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Brown played only nine seasons for the Cleveland Browns -- and led the NFL in rushing eight times. He averaged 104 yards a game, a record 5.2 yards a pop. He ran for at least 100 yards in 58 of his 118 regular-season games (he never missed a game). He ran for 237 yards in a game twice, scored five touchdowns in another game and four times scored four touchdowns. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards in seven seasons, scorching opponents for 1,527 yards in one 12-game season and 1,863 in a 14-game season.
"For mercurial speed, airy nimbleness, and explosive violence in one package of undistilled evil, there is no other like Mr. Brown," wrote Pulitzer Prize winning sports columnist Red Smith.
Unlike most athletes, Brown retired when he was on top. At age 30, he decided he'd rather star in movies than on a football field. When he left the game before the 1966 season, no player had ever ran for as many yards (12,312) or scored more touchdowns (126) or rushing touchdowns (106). "And he played at a time when defenses were set against the run first and the pass second," said Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers.
Amazingly, football might not have been Brown's best sport. Some say he was a more talented lacrosse player, and he is the only person to be inducted into the halls of fame for pro football, college football and lacrosse.
Brown was born Feb. 17, 1936 on St. Simons Island off the southern coast of Georgia. He was abandoned by his father about two weeks after his birth, and his mother left when he was 2 to take a job as a maid on Long Island, N.Y. His great-grandmother raised Brown, and they shared a house with his grandmother, who was an alcoholic. When he was 4, he attended school in a segregated two-room shack. At 8, his mother sent for him; it was the first time they had seen each other in six years.
At mostly white Manhasset High School, Brown earned 13 letters playing football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse and running track. As a senior, he averaged 14.9 yards a carry in football and 38 points a game in basketball. While in high school, Brown and several other athletes created a gang called "The Gaylords," and Brown was elected president. He said the gang got involved in fistfights but nothing too dangerous, and nobody ever did jail time.
As a sophomore at Syracuse University, Brown was the second leading rusher on the team. That winter, he was Syracuse's second leading scorer in basketball, averaging 15 points. He also earned a letter in track that spring.
As a junior, he rushed for 666 yards (5.2 per carry), averaged 11.3 points in basketball and was named a second-team All-American in lacrosse. In his senior year, Brown was first-team All-American in both football and lacrosse (43 goals in 10 games to tie for the national scoring championship). He averaged 6.2 yards in running for 986 yards -- third most in the country despite Syracuse playing only eight games -- and scored 14 touchdowns.
In the regular-season finale, a 61-7 rout of Colgate, he rushed for 197 yards, scored six touchdowns and kicked seven extra points for 43 points. Then in the Cotton Bowl, he rushed for 132 yards, scored three touchdowns and kicked three extra points. But a blocked extra point after Syracuse's third touchdown was the difference as TCU won 28-27.
Brown, Cleveland's first-round draft choice at No. 6 overall, was the league's Rookie of the Year in 1957, leading all running backs with 942 yards. "When you have a thoroughbred," coach Paul Brown said, "you run him."
The next year, the fullback was named MVP after leading the league in rushing with 1,527 yards and touchdowns with 18. But his season ended in disappointment when the Browns lost the regular-season finale 13-10 to the New York Giants, leaving the teams tied for first in the East, and then 10-0 the following Sunday. Brown was held to eight yards on seven carries in the playoff game.
Brown's 1,329 and 1,257 yards in 12-game seasons led NFL rushers the next two seasons. In 1961, in the first 14-game season, Brown led the league for the fifth straight season, with 1,408 yards. But the Browns again failed to make the postseason. In 1962, for the only time in his career, Brown failed to win the rushing title, gaining just 996 yards. Growing differences with Paul Brown worsened as Cleveland fell to 7-6-1. After the season, the outspoken fullback headed a players revolt and told owner Art Modell "either Paul Brown goes or I quit." Paul Brown was fired.
In his first season under new coach Blanton Collier, Brown became the first back to run for more than a mile with his 1,863-yard total. He led the league with 1,446 yards in 1963 as the Browns won the NFL championship, routing Baltimore 27-0 in the title game with Brown rushing for a game-high 114 yards.
In 1965 -- in what would be his final season -- Brown won his second MVP after leading the league in rushing with 1,544 yards and scoring 21 touchdowns (17 running). The Browns made it back to the title game, but this time they lost, 23-12 to the Packers.
While working on the movie "The Dirty Dozen" in London during the offseason, Brown stunned the sports world by announcing his retirement. He said he wanted to devote more time to his movie career and race relations. Brown went on to appear in some 32 movies, with "The Dirty Dozen" and "Ice Station Zebra" being the best.
In the 1960s, Brown helped form the Negro Industrial Economic Union to assist black-owned businesses. In 1988, he created the Amer-I-Can program, an effort to turn gang members from destructive to productive members of society. Today, Amer-I-Can is successfully operating in 12 U.S. cities and promoting a skills curriculum that is designed to teach inmates how to empower themselves to turn their lives around with positive self-esteem and self-determination. Brown and his program were closely involved with the development of a cease-fire between two of Los Angeles' most violent rival gangs, the Bloods and Crips. Brown continues to work in the community to create better lives for his fellow citizens.
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