Damn

Jim Brown has died at the age of 87.

In addition to being the greatest football player ever, and the greatest lacrosse player ever, he was a labor activist for football players and a civil rights leader.

Jim Brown, who was often called the greatest football player of his time but who gave up the sport at the peak of his career in the 1960s, declaring himself a “highly paid, over-glamorized gladiator,” and turned instead to acting and activism, died May 18 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 87.

His wife, Monique Brown, announced the death in an Instagram post but did not cite a cause.

Mr. Brown was one of the most gifted all-around athletes of the past century. He excelled in lacrosse, basketball, and track and field and was virtually unstoppable during his nine years as a powerhouse fullback with the Cleveland Browns in the 1950s and ’60s.

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At 6-foot-2 and about 230 pounds, Mr. Brown had an unmatched blend of strength and speed that enabled him to lead the NFL in rushing in eight of his nine years with the Browns. When he retired after the 1965 season, his 12,312 career rushing yards were a record that would stand for 19 years, until Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears broke it. Mr. Brown ran for more than 1,000 yards in a season seven times, and his 1,863 rushing yards in 1963 stood as the NFL record until surpassed by the Buffalo Bills’ O.J. Simpson 10 years later.

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Mr. Brown never missed a game in his nine-year career and is the only player in NFL history to average more than 100 yards rushing per game — 104.3, to be exact.

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Mr. Brown excelled in basketball and track and field and once finished fifth in a national decathlon competition. He was an all-American lacrosse player at Syracuse and was named to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1983, 12 years before he was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

We will not see his like again.