Happy 75th Birthday Jim Brown

James Nathaniel Brown was born on February 17, 1936 on St. Simons Island, Georgia, U.S.A. Jim’s father was a boxer while his mother worked as a housekeeper. At the age of eight he moved to Manhasset, New York. Brown attended Manhasset Secondary School where he earned 13 letters in lacrosse, baseball, basketball, and track. Jim attended Syracuse University where he became an All-American football player. He also continued to play lacrosse, basketball and track. After college Jim played professional football for the Cleveland Browns where he set NFL records for most yards in a single season and in a career, before retiring at the age of 29. He then became an actor appearing in such action films as “Rio Conchos” (1964), “The Dirty Dozen” (1967) and “...tick...tick...tick” (1970). During his film career he appeared in four Euro-westerns, “100 Rifles”, “El Condor” both in 1969, “Take a Hard Ride” (1975) and “Kid Vengeance” (1977). Brown has continued to appear in films, now only occasionally, with his last appearance being in 2010's “Dream Street”. Jim was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1971 and The Sporting News named him the greatest football player of All-Time. He was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1983. Jim spends most of his time working with gang intervention programs. Today we celebrate Jim Brown’s 75th birthday.