James Joseph Brown Jr

Brown, regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time, died at age 87 on May 18. He played nine seasons for the Cleveland Browns between 1957 and 1965 and led the league for rushing for eight of those, rushing 12,312 yards and holding a 5.2 yards per carry average over his career. He led the team to an NFL Championship victory in 1964 before retiring the next year to turn to acting. He has more than 50 credits as an actor, according to IMDB, and led such films as 100 Rifles (1969) with Racquel Welch who also died this year in which they performed one of the first interracial love scenes. Brown was also known as a civil rights advocate: In 1988, he founded Amer I Can, a foundation aiming to stop gang violence in inner cities and give young Black people better economic opportunities. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971, his first year of eligibility. To the world he was an activist, actor and football star. To our family, he was a loving and wonderful husband, father, and grandfather, his wife, Monique Brown, wrote in an Instagram post announcing his death. The Cleveland Browns paid tribute to Brown on Twitter, stating: “We mourn his passing, but celebrate the indelible light he brought to the world.”