James Nathaniel Brown February 17, β May 18, was an American professional football player, civil rights activist , and actor. Brown won an NFL championship with the Browns in He led the league in rushing yards in eight out of his nine seasons, and by the time he retired, he held most major rushing records. In , he was named by The Sporting News as the greatest professional football player ever. Brown earned unanimous All-America honors playing college football at Syracuse University , where he was an all-around player for the Syracuse Orangemen football team.
The team later retired his number 44 jersey, and he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in He is also widely considered one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time, [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] and the Premier Lacrosse League MVP Award is named in his honor. In his professional career, Brown carried the ball 2, times for 12, rushing yards and touchdowns , which were all records when he retired. He averaged Brown was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Brown was honored at the College Football Playoff National Championship as the greatest college football player of all time.
Shortly before the end of his football career, Brown became an actor. He retired at the peak of his football career to pursue an acting career. He obtained 53 acting credits and several leading roles throughout the s.
Brown was one of the few athletes, and among the most prominent African Americans, to speak out on racial issues as the civil rights movement was growing in the s. He participated in the Cleveland Summit after Muhammad Ali faced imprisonment for refusing to enter the draft for the Vietnam War , and he founded the Black Economic Union to help promote economic opportunities for minority-owned businesses.
Brown later launched a foundation focused on diverting at-risk youth from violence through teaching them life skills, through which he facilitated the Watts truce between rival street gangs in Los Angeles. Brown was born on St. Brown earned 13 letters playing football , lacrosse , baseball, basketball, and running track. Brown credits his self-reliance to having grown up on Saint Simons Island, a community off the coast of Georgia where he was raised by his grandmother and where racism did not affect him directly.
