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Jim Brown dead at 87


Chandler#81

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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.

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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.

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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 by Chandler#81
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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 

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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. 
 

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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.  

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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.

🤣

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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.....

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