Jim Brown
Teams
Cleveland Browns (1957-1965)
Playoffs
Appearances - 4 (1957,1958,1964,1965)
Conf Champ Games - 4 (1957,1958,1964,1965)
Champ Games - 3 (1957,1964,1965)
Championships - 1 (1964)
Awards and Honors
Rookie of the Year - 1957
MVP - 4 (1957,1958,1963,1965)
All-Pro First Team - 8 (1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1963,1964,1965)
Pro Bowl - 9 (1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965)
Hall of Fame - 1971
All-Time Ranks
Rushing Yards per Game - #1
Rushing Touchdowns - #6
Yards per Rush - #8
Total Touchdowns - #10
Rushing Yards - #11
Scrimmage Yards - #28
Yards per Touch - #90
League Leads
Rushing Yards (#1-1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1963,1964,1965, #4-1962)
Rushing Touchdowns (#1-1957,1958,1959,1963,1965, #3-1960,1961,1962,1964)
Yards per Rush (#1-1963,1964, #2-1960,1965, #4-1957,1958, #8-1959, #9-1962, #10-1961)
Rushing Yards per Game (#1-1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1963,1964,1965, #4-1962)
Total Touchdowns (#1-1958,1959,1963, #2-1957,1962,1965, #6-1960, #8-1961, #10-1964)
Scrimmage Yards (#1-1958,1959,1961,1963,1964,1965, #2-1960,1962, #4-1957)
Yards per Touch (#2-1963, #5-1960, #6-1965, #7-1962,1964, #8-1958)
Jim Brown ran for 986 yards and 13 touchdowns in 8 games as a senior at Syracuse, which got him 5th place in the Heisman voting, and the #6 pick in the 1957 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns.
As a rookie, Brown led the NFL in rushing yards with 942 and rushing touchdowns with 9, and set a new record for most yards in a game, with 237. That record stood for 14 years, and it was still the rookie record for 40 years. At the end of the season, he was voted both Rookie of the Year and MVP. He took Cleveland to the championship game that year, but his 69 yards and a touchdown weren't enough to overcome a powerful Lions team.
The next year, he destroyed the old record for rushing yards in a season, finishing with 1527 to break Steve Van Buren's old record of 1146. He also scored 17 touchdowns that year and had 1665 yards from scrimmage, both also tops in the league. He ended the season with his second straight MVP award.
Brown continued to dominate the next year, winning his third straight rushing title with 1329 yards, and again leading the league in touchdowns and scrimmage yards, but he ended up as the MVP runner-up instead of winning it like the previous 2 seasons.
Brown led the league in rushing yards in each of the next 2 seasons as well, giving him 5 in a row to start his career. In addition, he finished with 1867 scrimmage yards in 1961, becoming the first player ever to reach 1800, but Cleveland missed the playoffs for the third year in a row.
1962 was the aberration in Brown's career. He finished with only 996 rushing yards, failing to win the rushing title for the first and only time, but he still managed to pick up 13 touchdowns and make his 6th straight Pro Bowl.
He was back in top form for 1963, when he set new records for rushing yards and scrimmage yards in a season, with 1863 and 2131, respectively. He also led the league in rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns again, averaged 6.4 yards per carry, the first time he topped the league in that category, won another MVP, and finished with an average of 133.1 yards per game, which has only been surpassed by OJ Simpson in his 2000 yard season.
He won his 7th rushing title in 1964 with 1446 yards, and again had the best average per carry and the most scrimmage yards in the league. He finally led the Browns back to the playoffs, and he picked up 151 yards in the championship game as the Browns dominated the Colts 27-0 to earn Brown his first championship.
Brown began acting before the 1964 season, and continued after the championship run. He came back to win an 8th rushing title in 1965, with another 1544 yards, plus 17 touchdowns, his 5th time leading the league. He also led the league in scrimmage yards for the 6th time, and won his 4th MVP. He took Cleveland back to the championship game, but they fell to the Packers 23-12.
Brown missed training camp in 1966 due to filming a movie, and when he was threatened with a fine for missing camp, he decided to retire to focus on acting. He was still only 30 years old, and was by far the best player in the league, but he was able to retire without ever having missed a game due to injury for another lucrative career.
When he retired, Brown was the all-time leader in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns, scrimmage yards, and yards in a season. Those records have all since been broken, but many stood for decades before falling. He led the league in rushing yards in 8 of his 9 seasons, and is the only player to average over 100 rushing yards per game over his entire career. He is the greatest running back to ever play the game.
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