The complicated life of NFL legend Jim Brown
The NFL lost an icon with the passing of legendary running back Jim Brown on Thursday at the age of 87.
An unstoppable force on the football field, Brown won NFL MVP honors four times while leading the league in rushing in all but one of his nine NFL seasons1. For decades, Brown was considered the greatest football player of all time2.
In 1964, Brown helped the Cleveland Browns win the NFL championship (still the last title won by the team). After a 1,544-yard season in 1965, and NFL championship game loss to Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers, Brown called it a career at 30 years old to pursue a career in acting3.
Off the field, Brown was a staunch civil rights advocate. He also left a troubling trail of domestic abuse incidents that tarnished his legacy.
Paste BN Sports columnists reflected on Jim Brown's complicated life. Jarrett Bell wrote that Brown was a complex man with a macho image who had his flaws, but he also could be a man with a huge heart. Mike Freeman, meanwhile, opined that you cannot discuss Brown's life without talking about all of him.
- 'I do what I want to do': Jim Brown was a Hollywood legend, an activist and highly flawed
- 'We lost a hero today': LeBron James, Barry Sanders, more mourn Jim Brown
- PHOTOS: Jim Brown through the years
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1 The only season Jim Brown did not lead the NFL in rushing was in 1962, when the Green Bay Packers' Jim Taylor led the league with 1,474 yards. Brown finished fourth with 996 yards. Keep in mind, they were playing 14-game regular seasons back in 1962.2 In the "NFL Top 100" countdown conducted in 2010 that aired on NFL Network, Jim Brown finished No. 2 behind Jerry Rice. For the NFL's 100th season, Paste BN Sports Network compiled a ranking of the greatest players in pro football history, with Tom Brady ranked No. 1 and Brown at No. 4 behind Jerry Rice and Lawrence Taylor.3 Jim Brown announced his NFL retirement while on the set of "The Dirty Dozen" in 1966. He also appeared in such notable films as "100 Rifles," "The Running Man," "Mars Attacks!" and "Any Given Sunday." His acting debut came in the 1964 film "Rio Conchos."
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