Jim Brown

James Nathaniel Brown was born on St. Simons Island, Georgia, and raised in Manhasset, Long Island. Attending Syracuse University, Brown was arguably the greatest multi-sport athlete in American collegiate history: a consensus football All-American, a second-team basketball player, a decathlete, and universally regarded as the greatest lacrosse player who ever lived, leading Syracuse lacrosse to an undefeated season in 1957.

Drafted sixth overall by the Cleveland Browns in 1957, Brown revolutionized the running back position. In nine NFL seasons, he won eight rushing titles, was named NFL Most Valuable Player three times (1957, 1958, 1965), and led the Browns to the 1964 NFL Championship with a 27-0 shutout of the Baltimore Colts. When he retired in 1965, he held all major rushing records: 12,312 yards, 106 rushing touchdowns, and an astonishing career average of 5.2 yards per carry and 104.3 yards per game—a record that still stands unbroken.

Brown never missed a single game in his nine-year NFL career. Following retirement at twenty-nine, he became one of Hollywood's first Black action stars, appearing in The Dirty Dozen. In June 1967, Brown convened the historic 'Cleveland Summit' of premier Black athletes (including Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) to support Muhammad Ali's refusal to fight in the Vietnam War, later founding the Amer-I-Can program to rehabilitate gang members in inner-city Los Angeles.