Cleveland Browns legendary running back Jim Brown passed away at the age of 87.
His wife, Monique, announced Brown’s death in an Instagram post Friday afternoon. She said Brown “passed peacefully” Thursday night in their home in Los Angeles.
“To the world he was an activist, actor, and football star,” the post stated. “To our family he was a loving and wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. Our hearts are broken…”
Brown was ranked as one of the greatest players ever to play, was named to the NFL top 100 and was considered the best college player ever. He led the NFL in rushing in eight of his nine years in the league. Brown was a three-time MVP and led the Browns to the 1964 NFL championship.
After football, he was one of the leading activists in the country.
In June 1967, Brown organized “The Cleveland Summit,” a meeting of the nation’s top Black athletes, including Bill Russell and Lew Alcindor — who later became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — to support boxer Muhammad Ali’s fight against serving in Vietnam. In later years, Brown worked to curb gang violence in Los Angeles and in 1988 founded Amer-I-Can, a program to help disadvantaged inner-city youth and ex-convicts.
Brown also appeared in movies such as “The Dirty Dozen.”
When in college at Syracuse, Brown played four sports, Football, Lacrosse, basketball and track and was considered one of the greatest Lacrosse players ever.
