Born: February 17, 1936, St. Simons, GA

Education: Manhasset Secondary School, Manhasset, NY; Syracuse University, athletic scholarship, B.A., 1957

Sports Illustrated (1994) called Brown one of America's greatest athletes. A Cleveland Browns draftee (1957), among the pioneer black players in the National Football League (NFL), he is, to some sports writers, the best-ever pro fullback. Brown is honored in the College Football and NFL halls of fame.

He retired from the Browns in 1965, after nine pro-bowl seasons and at the zenith of his career, to pursue acting. He appeared in more than twenty television and Hollywood films, notably westerns such as Rio Conchos (1964) and The Dirty Dozen (1967). Usually cast as a strong man or running hero, he sometimes played roles involving interaction with white women (then racially sensitive). He also produced a few feature films, but with little success.

Brown believed that African American professional athletes should be role models in and “give back” to their communities. During the Black Power era and afterward, he worked for community development and reform. In 1986 he founded Vital Issues, Plus, which reached out to urban gangs and ex-convicts. Its core mission was to help them finish high school and get jobs. Reorganized as Amer-I-Can in 1989, it served the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Brown hosted workshops for participants at his home.