RIP Jim Brown

[Chip R]

Arguably the greatest running back in the history of the NFL.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/37685864/all-great-running-back-jim-brown-dies-87

[Sea Ray]

Arguably the greatest running back in the history of the NFL.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/37685864/all-great-running-back-jim-brown-dies-87

Based upon his peers at the time, absolutely

[Tuff Nut]

RIP..There was tough, then there was Jim Brown.

[RedsBaron]

The greatest running back in NFL history and arguably the greatest NFL player ever and perhaps the greatest athlete ever.

[cumberlandreds]

The greatest running back in NFL history and arguably the greatest NFL player ever and perhaps the greatest athlete ever.

Great lacrosse player too at Syracuse

[Kinsm]

Jim Brown, legendary running back and civil rights activist, dead at 87

ABCNEWS---


Jim Brown, a preternatural talent on the football field and later both a movie star and civil rights activist, has died. He was 87 years old.

His wife, Monique Brown, announced his death on Instagram.

"It is with profound sadness that I announce the passing of my husband, Jim Brown," she wrote. "He passed peacefully last night at our LA home. To the world he was an activist, actor, and football star. To our family, he was a loving and wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. Our hearts are broken."

"It’s impossible to describe the profound love and gratitude we feel for having the opportunity to be a small piece of Jim’s incredible life and legacy," the Cleveland Browns, the only team he played for in the NFL, said in a statement. "We mourn his passing, but celebrate the indelible light he brought to the world."



https://youtu.be/gLpFfZjKhWU

[chicoruiz]

I remember some linebacker who played against him saying that trying to tackle him felt like you were running uphill at him and he was running downhill to you...

[Ky Fried Redleg]

Brown is a guy that seemed almost too tough to succumb to death.

We all know what a great football player he was but some may not know that he was, quite possibly, the greatest lacrosse player who ever lived.

[moewan]

The Dirty Dozen is a classic, but Jim Brown's greatest role was in the cinematic masterpeice "Crack House"

[cumberlandreds]

I am too young to remember Brown as a player. He retired in 1965 and was only two at the that time. When I started watching NFL games in the early 70's and from that point on when the subject of greatest player in the NFL history came up Jim Brown was always number one without any question from anyone. He retired at the top of his game too before he got too beat up to function any longer. He did some analyst work on TV as I watched an old game on youtube with him as analyst and Vin Scully was on PBP. He was OK at that but you could tell he was bored with it. Jim Brown, very likely the greatest NFL player of all time, RIP.

[Roy Tucker]

I was lucky to be a Browns fan when Brown played 1962-1965. I was just a kid so I didn’t realize how great he was. The Browns has struggled for a while but won the NFL championship against the Colts in 1964 (Gary Collins 3 TDs) and lost to the Packers in 1965. But I was just a kid and lacked the perspective that time brings. Brown was a man amongst boys and a phenomenal player. Made me a Browns fan all the way through Bernie Kosar and up to the Browns moving. RIP Mr. Brown.

[westofyou]

https://open.substack.com/pub/joeposnanski/p/a-complicated-man

What was Jim Brown about?

There’s no one answer. There’s no towering truth. This is how he wanted it. This is how he lived. How do you commemorate a legacy that, like Jim Brown himself, eludes and evades and runs you over? It’s complicated.


But here, in the raw moments after his passing, I’d also like to remember the Jim Brown I grew up revering. I saw that Jim Brown in the faces of all those Clevelanders who told stories of seeing him do folk hero things. They fruitlessly searched for words big enough to describe him on a football field, to capture the way he somehow towered over bigger players, the pure energy he displayed while tearing away from defenders, the slump in the shoulder of opposing linebackers in the fourth quarter when they knew Jim Brown was coming again and then again.

Jim Brown was not from Cleveland, but he WAS Cleveland, he was exactly the way Clevelanders wanted to see themselves and their city. Growing up in the aftermath, I could see the worry in those people’s eyes: They couldn’t help but feel that after Jim Brown retired, Cleveland itself would never be the same.
And in some ways, I suspect that’s true.

[Mutaman]

and lost to the Packers in 1965

Brown was held to 50 yds rushing. Taylor ran for 96 yards and Hornung rushed for 105. Pope Vince at his finest.

[Chip R]

Richard Pryor had some great bits about Jim Brown. This one in particular is hilarious.

https://youtu.be/S6e1sP7v_hk

[Sea Ray]

https://open.substack.com/pub/joeposnanski/p/a-complicated-man

What was Jim Brown about?

There’s no one answer. There’s no towering truth. This is how he wanted it. This is how he lived. How do you commemorate a legacy that, like Jim Brown himself, eludes and evades and runs you over? It’s complicated.


But here, in the raw moments after his passing, I’d also like to remember the Jim Brown I grew up revering. I saw that Jim Brown in the faces of all those Clevelanders who told stories of seeing him do folk hero things. They fruitlessly searched for words big enough to describe him on a football field, to capture the way he somehow towered over bigger players, the pure energy he displayed while tearing away from defenders, the slump in the shoulder of opposing linebackers in the fourth quarter when they knew Jim Brown was coming again and then again.

Jim Brown was not from Cleveland, but he WAS Cleveland, he was exactly the way Clevelanders wanted to see themselves and their city. Growing up in the aftermath, I could see the worry in those people’s eyes: They couldn’t help but feel that after Jim Brown retired, Cleveland itself would never be the same.
And in some ways, I suspect that’s true.

We do need to be careful about canonizing this guy. If we're going to talk about Jim Brown the guy, you can't skip over the part where he abused women. No excuse whatsoever for a man this strong and powerful to beat women. None

Jim Brown Did Great Things; He Also Beat Women


He admitted in his own memoir to slapping women, and in another case blamed violent outbursts on his wife having her period. He was found guilty once—of vandalism—and jailed when he refused to attend domestic violence counseling ordered by the judge in that case. Here is a history of that violence, done with the help of a CNN timeline on his life.


https://deadspin.com/jim-brown-did-great-things-he-also-beat-woman-1784269329

This is not a good guy