Remembering Football Legend Jim Brown: His Life and Legacy

NFL legend and Hollywood action hero Jim Brown (1936-2023) is dead. According to US media reports, the civil rights activist died at the age of 87. His wife said Brown died Thursday evening (May 18) at his home in Los Angeles. The Georgia-born American football player led the Cleveland Browns to the 1964 NFL title and was named the league’s most valuable player three times.

“He was an activist, actor and football star to the world,” his wife Monique reportedly explained. “To our family he was a loving and wonderful husband, father and grandfather. Our hearts are broken.”

The Cleveland Browns tweeted that Brown was a “legend, a leader, an activist, a visionary.” He played for the team between 1957 and 1965. A statue of him was erected in front of the stadium in 2016. He is considered one of the greatest players in American football history. In 1971 he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. No Browns player has worn the number 32 since retiring.

End of career at 30

In 1966, at the peak of his sports career, Brown surprisingly announced his retirement at the age of just 30. He then devoted himself to acting and appeared in over 30 films, including Oliver Stone’s (76) “Every Damn Sunday” (1999), “Running Man” (1987) with Arnold Schwarzenegger (75) or “The Dirty Dozen” ( 1967).

He was also known as a civil rights activist since the 1950s. In the late 1980s, Brown also initiated a program aimed at helping underprivileged children. However, Brown has also had frequent troubles with the law. In 1999 he was convicted of vandalism after allegedly smashing the windshield of his wife’s car with a shovel. The judge sentenced him to six months in prison for refusing to enter therapy for domestic violence.