Jim Brown dead at 87

[Chandler#81]

Considered the Greatest RB of all time

 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Chandler#81

[Rico]

Arguably the GOAT period.

 

RIP.

[Gregg]

RIP. 

[Just Jack]

Saw him at a Bills game years ago when they played the Browns.  I think I have a picture, I'll have to find it later tonight. 

 

[ChevyVanMiller]

Quite possibly the greatest athlete of all-time.

 

RIP

 

From his Wiki: Perhaps more impressive was his success as a multisport athlete. In addition to his football accomplishments, he excelled in basketball, track, and especially lacrosse. As a sophomore, he was the second-leading scorer for the basketball team (15 ppg), and earned a letter on the track team. In 1955, he finished in fifth place in the National Championship decathlon.[15] His junior year, he averaged 11.3 points in basketball, and was named a second-team All-American in lacrosse. His senior year, he was named a first-team All-American in lacrosse (43 goals in 10 games to rank second in scoring nationally). Brown was so dominant in the game, that lacrosse rules were changed requiring a lacrosse player to keep their stick in constant motion when carrying the ball (instead of holding it close to his body).[16][17] There is currently no rule in lacrosse that requires a player to keep his stick in motion. He is in the Lacrosse Hall of Fame.[18] The JMA Wireless Dome has an 800 square-foot tapestry depicting Brown in football and lacrosse uniforms with the words "Greatest Player Ever".[19]

Edited May 19, 2023 by ChevyVanMiller

[John from Riverside]

😕

[Chris from Rochester]

I never saw him play but my dad would tell me stories of him carrying defenders into the endzone. RIP

[Chandler#81]

3 minutes ago, Rico said:

Arguably the GOAT period.

 

RIP.

Agreed. Some people claim he was the greatest ever Lacrosse player. Sterling collegiate career in both sports at Syracuse.

 

[May Day 10]

 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Ran through defenders.  You might dispute 'greatest' RB, I doubt you could dispute 'toughest' RB.

[Beast]

One powerful man.

 

RIP

[Tiberius]

From the Washington Post: 

 

Away from the playing field, however, Mr. Brown could be a complex, contradictory and troubled man. His career began at the dawn of the civil rights movement, and he was acutely aware of the double standards that prevailed in sports and society.

Even when he was named NFL rookie of the year in 1957, he wasn’t always allowed to stay at the same hotels or dine in the same restaurants as his White teammates. Mr. Brown became something of a symbolic figure early in his career, particularly when his team played Washington’s NFL franchise, whose owner, George Preston Marshall, stubbornly refused to put a Black player on the roster until 1962.

Washington Post sportswriter Shirley Povich mocked Marshall by noting that Mr. Brown and other African Americans were born “ineligible” to play for the Redskins. In 1960, Povich equated Mr. Brown’s exploits on the gridiron with advances in the civil rights movement, writing that the player “integrated the Redskins’ goal linewith more than deliberate speed, perhaps exceeding the famous Supreme Court decree. Brown fled 25 yards like a man in an uncommon hurry and the Redskins’ goal line, at least, became interracial.”

[Chandler#81]

Shocked the sports world by retiring immediately following his 9th season. The next year, he was in the limelight again as a member of The Dirty Dozen with Lee Marvin, running across roof tops, dropping grenades onto high ranking Nazis.🤣👍

[machine gun kelly]

I’m sorry to see him go, but hopefully he’s at peace.  He did live a long, full life.

[BillsPride12]

Wow I guess I didn't realize he was that old now...he was Beast Mode before there was Beast Mode.  The original badass RB

[Donuts and Doritos]

Great player. Incredible person. Absolute legend. RIP 🙏

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Donuts and Doritos

[K-9]

Never missed a game. RIP Jim Brown. 

[Tiberius]

Mr. Brown’s private life was tumultuous. In his 1989 memoir, “Out of Bounds,” he revealed that he often attended sex parties and had extramarital affairs. He was arrested at least seven times for assault, usually against women, including a 1968 incident in which he was accused of throwing a girlfriend off a second-story balcony.

