Jim Brown, one of the greatest American football players in history, revealed in the jersey of the Cleveland Browns, who was also an actor and activist, died at the age of 87.
“It is with deep sadness that I announce the death of my husband, Jim Brown. He passed away peacefully [jeudi] evening at our house in Los Angeles”wrote his wife, Monique, on his instagram account. “To the whole world he was an activist, an actor and a football star. To our family, he was a loving and wonderful husband, father and grandfather. Our hearts are broken…”she added.
Jim Brown is considered one of the best running backs (runners) of all time, who shone in the NFL but also in the university championship at Syracuse. Selected in the first round of the 1957 draft, he played nine seasons for the Cleveland Browns (from 1957 to 1965), covering a total of 12,312 yards, winning a Super Bowl in 1964 and three MVP trophies (most valuable player in the season).
One of the “Dirty Dozen”
In 1966, he stopped his career at the age of 30, although being at the top, to devote himself to cinema. That year he was one of Twelve Bastards by Robert Aldrich. He will have been an actor in about fifty films and series, appearing in particular with Spike Lee (He Got Game) and Tim Burton (Mars Attacks!), confronting Arnold Schwarzenegger in running man and starring in several blaxploitation feature films.
On the activism front, Brown organized the Cleveland Summit in 1967, which brought together twelve leading men from the African-American community, in response to Muhammad Ali’s decision not to participate in the Vietnam War. .
Participants had supported the boxer, effectively symbolizing the unity of black Americans during the civil rights movement in America. In 1988, he created the “Amer-I-Can” program, which reached out to inner-city neighborhoods to try to get young gang members back on track.
Many run-ins with the law
“Jim Brown was a gifted athlete – one of the most dominant players to ever tread a sports field – but also a cultural figure who helped promote change”reacted the boss of the NFL, Roger Goodell, referring to “a precursor and a model for athletes who get involved in social initiatives outside of their sport”.
Brown nonetheless had numerous run-ins with the law, often escaping convictions. He was arrested in 1965, for assaulting an 18-year-old girl who accused him of forcing her to have sex. In 1968 too, after passing a mannequin over a balcony. In 1985, he was accused of raping a 33-year-old woman, without prosecution. The following year, he was arrested for assaulting his fiancée, who ultimately did not press charges.
In 1999, however, Brown was sentenced to three years probation, one year of domestic violence counseling, after he smashed his wife Monique’s car with a shovel. Having failed to comply with the conditions of his sentence, he was sentenced in 2000 to six months in prison, before being released after three months.