Moment 4: The end of an era

12.26.2006

Former Browns running back Jim Brown has always been his own man. He walks to a beat that is uniquely his.

So it's not surprising, then, that the Pro Football Hall of Famer's retirement from the NFL was -- well, different.

It was summer 1966 and the start of training camp was fast approaching. But Brown, the best player in the game then and probably the best player in the game ever, was nowhere to be found.

He hadn't been around the team since the end of the 1965 season, a 23-12 loss at Green Bay in the NFL Championship Game. Instead, Brown was over in Europe pursuing his movie career with a role in "The Dirty Dozen."

But when camp began, would Brown be back with the team, or would he retire? Nobody knew for sure.

Word finally came on July 14, just three days before the start of camp, when, in a press conference in London, of all places, Brown announced that he was quitting the game. Instead of being the leading man in Cleveland, he was going to try to be a leading man in Hollywood even though, at age 30 and at the peak of his playing career, he no doubt had a lot of football left in him.

But Brown, a perceptive man who has always had the ability to think "out of the box," so to speak, told Browns management not to worry. He assured them that a third-year pro from tiny Morgan State -- a man who had distinguished himself only on punt returns the previous two seasons for the Browns -- would do fine as a fill-in. He was right, for Leroy Kelly did indeed end up following Brown into the Hall of Fame.

Nonetheless, Brown's retirement signified the end of an era, a demarcation point in the history of the Browns -- just as did Otto Graham's second and "final" retirement following the 1955 season, Paul Brown's firing following the '62 campaign, Lou Groza's retirement at the end of  '67, Brian Sipe's decision after '83 to sign with the USFL and Bernie Kosar being cut midway through '93.

Brown had destroyed every NFL rushing record. He exited as the league's all-time leading rusher with 12,312 yards after just nine seasons, averaging 5.2 yards per carry. He had rushed for 1,000 yards in all but two of those seasons, missing by just four yards in 1962 when he had 996, and by only 58 yards in his rookie season of 1957 when he had 942.

Those efforts, which, by the way, came in a 12-game schedule for the first four years of his career, were nonetheless outstanding, but in his other seasons, his production was even better. It was, in fact, off the charts.

In 1958, Brown ran for an NFL-record 1,527 yards and averaged 5.9 yards a try. He obliterated the old mark of 1,146 by the Philadelphia Eagles' Steve Van Buren in 1949 by a whopping 479 yards.

In 1959, he had 1,329 yards -- the second-biggest total in league history at the time -- and a 4.6 average.

The third-best effort in NFL annals to that time came with Brown's 1,257 yards in 1960, when his average was 5.8.

In 1961, Brown's 1,408 yards took over second place. He had a 4.6 average for the second time in three years.

Then in 1963, Brown out-did even himself, missing duplicating the "year" of his feat by just one number when he ran for a record 1,863 yards. It wasn't until Buffalo Bills Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson went for 2,003 in 1973 that the mark was broken. In addition, his average was an equally staggering 6.4.

Brown's 1,446 yards in 1964 displaced his 1961 total and took over third place. He also averaged 5.2.

Finally, in what would be his swan-song season of 1965, he ran for 1,544, which usurped his 1958 effort for No. 2 in league history to that time. On top of that, his average of 5.3 was his fourth-best mark.

He rushed for 100 yards or more in a game 58 times, and went for 200 or more on four occasions. His 237 yards against the Los Angeles Rams in 1957 -- and repeated against the Philadelphia Eagles in 1961 -- stood as the NFL record until 1971 when the Los Angeles Rams' Willie Ellison went for 247.

It should be noted that Buffalo's Cookie Gilchrist had 243 in 1963, but the Bills were part of the AFL at the time so it did not become part of the NFL record books until the merger between the two leagues was completed in 1970. 

Brown, though, didn't amass only yards. He also amassed touchdowns. On three occasions -- 1958, '59 and 63 -- he led the league in TDs, tying him with San Diego Chargers wide receiver Lance Alworth and Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith for most times atop the NFL in TDs.

Brown's list of accomplishments goes on and on and on. They could fill up this website for days.

He had a rare combination of speed, power and durability. He could out-run most defenders. He could also power through the majority of them.

And he never missed as much as a series, let alone a game.

So in short, then, he was the closest thing to Superman in shoulder pads the NFL had seen -- or has seen since.

Brown's last regular-season game was 41 years and one week ago, on Dec. 19, 1965 against the St. Louis Cardinals in the final football game ever played in the original Busch Stadium, formerly known as Sportsman's Park.

The Cardinals were the Browns' biggest rivals at that time, taking over that moniker after the New York Giants got old all at one time in 1964 and plummeted from first to worst in the Eastern Conference. After finishing 9-5 and in third place in the East in 1963, a game behind 10-4 Cleveland, the Cards had finished 9-3-2 in the Browns' last NFL championship season of 1964, just missing tying 10-3-1 Cleveland for first place in the East despite beating them and tying them in the two meetings.

Then in the second week of 1965, the Cards went to Cleveland and pulled a real stunner, crushing the defending champions 49-13. It was the most points given up by the Browns in four years, and their most lopsided loss in six seasons.

The Cards felt during this time they were better than the Browns. They just couldn't prove it over the long haul, but that 36-point win was still greatly satisfying.

By the time the teams met in the 1965 regular-season finale, the Cards' season had soured badly. Using the win at Cleveland as the springboard, they had started 4-1 but then went 1-7 to stand 5-8. The 10-3 Browns had clinched the Eastern title several weeks before and were merely playing out the string, waiting to see who -- the Packers or Baltimore Colts -- they would meet in the title game.

The Browns had gone through the motions in a 42-7 loss to the Rams in Los Angeles the previous week, but there would be none of that against the Cardinals. They felt they had a score to settle. Head coach Blanton Collier wouldn't need a pep talk to get his men ready to play.

As for the Cards, they didn't want just a season series sweep over the Browns. They also wanted to embarrass them, and the best way to do that was to go after their best and most high-profile player, Brown.

So Joe Robb, a good but not great defensive end, acted as the sacrificial lamb, picking a fight with Brown that got both of them ejected from the game. The Cards missed Robb, but the Browns obviously missed Brown a lot more. So St. Louis won by plenty in that exchange.

Still, Brown and the Browns got the last laugh when they eked out a 27-24 win.

Then at Green Bay in the championship game two weeks later, Brown and the speedy, athletic Browns were slowed by a muddy, slippery field as the result of an overnight snowfall. He was held to 50 yards in 12 carries, which symbolized the Browns' lack of offensive production in the 11-point defeat.

No one knew at the time that that would be Brown's last game in a Cleveland uniform (he would play for the East squad in the Pro Bowl two weeks later and be named the game's Outstanding Back).

The next time Browns fans would see Brown on TV would be in the movies.