Iconic NFL Player, Actor, Activist Jim Brown, Dies

NFL Hall of Famer, film star and civil rights activist Jim Brown has died at the age of 87, according to his family.

Brown is arguably considered the greatest running back in the history of the NFL, having won the league’s rushing title eight of the nine years he played in the league during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Brown won the NFL MVP award in 1965 and led the Cleveland Browns to an NFL title in 1964. He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1971.

Brown was also a staunch supporter of the Civil Rights movement and worked to create economic development in poor neighborhoods during the 1960s and early 1970s.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a Tweet Friday that Brown was “one of the most dominant players to ever step on any athletic field” as well as a cultural figure who helped promote change.

“During his nine-year NFL career, which coincided with the civil rights movement here at home, he became a forerunner and role model for athletes being involved in social initiatives outside their sport. He inspired fellow athletes to make a difference, especially in the communities in which they lived,” Goodell added in the tweet.

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Brown retired from the NFL in 1965 at the age of 30 to become an actor, appearing in more than 30 movies including The Dirty Dozen, Three The Hard Way, Any Given Sunday, Mars Attacks! and I’m Gonna Git You Sucker. He also appeared in such TV shows as The A-Team, Knight Rider, and T.J. Hooker.