Former NFL legend and actor Jim Brown has died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 87.
The former Cleveland Browns running back passed away Thursday night after a battle with dementia, accompanied by his wife Monique.
A source told : “It was very peaceful and he was surrounded by loved ones.” “He was a true Hollywood great and we will miss him.”
Brown was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971 after playing for the team for nine seasons from 1957–65.
In a statement, paying tribute to the legendary star, the Cleveland Browns said, “Legendary.” Leader. Activist. Visionary.
The star was voted the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1965 and broke league record books during his short career
Jim Brown has died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 87 with his wife Monique at his side. Pictured in February
“It is impossible to describe the deep love and gratitude we feel for having the opportunity to be a small part of Jim’s incredible life and legacy.”
“We mourn his loss but celebrate the unquenchable light he brought to the world.” “Our hearts go out to Jim’s family, loved ones and everyone he has impacted along the way.”
The star was voted the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1965 and broke league record books during his short career.
His wife Monique wrote a heartbreaking tribute to her husband: “It is with profound sadness that I announce the passing of my husband Jim Brown.”
“He passed away peacefully at our home in LA last night. To the world he was an activist, actor and soccer star.
“To our family he was a loving and wonderful husband, father and grandfather. “Our hearts are broken.”
Considered one of the greatest running backs of all time, Brown was named to the NFL 100 All-Time Team in 2020.
He was voted the greatest football player of all time by Sporting News in 2002 and was selected in the first round of the 1957 draft.
The star was named a Pro Bowler every year he played and led the team to the championship three times, winning the title in 1964.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, “On behalf of the entire NFL family, we extend our condolences to Monique and her family.”
“Jim Brown was a gifted athlete – one of the most dominant players to ever step on a sports field – but also a cultural figure who helped bring about change.”
The star was voted the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1965 and broke league record books during his short career
His wife Monique wrote a heartbreaking tribute to her husband, describing him as a “wonderful husband, father and grandfather”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD_sqMKZRmQ
Brown was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971 after playing for the team for nine seasons from 1957–65
After retiring in 1964, he became an actor, appearing in more than 30 films including Any Given Sunday and The Dirty Dozen.
“During his nine-year NFL career, which coincided with the civil rights movement here at home, he became a pioneer and role model for athletes involved in community initiatives outside of their sport.”
“He inspired his fellow athletes to make a difference, especially in the communities where they lived.”
Current Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam called Brown “a true icon” of the NFL.
The actor leaves behind his second wife Monique and one child together. He was divorced from Sue Brown after 13 years of marriage, with whom he had three children.
Born in St. Simons, Georgia in February 1935, Brown was the dominant player of his day before retiring at the age of 30 – what most considered his heyday.
A statue of him was erected in front of FirstEnergy Stadium in 2016 and no Browns player has worn his number 32 since his retirement.
Brown’s personal life had its dark moments, including an arrest in 1999 for threatening Monique. He was later sentenced to three years probation after smashing up her car with a shovel and once served three months in prison for refusing a court-ordered counseling.
Brown was named MVP three times in his career and led the league in rushing eight times
But his professional life has never been anything but brilliant.
Brown was named MVP three times in his career and led the league in rushing in eight of the nine years he played.
He sprinted 12,312 yards and averaged 5.2 yards per stride throughout his career. In an interview with NFL Movies, he once described his arms as “protectors and weapons.”
Brown rushed for at least 100 yards in 58 of his 118 regular-season games and never missed a single contest through injury.
Additionally, he rushed for more than 1,000 yards in seven seasons, including 1,527 yards in a 12-game season and 1,863 yards in a 14-game season.
In addition to soccer, Brown also played basketball, lacrosse, and track and field at Syracuse
Brown and his girlfriend Henrietta Creech read an All-America story honoring him in 1956
Although he was raised primarily on Saint Simons Island, a community off the coast of Georgia, Brown later moved to the north shore of Long Island, where he became a top athlete at Manhasset Secondary School.
