Jim Brown James Nathaniel " Jim " Brown ( born February 17 , 1936 ) is an American former professional football player and actor . He is best known for his exceptional and record - setting nine - year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965 . In 2002 , he was named by " Sporting News " as the greatest professional football player ever . He is widely considered to be one of the greatest professional athletes in the history of the United States . Early life . James Nathaniel Brown was born to Theresa ( a housekeeper ) and Swinton Brown ( a professional boxer ) . At Manhasset Secondary School , Brown earned 13 letters playing football , lacrosse , baseball , basketball and running track . According to the " New York Times " : Mr . Brown credits his self - reliance to having grown up on Saint Simons Island , a community off the coast of Georgia where he was raised by his grandmother and where racism did not affect him directly . At the age of 8 he moved to Manhasset , N . Y . , where his mother worked as a domestic . It was at Manhasset High School that he became a football star and athletic legend . He averaged a then - Long Island record 38 points per game for his basketball team . That record was later broken by future Boston Red Sox star Carl Yastrzemski of Bridgehampton . College sports career . As a sophomore at Syracuse University , Brown was the second leading rusher on the team . As a junior , he rushed for 666 yards ( 5 . 2 per carry ) . In his senior year , Brown was a unanimous first - team All - American . He finished 5th in the Heisman Trophy voting , and set school records for highest rush average ( 6 . 2 ) and most rushing touchdowns ( 6 ) . He ran for 986 yards — third most in the country despite Syracuse playing only eight games — and scored 14 touchdowns . In the regular - season finale , a 61 – 7 rout of Colgate , he rushed for 197 yards , scored six touchdowns and kicked seven extra points for 43 points ( another school record ) . Then in the Cotton Bowl , he rushed for 132 yards , scored three touchdowns and kicked three extra points . But a blocked extra point after Syracuse ' s third touchdown was the difference as TCU won 28 – 27 . Brown is a member of The Pigskin Club of Washington , D . C . National Intercollegiate All - American Football Players Honor Roll . Perhaps more impressive was his success as a multi - sport athlete . In addition to his football accomplishments , he excelled in basketball , track , and especially lacrosse . As a sophomore , he was the second leading scorer for the basketball team ( 15 ppg ) , and earned a letter on the track team . His junior year , he averaged 11 . 3 points in basketball , and was named a second - team All - American in lacrosse . His senior year , he was named a first - team All - American in lacrosse ( 43 goals in 10 games to rank second in scoring nationally ) . Professional football career . Brown was taken in the first round of the 1956 draft by the Cleveland Browns . He departed as the NFL record holder for both single - season ( 1 , 863 in 1963 ) and career rushing ( 12 , 312 yards ) , as well as the all - time leader in rushing touchdowns ( 106 ) , total touchdowns ( 126 ) , and all - purpose yards ( 15 , 549 ) . He was the first player ever to reach the 100 - rushing - touchdowns milestone , and only a few others have done so since , despite the league ' s expansion to a 16 - game season in 1978 ( Brown ' s first four seasons were only 12 games , and his last five were 14 games ) . Brown ' s record of scoring 100 touchdowns in only 93 games stood until LaDainian Tomlinson did it in 89 games during the 2006 season . Brown holds the record for total seasons leading the NFL in all - purpose yards ( 5 : 1958 – 1961 , 1964 ) , and is the only rusher in NFL history to average over 100 yards per game for a career . In addition to his rushing , Brown was a superb receiver out of the backfield , catching 262 passes for 2 , 499 yards and 20 touchdowns , while also adding another 628 yards returning kickoffs . Every season he played , Brown was voted into the Pro Bowl , and he left the league in style by scoring three touchdowns in his final Pro Bowl game . Perhaps the most amazing feat is that Jim Brown accomplished these records despite never playing past 29 years of age . Brown ' s 6 games with at least 4 touchdowns remains an NFL record . LaDainian Tomlinson and Marshall Faulk both have five games with 4 touchdowns . Brown led the league in rushing a record eight times . Brown ' s 1 , 863 rushing yards in the 1963 season remain a Cleveland franchise record . It is currently the oldest franchise record for rushing yards out of all 32 NFL teams . While others have compiled more prodigious statistics , when viewing Brown ' s standing in the game his style of running must be considered along with statistical measures . He was very difficult to tackle ( shown by his leading 5 . 2 yards per carry ) , often requiring more than one person to bring him down . Brown retired after nine seasons as opposed to the all time rushing leader Emmit Smith ' s fourteen and remains the National Football league ' s ninth all - time leading rusher . Brown is still the Cleveland Browns all - time leading rusher . Acting career . Brown began an acting career before the 1964 season , playing a Buffalo Soldier in a western action film called " Rio Conchos " . The film premiered at Cleveland ' s Hippodrome theater on October 23 , with Brown and many of his teammates in attendance . The reaction was lukewarm . Brown , one reviewer said , was a serviceable actor , but the movie ' s overcooked plotting and implausibility amounted to " a vigorous melodrama for the unsqueamish . " In early 1966 Brown was shooting his second film in London . " The Dirty Dozen " cast Brown as Robert Jefferson , a convict sent to France during World War II to assassinate German officers meeting at a castle near Rennes in Brittany before the D - Day invasion . Production delays due to bad weather meant he would miss at least the first part of training camp on the campus of Hiram College , which annoyed Modell , who threatened to fine Brown $ 1 , 500 for every week of camp he missed . Brown , who had previously said that 1966 would be his last season , announced his retirement instead . At the end of his nine - year career , Brown held records for most rushing yards in a game , a season and a career . He also owned the record for all - purpose yards in a career and best average per carry for a running back at 5 . 