Jim Brown wasn’t just a great football player. He was one of the greatest athletes to ever live

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Jim Brown dominated any sport that he played.

The late Pro Football Hall of Famer, who died at the age of 87 on Thursday, was most gifted at football, but he wreaked havoc on any court or field where he stepped foot. You can’t talk about Brown as a football player without talking about Brown as a basketball, baseball, lacrosse and track and field star.

Those closest to Brown from his days at Manhasset High School in Long Island, New York, from 1950 to 1954, knew and saw that Brown was destined for greatness.

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According to The Long Island Weekly, Brown already stood large at a freshman at Manhasset, standing 6-feet tall and weighing a muscular 174 pounds. The eventual 6-2, 230-pound Brown would show off his skills as a pitcher before gaining the attention of scouts from the nearby New York Yankees.

He never gave so much attention to one sport that it took away his success from the other. Brown was just as skilled of a center lineman in lacrosse and as fast as they came on the track. He remains the greatest athlete to ever step foot at Manhasset High School to this day after earning 13 letters in five different sports.

Manhasset was only the springboard for Brown’s athletic greatness.

NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown through the years as a player

Syracuse University soon received arguably the best athlete to ever don any Orange uniform. There’s no questioning the fact that Brown was the greatest in school history. He earned letters in football, basketball, lacrosse and track. But it was the gridiron where Brown’s legacy shined the brightest.

Brown still ranks in the top five all time for several single-season records at Syracuse, including total yards per game (123.3), yards per carry (6.24), touchdowns (13) and 100-yard games (seven). His best season came in his senior season in 1956 when he rushed for a then-NCAA record 986 yards and 13 touchdowns, which was even more impressive given he did it in an eight-game season.

And he was a place-kicker.

And a kickoff returner.

Those efforts made him the first unanimous All-American in Syracuse history after leading Syracuse to a memorable Cotton Bowl where it fell just short to TCU. At that point, how could you not name Brown not just the greatest Syracuse athlete, but the greatest college football player of all time?

A committee of 150 college football writers, players and coaches agreed, which is why in 2020 they voted Brown the greatest college football player of all time.

Brown is also currently in the Lacrosse Hall of Fame. He scored 43 goals in his senior year at Syracuse. In fact, he was so good at lacrosse that the rules were changed to require players to keep their lacrosse sticks in constant motion when they had the ball. The rule still stands today. He also finished in fifth place in the decathalon of the 1955 NCAA Track and Field Championships.

That’s not even the good part.

The late Jim Brown is still considered one of the greatest NFL stars of all-time. AP

After the Cleveland Browns selected Brown sixth overall in the 1957 NFL Draft, he went on to accomplish some feats that no running back or NFL player have ever come close to matching. For starters, he was named league MVP in his rookie season.

Yes, his rookie season. He was the first and still the only rookie to ever accomplish such a feat. Legendary head coach Paul Brown didn’t normally play rookies, but he made an exception with Brown.

That was the first of three league MVP honors for Brown. In nine NFL seasons with Browns, he led the league in rushing eight times and was named to the All-NFL team and Pro Bowl every season. Before Brown hung his cleats up, he set the then-NFL record for rushing yards (12,312), combined net yards (15,459) and rushing touchdowns (106).

Calling Brown tough is a literal understatement. He didn’t a miss a single game in nine seasons despite receiving crushing blows and hits from hard-nose defenses at the time. That kind of toughness made him both feared and respected by his opponents. The NFL named him to its 50th, 75th and 100th anniversary teams.

Being labeled as the greatest of all-time in any singular sport or for any team is the most difficult feat for any athlete to accomplish. Brown is the greatest Cleveland Brown, Syracuse and Manhasset High School star of all time, so he’s got three different teams crossed on his list.

Quite the trifecta.

Whether or not Brown is the greatest NFL player of all time is a much more challenging debate, but, at the very least, one could argue he was the greatest player from his generation.

So, saying that Brown is one of the greatest athletes of all time shouldn’t be complicated. He may even be the greatest athlete to ever live.

For more on Jim Brown, click here.

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