Jim Brown

For all of my adult life I have told people that my love for football began at the age of ten and was initiated by Jim Brown.

Jim played in the NFL from 1957 through 1965. I'm pretty sure my love of football did not begin at the age of 3. I'm guessing 10 because that would have been in 1964 and seems reasonable. But, who knows, I could have been 8, 9, 10 or 11. The important thing is I remember watching football with my father and I remember being blown away by Jim Brown.

Jim Brown did ignite my love for football. About that there is no doubt.

I was working a show last night. There is a lot of down time when working a show - it's a stupid job. I found out about Jim Brown's death while I was killing time online. I got tears in my eyes. I had to fight them back because customers don't respect tears.

There are many people I admire, people who have had some impact on my life. And then there are THE inspirations - a relatively short list that I won't go into here because it doesn't matter. They only matter to me.

Jim was on the short list. 

I remember him blowing through tacklers in Gronk-like fashion, except Jim was 6 ft 2 inches and 232 pounds. Gronk is 6 ft 6 inches and 265 pounds. Watch the footage - Jim was brutal and graceful at the same time. And he took his own sweet time getting up off the ground. He did it to conserve energy.

I believe my love of hockey and football are built around an appreciation for the delicate balance between violence and gracefulness. That started with Jim Brown.

He was arrested seven times for assault, mainly against women. He was charged with assault to commit murder, he was accused of rape, he was charged with making terrorist threats against his wife, Monique. He was not found guilty of any of these charges. However it would be naive to think he was "innocent." 

He was found guilty of beating and choking his golfing partner, Frank Snow. He was found guilty of vandalism for smashing his wife's car with a shovel. 

Jim Brown was one of a very few athletes who spoke out about racial issues in the 1950's, and was one of the most prominant African American athletes to engage in civil rights activism. He had balls. He did not take shit from anyone and demanded to be treated as a man, not a "black" man. He was a member of the Cleveland Summit in 1967 - along with Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Carl Stokes; they met with Muhammad Ali to gain support for and to recruit others to help Ali's cause of civil rights in this country. In 1988 he founded the Amer-I-Can Foundation, with the goal of diverting gang members and prisoners from violence by teaching them life skills.

He had an acting career that spanned from 1964 to 2019.

I'm getting kind of wordy, aren't I? Trying to make a point. Jim Brown was a human being. A complicated man who was exceptional at many things; he could also be an asshole.

He made an impression on me as a young boy, and inspired my love of one of the very few things that keeps me alive, that makes me feel.

That is how I will always remember him.

Requiescat in pace, Jim Brown.