 

His first marriage, to Sue James, ended in divorce in 1972. In 2002, he spent nearly four months in jail for using a shovel to shatter the windows of a car belonging to his second wife, Monique Gunthorp Brown, who was almost 40 years younger than Mr. Brown. They remained married after his release.

[Shaw66]

Oh, man, I could write a book about Jim Brown.  Wait.  People have.  And I've read some of them. 

 

I was a Jim Brown fan as a kid.   No Bills in the late 50s, the Browns were on TV every week.  His rookie year was the first pro football season I could remember - I was ten.  

 

He was a complicated man.  He was among the racial pioneers in pro sports.   He was just too good to ignore, like Mays and Robinson and Aaron, and Russell.  His talent was enormous.   He didn't back down on the field, or in his life.   He was outspoken and demanding when it came to race.   He was a product of a tough environment for a child, and he spent his life working to change the world black and poor kids faced.  He was his own man, even when it got him in trouble.  

 

One Night in Miami is a movie about Brown, Sam Cooke, Malcolm X, and Cassius Clay together the night Clay won the title for the first time.  Apparently, the four DID spend the night together, but what they said or did isn't very well known.  As I understand it, what happens in the movie is largely fiction, but simply the idea if great, that these four men, activists in their own right and at different stages in their respective careers, actually hung out together and talked about the world they faced.

 

Watch a few highlights as a final goodbye to a great one.  I just did.  The guy played 9 seasons, 12 or 14 games per season, and has more 5+++ highlights than anyone you've ever seen.  Power, balance, speed.   

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Shaw66

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

r.i.p., Sir 

[Ned Flanders]

7 minutes ago, Chandler#81 said:

Shocked the sports world by retiring immediately following his 9th season. The next year, he was in the limelight again as a member of The Dirty Dozen with Lee Marvin, running across roof tops, dropping grenades onto high ranking Nazis.🤣👍

While on the set of The Dirty Dozen, Browns owner Art Modell gave Brown an ultimatum: football or the movies.  We all know what the decision was.

 

Modell said in later years it was the worst thing he ever did.

3 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

No Bills in the late 50s, the Browns were on TV every week. 

I know Rochester was defined as Browns "territory" before the NFL went with a national TV partner, CBS.  There's still a lot of Browns fans in Rochester.

[Turk71]

RIP Jim Brown

Before the merger the Browns were the favorite NFL team in my family. 

Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly and Paul Warfield were my favorites

Had his poster on my wall

Loved seeing him in the Dirty Dozen at the theater as a kid.

[The Avenger]

Loved how he kept complaining about "All this runnin' makin' my feet tired" in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka - great movie...

Edited May 19, 2023 by The Avenger

[Chandler#81]

 

[CowgirlsFan]

RIP

 

Thank you for your contribution to the game of football 🏈 

[Buffalo716]

Jim Brown the most dominating football player ever 

 

RIP and thank you for your contributions to the game 

[GunnerBill]

Legend. While pro football exists nobody will forget Jim Brown.

[Chicken Boo]

Godspeed to a legend on and off the field.  

 

Going to have to watch I'm Gonna Git You Sucka tonight.  

[Chandler#81]

Love to recall when Franco Harris was closing in on one of his rushing records. Brown was vocal how much he despised Franco running out of bounds so much to avoid getting hit and threatened to return almost 2 decades later to stave off Harris’ attempt at the record. Al Davis offered him the opportunity.

CLASSIC!

Edited May 19, 2023 by Chandler#81

[Buffalo716]

1 minute ago, Chandler#81 said:

Love to recall when Franco Harris was closing in on one of his rushing records. Brown was vocal how much he despised Franco running out of bounds so much to avoid getting hit and threatened to return almost 2 decades later to stave off Harris’ attempt at the record. Al Davis offered him the opportunity.

CLASSIC!