And it wasn’t just football that fascinated Brown, who later learned 13 letters in football, lacrosse, baseball, track and basketball.
His average of 38 points per game was a Long Island high school basketball record until it was broken by Carl Yastrzemski of Bridgehampton, future Boston Red Sox legend.
But Brown’s legend really began in Syracuse, where he went from substitute to most feared running back in the country over the course of his three years with the team.
And Brown wasn’t limited to the backfield. The multisport star also played defense and kicker and once scored an NCAA-record 43 points in a single game.
Brown continued to compete in lacrosse, basketball, and track and field in upstate New York. In fact, he was an All-American lacrosse player and is considered by many to be the greatest to ever play the game.
“Oh my God,” Cornell football coach Lefty James said after seeing Brown play lacrosse, the New York Times quoted as saying. “You let him play with a stick?”
“I coached this game for 46 years, and Jim Brown was the greatest lacrosse player I’ve ever seen,” said legendary Syracuse coach Roy Simmons.
Jim Brown, who was born ineligible to play for the Redskins, integrated their end zone three times yesterday
Shirley Povich, Washington Post
Brown’s college football career ended in disappointment, finishing fifth in the Heisman pick despite setting a school record for 6.2 yards per carry in 1956. Notre Dame quarterback Paul Hornung should ultimately be selected this season despite the Fighting Irish’s 2-8 record.
In later years, legendary sportswriter Dick Schaap refused to participate in the Heisman selection process on the grounds that Brown had been rejected by racist voters. (Ernie Davis, who inherited Brown’s position and No. 44 at Syracuse, would go on to become the first black player to win that honor)
Selected sixth overall by the Cleveland Browns in the 1957 NFL Draft, Brown immediately made the world of professional football his stage. In his ninth game, Brown rushed for a record 237 yards and later set a season’s rushing mark in 1958 with 1,527 yards.
He gained many white fans along the way, even as some NFL owners continued their racist hiring policies.
After the star running back embarrassed Washington — an all-white team owned by an accused racist, George Marshall — Shirley Povich quipped the Washington Post: “Jim Brown, born ineligible for the Redskins, had theirs three times yesterday Integrated end zone.’
He sprinted 12,312 yards and averaged 5.2 yards per stride throughout his career. In an interview with NFL Movies, he once described his arms as “protectors and weapons.”
After retiring from football, he became an actor, appearing in more than 30 films – including Any Given Sunday and The Dirty Dozen.
His films have included 100 Rifles, Mars Attacks!, Spike Lee’s He Got Game, and the satire I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, in which he parodied the blaxploitation genre.
In 2002, Brown was the subject of Lee’s HBO documentary Jim Brown: All-American.
During the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, Brown emerged as a prominent leader of the Black Power movement.
In later years, he worked to curb gang violence in LA and founded Amer-I-Can, a program to help underprivileged inner-city youth and ex-convicts.
Brown himself had multiple run-ins with the law and was arrested half a dozen times in his life.
He was tried for assault and assault in 1965 after an 18-year-old accused him of giving her whiskey and forcing her to have sex.
Brown (pictured with Raquel Welch) starred in 1969’s One Hundred Rifles.
The actor leaves behind his second wife Monique and one child together. He was divorced from Sue Brown after 13 years of marriage, with whom he had three children. Pictured with his family
Boxing icon Muhammad Ali visited Brown on the set of Dirty Dozen in Hertfordshire
Brown was accused of throwing a model off a balcony in 1968 and was acquitted of assaulting a man after a traffic accident in 1969.
After assaulting a golf partner, he was fined and spent a day in jail. Charges against Brown for rape, sexual assault and assault were also dropped in 1985.
In June 1999, Brown’s wife, Monique, called 911 and said Brown had smashed into her car with a shovel and threatened to kill her. She later recanted this allegation in court and was acquitted of the domestic violence charge but convicted of vandalism.
Brown was eventually sentenced to six months in prison for refusing to attend a domestic violence counseling session.