R.I.P. – the great Jim Brown

If you created a fictional character with Jim Brown’s life, your book would be panned as unrealistic.

Imagine if Michael Jordan could also play soccer like Messi or Pele. What if Mohammad Ali could also hit like a baseball like Babe Ruth? That imaginary super-athlete existed in flesh and blood as Jim Brown, the only man I can name who, in his day, was the best in the world at two different sports (football and lacrosse). Many say he is the GOAT of lacrosse, and he has his supporters for the same status in football.

And he was also an amateur star in several other sports.

And his athletic achievements were just the beginning of his legend.


5 thoughts on “R.I.P. – the great Jim Brown

  1. The football counterpart to Lou Gehrig on the mythical all-time baseball team – the one position that there’s no argument about ( people have made pretty impressive arguments for Don Hutson being better than Jerry Rice).
    Got to watch either on the tube or live (which included the ’64 title game) every game he played from ’61 through ’65. It never got old.

    1. I don’t think there is any debate about the catcher position since the Negro Leagues became officially “major.” Josh Gibson has a higher batting average than Ty Cobb, and a higher OPS than Babe Ruth.

  2. Well said. I met him once, in an elevator at Lambeau Field in 2013. He was a little out of sorts mentally. A young media member had no idea who he was. Nor did a middle aged security guard, who essentially told him he had to leave. A Packers beat writer in the back of the elevator screamed, “That is Jim Brown!!” , incredulous neither person knew who he was (as if a security guard could tell him not to get on the elevator).

    He was inside the elevator and stood next to me. We exchanged glances and I gave him a smile and a soft salute. He would have been about 77. I’m a big dude (6’3, 215 lbs and a former college athlete) but Brown, even at that age, looked like he could have crushed me with his bare hand or run a few plays that day of right tackle. I couldn’t believe how a man that age looked so physically imposing.

    Like they once said about Babe Ruth, had Jim Brown not lived it would be impossible to have invented him.

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