17 years later he was willing to come back so Franco wouldn’t get it lol

 

he really disliked his style 

[Chicken Boo]

25 minutes ago, Tiberius said:

From the Washington Post: 

 

Away from the playing field, however, Mr. Brown could be a complex, contradictory and troubled man. His career began at the dawn of the civil rights movement, and he was acutely aware of the double standards that prevailed in sports and society.

Even when he was named NFL rookie of the year in 1957, he wasn’t always allowed to stay at the same hotels or dine in the same restaurants as his White teammates. Mr. Brown became something of a symbolic figure early in his career, particularly when his team played Washington’s NFL franchise, whose owner, George Preston Marshall, stubbornly refused to put a Black player on the roster until 1962.

Washington Post sportswriter Shirley Povich mocked Marshall by noting that Mr. Brown and other African Americans were born “ineligible” to play for the Redskins. In 1960, Povich equated Mr. Brown’s exploits on the gridiron with advances in the civil rights movement, writing that the player “integrated the Redskins’ goal linewith more than deliberate speed, perhaps exceeding the famous Supreme Court decree. Brown fled 25 yards like a man in an uncommon hurry and the Redskins’ goal line, at least, became interracial.”

 

This is also a large reason there's a sizable Cowboys fanbase in the DMV.

[ColoradoBills]

 

[Shaw66]

25 minutes ago, Chandler#81 said:

Shocked the sports world by retiring immediately following his 9th season. The next year, he was in the limelight again as a member of The Dirty Dozen with Lee Marvin, running across roof tops, dropping grenades onto high ranking Nazis.🤣👍

Actually, he retired immediately before his 10th season.  He was filming The Dirty Dozen in England and missing the beginning of training camp.  Browns said they would fine him for missing camp.  So, he retired. 

[ColoradoBills]

2 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Actually, he retired immediately before his 10th season.  He was filming The Dirty Dozen in England and missing the beginning of training camp.  Browns said they would fine him for missing camp.  So, he retired. 

 

Yep.  See my post above yours.  His finale scene.

[K-9]

5 minutes ago, Chandler#81 said:

Love to recall when Franco Harris was closing in on one of his rushing records. Brown was vocal how much he despised Franco run out of bounds so much to avoid getting hit and threatened to return almost 2 decades later to stave off Harris’ attempt at the record. Al Davis offered him the opportunity.

CLASSIC!

He probably could have done it, too.

 

We often hear how players from long ago eras couldn’t possibly compete against today’s bigger, faster, 24/7, 365 NFL player and that’s usually the case. But Jim Brown could have played and been a force today as well. 6’2”, 230lbs. with world class speed can play in all eras. 
 

[The Wiz]

35 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

 

One of the worst movies that I love.  Had an all-star cast.

[Shaw66]

20 minutes ago, Ned Flanders said:

I know Rochester was defined as Browns "territory" before the NFL went with a national TV partner, CBS.  There's still a lot of Browns fans in Rochester.

The Browns were on every week in Buffalo, and so where the Giants.   There were no exclusive territories.  When I got to junior high school and was meeting a bunch of guys for the first time, what we always wanted to know about each other is whether they were Browns fans or Giants fans.   In Connecticut, when you meet someone it's good to find out if they're Yankees or Red Sox.  

[Chandler#81]

23 minutes ago, Ned Flanders said:

While on the set of The Dirty Dozen, Browns owner Art Modell gave Brown an ultimatum: football or the movies.  We all know what the decision was.

 

Modell said in later years it was the worst thing he ever did.

I know Rochester was defined as Browns "territory" before the NFL went with a national TV partner, CBS.  There's still a lot of Browns fans in Rochester.

That was definitely a huge error on Modell, but ole’ Arty’s worst thing was selling the team to Baltimore. His grave still gets urinated and defecated on daily.

🤣

[Pete]

An astounding fact I’ve read and heard many times- Jim Brown was never tackled for a loss.

[billsbackto81]

I actually met him once at a restaurant in New Haven, CT while he was there for a Lacrosse Championship Tournament he was invited to. Easy gentleman to talk to with the largest Bodyguard I've ever seen. When he walked in it was like the world just froze in silence. That was the type of presence and aura he put out.

 

RIP.....