Jim Brown

Cleveland Browns running back and NFL legend who dominated the league in the late 1950s and 1960s before retiring at his peak.

James Nathaniel Brown was born on 17 February 1936 on St. Simons Island, Georgia, and moved as a boy to Manhasset, New York, where he became an outstanding multi-sport athlete, later starring in both football and lacrosse at Syracuse University, where he is regarded by many as the greatest lacrosse player in NCAA history. The Cleveland Browns selected Brown sixth overall in the 1957 NFL Draft, and he developed into what many consider the greatest running back in the sport's history, leading the NFL in rushing yards in eight of his nine professional seasons. Brown won the NFL's Most Valuable Player award three times and helped Cleveland win the 1964 NFL Championship, before shocking the football world by retiring at just 29, in 1966, at the absolute peak of his abilities, to pursue an acting career that ultimately spanned more than 30 films. Brown became one of the most prominent civil rights and social justice activists among American athletes, founding the Amer-I-Can Program in 1988 to support education and rehabilitation in schools and prisons. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971, and died on 18 May 2023, at age 87, at his Los Angeles home, remembered as one of the most transformative and complicated figures in American sports history.

Powerful runner with exceptional speed and agility for his size; known for punishing tackles and breaking through defensive lines

Widely regarded as the greatest NFL player of all time; set numerous records that stood for decades

• Pro Football Hall of Fame 1971
• 3x NFL MVP
• 8x First-team All-Pro
• 1964 NFL champion
• 8x NFL rushing leader