(LibertySociety.com) – Jim Brown, the man widely regarded as the greatest NFL football player to have ever played, has died at 87 years old. His family made the announcement last week, saying the Hall of Fame running back passed peacefully at home with his family surrounding him. His wife Monique Brown said Jim passed peacefully in the night.
Jim Brown was taken with the sixth overall pick in the 1957 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns, and he would spend his entire career with them. His career spanned only nine seasons but yielded three Most Valuable Player awards, one NFL championship and saw Brown lead the league in rushing yards for eight of those nine seasons. Brown chose to retire while he was in his prime at the age of 30 to pursue other interests. Prior to the NFL, Jim Brown was born in Georgia in 1936, after which he would relocate to Manhasset New York where he was a five sport star playing football, running track, playing basketball, baseball and most notably lacrosse, as he is widely considered the best to play that sport as well. Brown then went to Syracuse University to star in multiple sports and set decades long football records.
After his football retirement, Brown became involved with many projects across a variety of fields. He starred in movies including the iconic “The Dirty Dozen” and started a black entrepreneur organization that would come to be known as the Black Economic Union. He would continue to make regular film and television appearances throughout the decades while doing community works.
In 1988, to help curb the ever-growing gang situation, he formed Amer-I-Can to help gang members and other youth in turmoil learn life skills to put them on a better life path. Amer-I-Can would also negotiate a gang truce in 1992. As Brown’s health deteriorated, he made fewer public appearances but was on hand in the now famous Oval Office meeting with Kanye West and Donald Trump in 2018. Brown received some criticism for being there, but he asserted he was proud to meet with the US president to talk about at-risk youth in America.
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