Jim Brown, former NFL running back, actor and civil rights activist, dies

Jim Brownthe unstoppable ‘running back’ of the NFL who retired at the height of his glittering career to become an actor and leading civil rights activist in the 1960s, has died at the age of 87.

A spokeswoman for Brown’s family said the football Hall of Famer died peacefully Thursday at his Los Angeles home with his wife, Monique.

One of the greatest players in American football history and one of its first big stars, Brown was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1965 and tore the record books to pieces during his brief career from 1957-1965.

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Brown led the Cleveland Browns to their last NFL championship in 1964 one season before retiring at the height of his career to become an actor. He appeared in more than 30 movies, including “Any Given Sunday” and “The Dirty Dozen.”

An indomitable running back with power, speed and stamina, Brown’s arrival catapulted the game’s nascent popularity on television. When he finished his playing days, Brown became a major leader in the black power movement during the civil rights struggle of the 1960s.

In his later years, he worked to end gang violence in Los Angeles and was a founder of the Amer-I-Can program to help disadvantaged youth and ex-offenders.

There was no one on the field like Brown, who left defenders behind, refusing to let a single man take him down before turning around and away from linebackers and defensive backs. He was also famous for using his outstretched arm to keep defenders at arm’s length in the open field or throw them around like rag dolls.

“My arms were like my shields and my weapons,” Brown said during an interview with NFL Films.

In fact, Brown was unlike any running back that had come before, and some believe there has never been a better running back than Cleveland’s incomparable No. 32. At 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, he was dominant, relentless and ruthless, with some of his best plays showing him running around and through opponents, fighting for every yard, dragging multiple defenders or finding holes where they didn’t seem to exist.

After he was tackled, Brown would slowly get up and walk even slower back to his spot … and then again dominate the defense once he had the ball.