Jim Brown Career Biography and Statistics

Bio:
Jim Brown is an American icon-perhaps the greatest running back in football history, an actor and a civil rights activist. He was born in Georgia but after his parents divorced, he and his mother moved to Long Island, where Brown earned 13 letters playing football, baseball, basketball, lacrosse and running track.

After a benefactor paid for him to attend Syracuse University - he did not receive a scholarship offer - Brown became an All-American in both football and lacrosse (although due to racism - he was the only black on the squad and only allowed to play football in his senior year).

Drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 1957, he immediately revolutionized the game with his combination of speed, agility and brute power. He was a threat to score from any place on the field and demoralized defenses by stoically shaking off their toughest hits.

After eight dominating seasons, and having started acting, Brown retired from football after Browns' owner Art Modell ordered him to training camp while he was shooting the best known of his movies “The Dirty Dozen." When he retired, Brown was the NFL single-season and career leader in rushing yards, touchdowns and all-purpose yards. He was voted to the Pro Bowl in every one of his nine seasons, and in his last pro game, he scored three touchdowns in the Pro Bowl. Besides his career in film, Brown was a civil rights activist and worked in a program directed at youth gangs in Los Angeles.