The Man Who Redefined the Game
A versatile and gifted athlete, Jim Brown broke barriers on and off the playing field
Jim Brown has never been short on pride, but the legendary former fullback says his goals going into the 1957 NFL draft weren't exactly lofty. "I just wanted to make the first team," Brown tells U.S. News. "And after I did that, I thought, 'Hey, I might have a chance to score some touchdowns, rush for a lot of yards.'"
Then a senior at Syracuse University, Brown was picked sixth in the draft's first round by the Cleveland Browns. When he left the team nine seasons later, he had indeed scored some touchdowns—a record-setting 126 of them—and rushed for a lot of yards—a record-setting 12,312. Off the field, the same obstinacy that drove Brown through potential tacklers made him a fierce advocate for racial equality. But it also stained his private life with accusations of violence, a legacy the NFL is trying to put behind it even as it holds up Brown as the yardstick against which all other great players are measured.
Former teammate Vince Costello thinks none so far has measured up, calling Brown "the best running back ever, and maybe that ever will be." As a linebacker for Cleveland, Costello had to cover Brown in practice, or at least try to. "I had to do all the tricks I knew," he says. "I got better and better by doing it."
Brown's impact on the game of football is undeniable. With an astounding average of 5.2 yards per carry, he helped redefine football's running game, threatening not just to get a few yards for a first down but to charge for the end zone on any play. As television gave the NFL new prominence, he was a star at a time when teams tended to keep their number of black players even—so white and black players would not have to room together—and low. At Syracuse, he was the only black player and spent two years just trying to get on the field.
Brown had no such problems getting playing time in lacrosse, where he scored 43 goals during his senior year and was named an All-American. The 1958 NCAA Lacrosse Guide called him "the greatest lacrosse player in the history of the sport." In a game dominated by the white and privileged, Brown's presence was startling. "It was a sport where a good athlete could be 150 pounds, 145 pounds and get away with it," says Roy Simmons Jr., who played lacrosse with Brown and later coached the team. "Jim walked onto that field with 225 pounds of steel and blinding speed."
Indeed, a list of Brown's athletic accomplishments reads like a tall tale, enough for sportswriter Bert Sugar to give him the top spot in his book The 100 Greatest Athletes of All Time. In high school, Brown placed 10th in a decathlon despite having never tried some of the events. The first time he played golf, he reportedly scored in the upper 80s. Brown himself quickly sets the record straight on reports that he was offered a contract by the Cleveland Indians. It was the Yankees, he says. "I played high school baseball," he says nonchalantly. "I pitched two no-hitters."
But at 71, Brown now seems less interested in sports than in broader social issues. During the civil rights era, he gained a reputation as a fiery spokesman for black equality, prominent enough to be monitored by the FBI. Even in the acting roles he took on after abruptly quitting the NFL in 1966, he broke down barriers. In 1969's 100 Rifles, he drew gasps for an interracial love scene. Today, Brown focuses on his Amer-I-Can program, which teaches life skills to prisoners and gang members.
Complicated. Despite his work promoting alternatives to violence, Brown's own life has been dogged by allegations of domestic abuse. He did prison time after refusing to attend domestic-violence counseling for vandalizing his wife's car. Brown points out that most claims of abuse never led to convictions and apologizes, in a fashion.
Asked about Brown as a person, Costello proceeds carefully. "I've always stood by him," he says. "He's a complicated person. He could be very hostile, or he could just be the nicest guy in the world." LaDainian Tomlinson, the current San Diego Chargers running back who became the first player to reach 100 touchdowns in fewer games than Brown, calls him "a father figure" and says he admires the way Brown wore down defenders so that, by the fourth quarter, he was the only one left standing.
Now late in life, Brown stands, as always, bruised but unbowed. Asked how he wants to be remembered, he swats aside others' opinions: "I don't want to be validated by anybody," he says. "Who's qualified to judge me?"