Jim Brown, a legendary NFL running back who spent his entire career with the Cleveland Browns, has died, according to the Associated Press. He was 87 years old. A spokeswoman for Brown’s family said he died peacefully in his Los Angeles home on Thursday night with his wife, Monique by his side. The cause of death has not been announced.
“It is with profound sadness that I announce the passing of my husband, Jim Brown. He passed peacefully last night at our LA home. To the world he was an activist, actor, and football star,” Monique wrote in an Instagram post on Friday. To our family, he was a loving and wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. Our hearts are broken.”
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Brown is a member of the NFL 50, 75th and 100th Anniversary All-Time Teams. In 2020, Brown was named the No. 1 all-time player on the College Football 150 list as he was a standout running back at Syracuse. In 2002, Brown was named the greatest football player ever by Sporting News.
The Browns selected Brown in the first round of the 1957 NFL Draft. He was named Rookie of the Year and MVP in 1957 after rushing for 942 yards and nine touchdowns in 12 games. In the next seven of eight seasons, Brown would rush for at least 1,200 yards each year. He made the Pro Bowl and All-Pro in all nine of his seasons and won the MVP award three times. Brown led the NFL in rushing in eight of his nine seasons and also led the league in rushing touchdowns five times. And in 1964, Brown led Cleveland to an NFL championship, which is the last title the Browns won.
Brown retired at the age of 30. At the time, he was filming the movie The Dirty Dozen during the offseason in 1966, and production went long because of bad weather, as mentioned by ESPN. Browns owner Art Modell threatened to suspend Brown’s pay if he didn’t report to training camp on time. Brown decided to retire to focus on his acting career and went on to star in television shows such as CHiPs, Knight Rider, T.J. Hooker and The A-Team. He also starred in films such as Three the Hard Way, Any Given Sunday, He Got Game and Draft Day.
Brown finished his NFL career with 12,312 rushing yards (11th all-time), and 106 rushing touchdowns (sixth all-time). “Jim Brown is a true icon of not just the Cleveland Browns but the entire NFL,” Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam said in a statement. “He was certainly the greatest to ever put on a Browns uniform and arguably one of the greatest players in NFL history. Jim was one of the reasons the Browns have such a tremendous fan base today. So many people grew up watching him just dominate every time he stepped onto the football field but his countless accolades on the field only tell a small part of his story.”
