It’s Jim Brown’s 85th birthday today: 32 interesting facts from the running back’s legendary career
Updated Feb 17, 2021; Posted Feb 17, 2021
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NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown through the years as a player
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By Tim Bielik, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Today is Jim Brown’s 85th birthday. Recognized as possibly the greatest football player ever, Brown is one of 17 Browns who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He played nine seasons in the NFL, all with the Browns. He still is the franchise’s leader in rushing yards (12,312) and rushing touchdowns (106).
After football, Brown went into acting with more than 50 film and TV action credits.
But there is a lot about Brown that fans might not know. In honor of Brown’s No. 32 jersey, here are 32 interesting facts about Brown both on and off the football field.
1. Brown rushed for 1,000 yards in seven of his nine seasons. In the two years that he didn’t, he had 942 yards and 996 yards, respectively.
2. He led the NFL in each major rushing category (carries, yards, touchdown) four times. He also had the league’s longest run in two of those seasons.
3. Brown’s nine Pro Bowls tie him for 40th all time. Others in that group include fellow Hall of Famers Walter Payton, Ed Reed, Derrick Thomas and Charles Woodson.
4. He was named an All-Pro eight times. Only four other players had more with Jerry Rice and Jim Otto earning 10, and Ron Mix and Anthony Munoz being selected nine times.
5. Brown won MVP three times in his career. Peyton Manning (five) was the only player to ever win it more times.
6. Brown’s best game as a running back was his ninth in the NFL. He rushed for 237 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-31 win vs. the Los Angeles Rams. Nearly four years later against the Eagles, he again had 237 yards and four TDs, as well as a pass attempt, in a 45-24 win.
7. Only once did Brown have a game in which he rushed for fewer than a yard per carry. It happened on Oct. 14, 1962. He gained just 11 yards on 14 carries in a 36-14 loss to the Colts.
8. Brown never had a 1,000-yard season at Syracuse. His best season was his final year of college in 1956. That year, he ran for 986 yards and 13 TDs.
9. Brown’s final MVP win came in his final season in 1965, when he rushed for 1,544 yards and 17 TDs.
10. He was a capable receiver as well with 262 career catches for 262 yards and 20 TDs. He also had an 83-yard touchdown.
11. “The Dirty Dozen” was not Brown’s first entry into film. He was in the 1964 movie “Rio Conchos.” Actor Anthony Franciosa was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actor in a drama for his performance in the movie.
12. In the movie “Any Given Sunday,” Brown acted alongside another Hall of Famer in Lawrence Taylor. The movie also featured a third Hall of Famer, with Terrell Owens making a brief appearance.
13. Brown also made guest starred in several television shows including “The A-Team,” “Knight Rider” and “CHiPs.”
14. Brown’s first chance to be a lead in a movie came in the 1968 action film “The Split.” He was reunited with “The Dirty Dozen” cast members Ernest Borgnine and Donald Sutherland. Gene Hackman also co-starred in the film.
15. In addition to his football accolades, Brown was also known for being a great lacrosse player at Syracuse. He lettered in lacrosse as well as football and was inducted into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1983.
16. At ESPN’s CFB150 celebration, which marked the 150th anniversary of the first season of college football, ESPN named Brown the greatest college football player of all time.
17. Brown threw 12 passes in his NFL career. He completed four, three of which went for touchdowns.
18. He was also a very good basketball player. He scored 38.2 points per game at Manhasset High School on Long Island in 1952-53.
19. Brown played two seasons of basketball for Syracuse, averaging 13.1 points and shooting 60.2% from the floor in his career.
20. With the Browns, he won one championship. That came in 1964 when the Browns beat the Colts, 27-0, for the NFL Championship. Brown didn’t score a touchdown, but he had a game-high 114 yards on 27 carries and added three receptions for 37 yards.
21. Despite scoring 106 touchdowns in the regular season, Brown only had one in the postseason. That came in the 1957 NFL Championship, which the Browns lost to the Lions, 59-14.
22. Brown was the first player to get a statue outside FirstEnergy Stadium.
23. He was part of one of possibly the best drafts in NFL history. Four players in the top eight of that draft were Hall of Famers. The other three were Paul Hornung, Len Dawson and Jim Parker.
24. Brown had far and away the most rushing yards of any player in the draft class at 12,312. The next best was Jon Arnett, who had 3,833. Arnett was the No. 2 pick in that draft.
25. The Browns also got two other Hall of Famers in that draft in defensive tackle Henry Jordan, a fifth-round pick, and guard Gene Hickerson, a seventh-round pick.
26. Brown is one of three Syracuse running backs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The other two are Larry Csonka and Floyd Little.
27. He still holds a Syracuse record from when he scored six touchdowns in a game vs. Colgate in 1956. Brown is second in school history in yards per carry (5.
before Ernie Davis broke the record, with 6.6 ypc from 1959-61.
28. Brown remains the only running back in NFL history to rush for more than 100 yards per game in his career (104.3). Barry Sanders is second at 99.8. He had 100 yards or more in 58 of 118 career regular-season games.
29. Brown shares the same birthday as Michael Jordan. Other celebrities born on Feb. 17 were actor and Cleveland native Hal Holbrook, former NFL head coach Buddy Ryan and signer Ed Sheeran.
30. Brown and Earl Campbell are the only two players to win Rookie of the Year and NFL MVP in the same season.
31. Jim Brown’s son-in-law, Chris Ward, was the No. 4 pick of the 1978 NFL Draft to the Jets. Ward, who played his college football at Ohio State, started 95 NFL games in his seven-year career.
32. Brown was never nominated for an Oscar. But he won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture in 1970 for “El Condor.” And in 1997 he was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight in the movie “Mars Attacks.”