22 yards , a mark that still stands . Brown went on to play a villain in a 1967 episode of " I Spy " called " Cops and Robbers " , and appeared in the 1970 movie " . . . tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . " , as well as in numerous other features . Biographer Mike Freeman credits Brown with becoming “ the first black action star ” , thanks to roles like the Marine captain he portrayed in the hit 1968 film " Ice Station Zebra " . In 1969 , Brown starred in " 100 Rifles " with Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch . The film was one of the first to feature an interracial love scene . Raquel Welch reflects on the scene in Spike Lee ' s " " . Brown acted with Fred Williamson in films such as 1974 ' s " Three the Hard Way " , 1975 ' s " Take a Hard Ride " , 1982 ' s " One Down , Two to Go " , 1996 ' s " Original Gangstas " and 2002 ' s " On the Edge " . He also guest - starred in a handful of television episodes of various programs with Williamson . In 1998 , he voiced Butch Meathook in the film " Small Soldiers " . Perhaps Brown ' s most memorable roles were as Robert Jefferson in " The Dirty Dozen " , and in Keenen Ivory Wayans ' 1988 comedy " I ' m Gonna Git You Sucka " . Brown also acted in 1987 ' s " The Running Man " , an adaptation of a Stephen King story , as Fireball . He played a coach in " Any Given Sunday " and also appeared in " Sucker Free City " and " Mars Attacks ! " . Brown appeared in some TV shows including " Knight Rider " in the season 3 premiere episode " Knight of the Drones " . Brown appeared alongside football hero Joe Namath on " The A - Team " episode " Quarterback Sneak " . Personal life . According to a DNA analysis , Brown is descended from ancestors who lived in what is the present day nation of Nigeria . Other post - football activities . Brown served as a color analyst on NFL telecasts for CBS in 1978 , teaming with Vin Scully and George Allen . In 1983 , seventeen years after retiring from professional football , Brown mused about coming out of retirement to play for the Los Angeles Raiders when it appeared that Pittsburgh Steelers running back Franco Harris would break his all - time rushing record . Brown disliked Harris ' style of running , criticizing the Steeler running back ' s tendency to run out of bounds , a marked contrast to Brown ' s approach of fighting for every yard and taking on the oncoming tackler . Eventually , Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears broke the record on October 7 , 1984 , with Brown having ended thoughts of a comeback . Harris himself , who retired after the 1984 season after playing eight games with the Seattle Seahawks , fell short of Brown ' s mark . Brown ' s autobiography was published in 1989 by Zebra Books . It was titled " Out of Bounds " and was co - written with Steve Delsohn . He was a subject of the book " Jim : The Author ' s Self - Centered Memoir of the Great Jim Brown " , by James Toback . In 1993 , Brown was hired as a color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship , a role he occupied for the first six pay - per - view events . In 1988 Brown founded the Amer - I - Can Program . He currently works with kids caught up in the gang scene in Los Angeles and Cleveland through this Amer - I - Can program . It is a life management skills organization that operates in inner cities and prisons . Brown was convicted of misdemeanor vandalism in 1999 for damaging the automobile of his wife , Monique . Rather than participate in domestic violence counseling , community service , and probation , Brown chose instead to serve several months in jail , because , he said , " The conditions of my sentence were ridiculous . " In 2002 , film director Spike Lee released the film " Jim Brown : All - American " ; a retrospective on Brown ' s professional career and personal life . In 2008 , Brown initiated a lawsuit against Sony and EA Sports for using his likeness in the Madden NFL video game series . He claimed that he " never signed away any rights that would allow his likeness to be used " . As of 2008 , Brown was serving as an Executive Advisor to the Cleveland Browns , assisting to build relationships with the team ' s players and to further enhance the NFL ’ s wide range of sponsored programs through the team ' s player programs department . On May 29 , 2013 , Brown was named as a Special Advisor to the Browns . Football accolades . Brown ' s memorable professional career led to his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971 , while " The Sporting News " selected him as the greatest football player of all time . Brown ' s football talents at Syracuse garnered him a berth in the College Football Hall of Fame . Brown also earned a spot in the Lacrosse Hall of Fame , giving him a rare triple crown of sorts as well as being one of the few athletes to be a Hall of Fame member in more than one sport . Brown ’ s claim to the title of greatest running back of all time is supported by statistics . In 118 career games , Brown averaged 104 . 3 yards per game and 5 . 2 yards per carry . None of the NFL ’ s career rushing leaders come close to these spectacular totals . For example , Walter Payton averaged only 88 yards per game during his career with a 4 . 4 yards - per - carry average . Emmitt Smith averaged only 81 . 2 yards per game with a 4 . 2 yards - per - carry average . And Brown has famously said on the subject : " When running backs get in a room together , they don ' t argue about who is the best . " The only top - ten all - time rusher who even approaches Brown ’ s totals , Barry Sanders , posted a career average of 99 . 8 yards per game and 5 . 0 yards per carry . However , Barry Sanders ’ father , William , was frequently quoted as saying that Jim Brown was “ the best I ’ ve ever seen . ” On November 4 , 2010 , Brown was chosen by NFL Network ' s NFL Films production as the second greatest player in NFL history .