seasons and retiring at the peak of his career.
Contrary to much belief, the Cleveland Browns have a rich history filled with success and even a championship in 1964. Of course, 1964 marks the last championship in Cleveland’s major-sport history and that Browns team was lead by Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown.
The Cleveland Browns selected the Syracuse All-American with the No. 6 pick in the 1957 NFL Draft. Brown had no issues proving the selection to be worthy as he earned Rookie Of the Year honors while leading the league with 942 rushing yards.
Career statistics:
| Rushing Yards | Rushing TD | Rushing Yards per Carry | Rushing Yards per Game | |
| 1957 | 942 | 9 | 4.7 | 78.5 |
| 1958 | 1,527 | 17 | 5.9 | 127.3 |
| 1959 | 1,329 | 14 | 4.6 | 110.8 |
| 1960 | 1,257 | 9 | 5.8 | 104.8 |
| 1961 | 1,408 | 8 | 4.6 | 100.6 |
| 1962 | 996 | 13 | 4.3 | 71.1 |
| 1963 | 1,863 | 12 | 6.4 | 133.1 |
| 1964 | 1,446 | 7 | 5.2 | 103.3 |
| 1965 | 1,544 | 17 | 5.3 | 110.3 |
Brown lead the league in rushing every season he played except for one in 1962, a year in which the running back voiced his dissatisfaction with former- Browns head coach Paul Brown. Feeling underutilized, he wanted a more expansive role with the team and owner Art Model agreed and fired the head coach. The Browns running back, once again, proved to be in the right as he set an NFL record the following season with 1,863 rushing yards and averaged 133.1 yards per contest.
Along with being an exceptional athlete Brown also was a pioneer for marketing campaigns, something that athletes weren’t yet involved with. Amid signing a deal with Pepsi Cola, the hall of famer also landed a role in Rio Conchos, a feature film that opened up the rest of Brown’s future.
Only one year removed from his MVP season in 1965, Brown retired from football in 1966 because of disagreements with Modell. In pursuit of starting a movie career, Brown was filming “The Dirty Dozen” (1967) in London and was not able to attend training camp. Modell made it clear that Brown, like the rest of the team, needed to attend the camp unless he would be faced with a fine. Brown kept to his roots and stayed true to his heart, not letting any person control his life and decided to simply retire instead of play. Despite his retirement, fans genuinely believed that the superstar running back would make a return eventually, however that would never turn into reality. Brown was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.
Brown elected to pursue his movie career and stuck with it as he appeared in over 30 movies including “The Dirty Dozen” and “100 Rifles” over the course of his acting career. SB Nation’s Ryan Van Bibber even accounts for Brown as football’s greatest actor in his piece on the athlete-turned-actor’s top-five movies.
Obviously the 1960’s was a time period where race played a significant role in the simplest activities. Brown used his platform as a national superstar, similarly to good friend Muhammad Ali, to present insightful knowledge in which set a new standard for young african-americans growing up in a world that didn’t necessarily favor their future. The glorified Brown began his work serving his community beginning in his days with the Cleveland Browns as he founded the Black Economic Union. The BEU focused on using “athletes as facilitators” for Black-run enterprises, urban athletic clubs and youth motivation programs. Although the organization would not last long, Brown’s ideas remained clear as he joined the Coors Golden Door program and Jobs Plus.
On top of this, the hall of fame running back also created Ocean Productions, a production company that encouraged minorities to be more involved in the film industry. By the late 1980’s, Brown had devoted his time towards being a mentor for those who had already been on a dark road, including inner-city gang members as well as prison inmates by finding Vital Issues. He sought out to elaborate on the importance of life management skills and personal growth to these young men and, because of the success, Vital Issues became Amer-I-Can in 1989, winning a $1 million grant to further expand the program.
It hasn’t always been pretty for Brown, although, as he has faced his fair share of criticism over his handling of situations that included mistreating women. He has been involved in several assault cases over his lifetime for allegedly slapping former girlfriends or wives as well as a rape charge in 1985, although the charge was later dismissed by a judge due to inconsistency in testimony. The most recent incident dates back to 1999 where he was found guilty of vandalism after smashing his wife’s car window and later served six months in jail for refusing to attend the court-ordered counseling.
Of the 1968 incident with then-girlfriend and model Eva Bohn-Chin, Brown said he never hit her although he had slapped her in an interview with the LA Times.
“I have also slapped other women,” he says. “And I never should have, and I never should have slapped Eva, no matter how crazy we were at the time. I don’t think any man should slap a woman. In a perfect world, I don’t think any man should slap anyone… I don’t start fights, but sometimes I don’t walk away from them. It hasn’t happened in a long time, but it’s happened, and I regret those times. I should have been more in control of myself, stronger, more adult.”
Brown has had a clean record since he served his jail time in 2002 and has focused on mentoring young men as well as having an active role with the Cleveland Browns.
Brown has been increasingly working with the Cleveland Browns as he serves as the team’s best player in history, although disagreements with previous ownership has kept Brown away for a greater part of the time the Browns have moved back to Cleveland in 1999. However, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is adamant on increasing Brown’s role with the team. After all, the organization announced that a statue of Jim Brown will be placed in front of their stadium several months ago.
“Jim has been re-involved in the franchise over the last three years, but with Hue coming in, Jim will be even more significantly involved,” said Haslam. “Jim’s knowledge not just of football, but Dee and I have seen it over the last two or three years, his knowledge of people is something that will help the franchise significantly.” Haslam continued, “You have to have a coach who’s secure enough to have an NFL legend around and feel good about it. We have that in Hue Jackson. Jim and Hue have formed a good, close bond. Jim will be around much more and in a much more significant way helping our players be not just better players but better men.”
Cleveland Browns wide receiver, Josh Gordon, has arguably been the best overall player since the team’s return to Cleveland. However, as we know, Gordon has been suspended – again – for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy but is eligible to apply for reinstatement in August. Gordon applied for reinstatement after being suspended for the 2015 NFL season but failed a drug test in March, furthering his suspension.
Brown has spent time with the 25-year old wide receiver who’s been faced with great adversity over the last few seasons. As a matter of fact, Brown even believes Gordon is “on the right track” and will be a solid, consistent player moving forward.
