Jim Brown, Cleveland Browns legend and NFL Hall of Famer, dead at age 87

Legendary Browns running back Jim Brown stood atop a stage on June 21, 2016, in downtown Cleveland and handed the Larry O'Brien trophy to LeBron James while the Cavaliers celebrated the end of the city's nearly 52-year title drought amid a sea of fans.

The moment between Brown and James symbolized a passing of the torch between the iconic players most responsible for Cleveland's two major professional sports championships in the past six decades.

Memories from the championship parade came flooding back Friday afternoon when Brown's wife, Monique, announced the news of his death. She wrote on social media Brown had died "peacefully" Thursday night at their home in Los Angeles. He was 87.

"Jim Brown is the Cleveland Browns and our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Monique, his children and entire family as well as all those who mourn this immense loss,” Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam said in a statement.

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James wrote on Instagram "we lost a hero" and expressed hope all Black athletes educate themselves about Brown.

"If you grew up in Northeast Ohio and were Black, Jim Brown was a God," James added. "As a kid who loved football, I really just thought of him as the greatest Cleveland Brown to ever play. Then I started my own journey as a professional athlete and realized what he did socially was his true greatness. When I choose to speak out, I always think about Jim Brown. I can only speak because Jim broke down those walls for me.

"I am so grateful that I was able to call you my friend. I hope I can continue to honor your legacy with my words and actions. My prayers to your family. I know they are all incredibly proud of everything you did for our community! #LegendsNeverDie."

Brown's legacy is vast, albeit complicated because of his history of alleged violence against women.

Drafted sixth overall out of Syracuse University by the Browns in 1957, Brown earned a Pro Bowl selection in each of his nine NFL seasons. He was first-team All Pro and led the league in rushing in eight of those seasons. He won the Associated Press Most Valuable Player award three times — 1957, when he also claimed NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, 1958 and 1965.

In Brown's penultimate season, he helped the Browns capture their last title, upsetting the Baltimore Colts 27-0 in the NFL Championship Game on Dec. 27, 1964, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

After the next season, Brown unexpectedly retired and launched in earnest a long acting career.

“I always wanted to retire on top,” Brown said in 2012 at a Browns alumni golf outing. “I feel that I left a legacy that nobody can mess with. Want to know what it is? '64 championship. '65 Most Valuable Player. Twenty-nine years old. Raquel Welch my leading lady.”

Jim Brown known far and wide as GOAT among football players

Brown retired as the best player in the NFL. He dominated his era and is considered one of the greatest football players of all time, regardless of position.

Brown never missed a game. He appeared in 122 of them, including four in the playoffs. He guided the Browns to four postseason berths and three league championship games.

He is the franchise’s all-time career leader in all-purpose yards (15,459), rushing yards (12,312), carries (2,359), touchdowns (126) and rushing touchdowns (106). He rushed for more than 1,000 yards in seven seasons and finished his career with 5.2 yards per carry, one of the top averages ever established by a running back.

“Jim Brown is a true icon of not just the Cleveland Browns but the entire NFL," the Haslams said. "He was certainly the greatest to ever put on a Browns uniform and arguably one of the greatest players in NFL history. Jim was one of the reasons the Browns have such a tremendous fan base today. So many people grew up watching him just dominate every time he stepped onto the football field but his countless accolades on the field only tell a small part of his story."

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Brown was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971 as a first-ballot candidate, the Cleveland Browns Legends Program in 2001 and the organization's Ring of Honor in 2010. The franchise honored him by erecting a statue in his likeness outside its stadium in 2016. The only other statue standing outside the stadium, featuring Hall of Fame quarterback Otto Graham, was added in 2019.

After the Cavs were crowned NBA champions in 2016, Brown said Akron native James deserves a statue in downtown Cleveland.

“His legacy is set,” Brown said of James during an interview with the Beacon Journal, “and I’m so happy for him.”

Jim Brown repeatedly clashed with the Cleveland Browns

No Browns player has worn No. 32 since Brown retired. He announced his retirement at age 30 from the London set of “The Dirty Dozen” after the late former owner Art Modell threatened to suspend him without pay if he did not report to training camp on time. The filming of the movie had been delayed, and Modell began fining Brown $100 a day in the buildup to the surprise retirement.

