Sad. NFL legend Jim Brown passes away at age 87.
RIP
Sad. NFL legend Jim Brown passes away at age 87.
RIP
"He’s a genius of professional football," Brown said in a Fox News interview on Friday. "He’s got the best mind in the game. He’s a great humanitarian. He comes off quirky sometimes because he’s mentally—so extreme. I love him."
"Well, I honestly think any person, football player or otherwise, can learn a lot from Jim Brown and what he represents and what he stands for," Belichick said. "But particularly as it relates to our football team, Jim Brown is, in my opinion, the greatest player that ever played. I got an opportunity to know him and have known Jim for over 20 years now, since when I was the coach of the Browns. I just have so much more respect and appreciation for him, knowing him well as a person and as a friend than I did as just an observer from a distance.
"But he's meant so much to this game, he's paved the way for all of us, players and coaches, particularly he's one of many people [who've made] professional football, the game of football, the great game that it is. I just felt like it was an opportunity for us as a team, after the game, to recognize and pay tribute to Jim and all that he stands for both in and out of football, but in particular what he has meant to the game of football and how much he's done for the game, which means for all of us.
"That statue was recently put there. It's kind of remarkable that it hadn't happened sooner, but regardless, I'm not sure how many of our players really, really understand or appreciate what he meant to the game and what he has meant to the game through his continued involvement. Not only with football but with young football players, be they Browns players or just other youth that he interacts with -- primarily on the West Coast, but as we know, he's been involved with projets through his Amer-I-Can program throughout the country, which I've been very fortunate to witness and be a small part of.
I so remember how, at the end of a very physical run , he would fight to the bitter end before going down. Then he would slowly get up and slowly, seemingly barely able to walk, he'd stagger until he finally goy back to the huddle. He would then, next play, take the hand off and run over, under, around and through six defenders for 23 yards, go down, get up and stagger back to the huddle, again, seemingly on the verge of Death.My 1st football idol. Back in the day when I was a kid, before the Patriots, I was a Browns fan because of Jim.
Just imagine Jim and Ernie Davis in the same backfield.
RIP, great one.
“Let me tell you about someone I do admire. Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots has contributed more to the work I surround myself with than any black athlete in modern times--financially, intellectually, everyway. He's been in the prisons with me. He's met gang members in my home; he's met gang members in Cleveland [where Belichick coached the Browns from 1991 to '95]. He's put up money. He's opened up areas of education for us very quietly and very strongly. Imagine what would happen if Michael Jordan did the same thing.”
-Jim Brown on Bill Belichick, April 2002.