Cleveland Browns icon Jim Brown leaves behind a complicated legacy

Cleveland Browns legend Jim Brown passes away.

Jim Brown, the former Cleveland Browns running back, has passed away at the age of 87. His wife, Monique, posted the news about his passing on Instagram saying he “passed peacefully”.  The post would later go on to describe Brown as an “activist, actor, and football star”, before going to on describe him as a “wonderful husband, father, and grandfather.”

To most fans, Brown is an NFL legend and was the All-Time leading rusher until Walter Payton broke it in the 1980s. He still holds the Browns’ All-Time franchise rushing title, with 12,312 yards. Nick Chubb, the only active Browns player in the Top 10 in franchise rushing yards, is only at 6,341 yards for his career with Cleveland.

Brown’s skills as an athlete were unparalleled for a long time, matching his success on the football field at Syracuse, where he went to college, with an equally impressive run with the Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse team.

Due to his two-sport success, many have come to see him as one of the greatest collegiate athletes of all time, and his impact on football is so profound, that he was named the No. 1 college football player of all time by Sporting News in 2002.

Beyond his play on the field, Brown was a regular actor as well. He appeared in movies like The Dirty Dozen, Mars Attacks, and Small Soldiers, while also appearing in television shows like Knight Rider, CHIPS, I Spy, and T.J. Hooker.

Jim Brown leaves behind a complicated history off the field

On the field, Brown did what few could. His impact on the game is beyond impactful and can never be taken away from him, yet off the field, he cut a very complicated path.

Renowned for his work for the civil rights movement, he would go on to create the Amer-I-Can program, which was made to help gang members get out of their lives and become active members of society.

Sadly, with all the good Brown did on and off the field, his numerous run in’s with the law will forever muddy his reputation.

Starting in 1965, Brown stood trial for the sexual assault of a then-18-year-old woman but was found not guilty. In 1968 he was accused of throwing a model from a balcony, but she claims she “tripped”. In 1969 Brown was accused but later acquitted of assaulting a man after a traffic accident. In 1971, Brown was accused of beating two women and then throwing them down a flight of stairs, but the charges were later dropped due to a “lack of witnesses”.

In 1975 he was found guilty of assaulting a golfing partner. In 1985 he was once again arressted after assaulting a woman, this time with charges of rape, sexual battery, and assault, though the charges were dropped. In 1986 he was once again arrested, this time for allegedly beating his then-fiance. In 1989, Brown wrote a book in which he admitted to slapping women, including the model in 1968 who “fell” out of the window.

Then in 1999, he was arrested for making terrorist threats against Monique and as well as vandalism to her property. In the 9-1-1 call that Monique placed, she accused Brown of threatening to kill her. Brown would then be found guilty of smashing his wife’s car windows with a shovel and was ordered to attend domestic violence counseling due to his guilty verdict. In 2000 would be sentenced to serve six months in jail for failure to attend those domestic violence counseling appointments.

In 2009, Brown would later call the domestic violence counseling “undignified” and instead would rather be in jail.