Much later in life, Brown developed another rift with the organization when former team president Mike Holmgren stripped him of his executive adviser title in May 2010 and offered him a reduced role. Brown said he felt disrespected and criticized then-owner Randy Lerner for failing to deliver the message himself. He also ripped Holmgren in a letter and boycotted the unveiling of the franchise's Ring of Honor in September 2010.

However, Brown hit it off with Jimmy Haslam in 2012 after he bought the Browns from Lerner. Haslam named Brown a special adviser to the organization in May 2013.

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Alleged domestic violence hangs over Jim Brown's life story

The Browns received some criticism when they rehired Brown and again when they immortalized him with a bronze statue three years later. The NFL took some heat in February 2023 for naming the award given to its rushing champion after Brown.

For all of Brown's greatness on the gridiron, it could never erase his record of arrests for alleged violence against women.

Brown was acquitted twice and charges were either dropped or never filed in other cases. He was accused of throwing fashion model Eva Marie Bohn-Chin off the second-floor balcony of his home in 1968, which he publicly denied as recently as 2013. A district attorney said there was not sufficient evidence to convict Brown, and Bohn-Chin refused to sign a complaint against him.

In 1999, Brown was convicted of misdemeanor vandalism for using a shovel to break the windows of his wife Monique's car. Brown was sentenced to six months of jail after refusing to attend court-ordered counseling. He served almost four months in Ventura County Jail in California.

Describing Brown as a complex figure would be an understatement.

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Jim Brown's work as an activist included launching the Amer-I-Can Foundation for Social Change

Born February 17, 1936, to boxer Swinton and Theresa Brown off the Georgia coast on St. Simons Island, Brown was also known as an civil rights advocate and activist.

In 1965, he founded the Negro Industrial and Economic Union, an organization designed to help and guide Black entrepreneurs and later known as the Black Economic Union.

On June 4, 1967, Brown, former Browns teammates John Wooten and Bobby Mitchell and NBA greats Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were among the athletes who gathered at Black Economic Union’s Cleveland offices to discuss with boxing icon Muhammad Ali his opposition to being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. The group supported Ali.

Brown founded the Amer-I-Can Foundation for Social Change in 1988. The organization, led in recent years by Brown's wife, Monique, is focused on assisting gang members and other at-risk youth with life management skills.

"His commitment to making a positive impact for all of humanity off the field is what he should also be known for," the Haslams said in their statement about Brown. "In the time we’ve spent with Jim, especially when we first became a part of the Browns, we learned so much from him about the unifying force sports can be and how to use sport as a vehicle for change while making a positive impact in the community.

"Jim broke down barriers just as he broke tackles. He fought for civil rights, brought athletes from all different sports together to use their platform for good. Many thought Jim retired from football too soon, but he always did it his way. From the football field, to Hollywood, to his work in athlete activism, Jim always played the leading role. His devotion to fighting racial injustice, improving education for youth and positively impacting the many lives he has through his Amer-I-Can Program has left a lasting legacy well beyond all he accomplished on the field."

Jim Brown was on-field star in the NFL, on-screen standout in movies

Before Brown made it to the NFL, he played four sports at Syracuse: football, lacrosse, basketball and track and field. In baseball, Brown pitched two no-hitters for his high school in Manhasset, New York. He qualified for the 1956 Olympics as a decathlete but decided to focus on football instead of participating.

Brown became a superstar not only in football, but also in lacrosse. The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame made him its first African-American inductee in 1983. Twelve years later, he entered the College Football Hall of Fame.

As an NFL rookie, Brown experienced his first full-fledged game action with the Browns at the Rubber Bowl in Akron, where Cleveland defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-13 in an exhibition game on Aug. 24, 1957. Brown rushed for a 48-yard touchdown late in the second quarter.

After Brown took the world of sports by storm, his film and TV career became prolific.

He has nearly 60 acting credits, including movie roles in “The Dirty Dozen (1967),” “Ice Station Zebra (1968),” “100 Rifles (1969),” “Three The Hard Way (1974), “The Running Man (1987),” “I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988),” “Mars Attacks! (1996)” and “Any Given Sunday (1999).”

Even though Brown's Hollywood days are more recent, modern NFL players who have never seen any of his movies routinely recognize him for the greatness they have witnessed on his Browns game film.

Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jim Brown, Cleveland Browns legend and NFL Hall of Famer, dead at 87