On Thursday night, Jim Brown, one of the true greats in NFL history and in life in general, passed away at the age of 87.
Many of today’s fans weren’t around to see him play during his career, which began in 1957 and lasted through the 1965 season, and have only statistics and short, grainy film clips to go on.
Nevertheless, the league created an award a few months ago to ensure that his legacy would live on forever.
This created the “Jim Brown Award”, which is given annually to the league leader in rushing yards and was awarded to Josh Jacobs of the Las Vegas Raiders for the 2022 campaign.
Jim Brown was in attendance at the NFL Honors in February, when the league created the “Jim Brown Award”, which will be given each year to the league leader in rushing yards.
His legacy will live on forever.pic.twitter.com/8K9S033Wwt
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) May 19, 2023
Some seek to downplay Brown’s achievements because he played during the league’s embryonic era, but they speak for themselves.
He led the league in rushing yards in all but one of his nine seasons, and he finished with 12,312 rushing yards and 106 rushing touchdowns in 118 games.
Brown was under 1,000 rushing yards in just two seasons (he came close to 996 yards in 1962), and he went over 1,400 yards five times and 1,500 yards twice.
His numbers are even more impressive considering that NFL seasons were short in their day (the league didn’t expand to a 16-game schedule until 1978).
He is still the only person to average at least 100 rushing yards a game for his entire career, and he also added 2,499 yards and 20 touchdowns in the air.
Off the field, Brown appeared in several films, and he was also a civil rights pioneer who influenced positive change for the African-American community.
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