Jim Brown, football great, actor and civil rights activist, dies

Former Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown attends a 2019 game between the Browns and the Rams in Cleveland. A multi-talented athlete cast in the mold of the legendary Jim Thorpe — he’s in three halls of fame — Jim Brown was best known as a football player. You just didn’t know if you were going to get a big collision or be grabbing at his shoelaces.” And, said John Mackey — who, like Brown, played his college football at Syracuse and then went on to a 10-year career as a tight end for the Baltimore Colts and San Diego Chargers — “He told me, ‘Make sure when anyone tackles you he remembers how much it hurts.’” Football, though, was just one of the athletic things Brown did well. He finished his collegiate career at Syracuse with 2,091 yards and 26 touchdowns, and the Syracuse Carrier Dome has an 800-square-foot tapestry showing Brown in football and lacrosse uniforms, identifying him as “Greatest Player Ever.” His statue stands outside Cleveland’s FirstEnergy Stadium. But we must Regina King’s “One Night in Miami” does not explore the multiple domestic violence charges later brought against NFL great Jim Brown.