His rushing records — most notably his 12,312 yards on the ground — were eventually broken by Payton, Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith and others. But Brown’s career lasted just nine years and he played mostly 14-game seasons, rather than 16- or 17-game campaigns, at a time when chop blocks and other dangerous tackles were allowed. His 104.3 rushing yards per game average still stands as a league record.
Then he walked away, opting to pursue a Hollywood career making movies and more money than in Cleveland. His breaking point came when he was filming “The Dirty Dozen.” Brown told Art Modell, the team’s owner, that he would be late to training camp. Modell said he would fine Brown for every day he missed camp. Offended, Brown called a news conference to announce that he was leaving the N.F.L.
By that point, Brown had accomplished more in football than many do in much longer careers, including winning a league title in 1964, three M.V.P. awards, and owning the N.F.L.’s career rushing record. But only a handful went out on top. John Elway and Peyton Manning won Super Bowls in their last seasons, but both were no longer in their prime. Sanders retired from the Detroit Lions when he was just 30, but won just one playoff game.
Brown, on the other hand, was a kind of Mount Rushmore figure, a running back of stature who helped redefine the power an athlete could have on and off the field by demanding that owners and coaches treat players — particularly Black players — with respect.
“You can make a case that Wilt Chamberlain was his own man in basketball, but Jim Brown would have been the first pro football player in the modern era to have that kind of presence and sway,” said Michael MacCambridge, the author of “America’s Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation.” “It was clear that Jim Brown was a different generation of player with a different mind-set.”
Players who came after him knew about that difference.
“There isn’t a man who played running back in the NFL who didn’t see Jim Brown as an iconic legend on and off the field,” Tony Dorsett, one of 10 running backs to surpass Brown’s total rushing yards, wrote on Twitter.
“You can’t underestimate the impact #JimBrown had on the @NFL,” Sanders also wrote on Twitter.
As exceptional as he was on the field, Brown was far from a perfect human being. He was arrested more than a half-dozen times, including for multiple accusations of violence against women. He was never convicted of a major crime.
