JIM BROWN IS THE GREATEST RUNNING BACK TO EVER PLAY IN THE NFL–-BAR NONE!

Jim Brown died on May 3, 2023 at his home in Los Angeles, he was 87 years-old.

In an interview with legendary NBA Coach, Red Auerbach, he said, “Whenever the conversation comes up regarding the greatest all-around athlete, two names always led the discussion, Jim Brown and Jackie Robinson.”

I met Jim my freshman year at Winston State University aka Teachers College in 1960 in Winston Salem, NC. He was the guest speaker for our athletic banquest. The late Coach Clarence ‘Bighouse’ Gaines made the banquet off limits to all freshman athletes. I showed up anyway.

Jim had just signed on with Pepsi-Cola as a promotional rep and he was touring the country, telling anyone who would listen, Pepsi was the best.

MY FIRST AND LAST AUTOGRAPH FROM A PRO ATHLETE!

When I hear vocalist Bob Seager’s classic “Running Against the Wind” I think of Jim Brown. He ran against the wind on the biggest stage available, The Game Called Life. He carried his act from Solomon’s Island in South Carolina to the University of Syracuse, to the NFL and on to Hollywood, never saying, “I am sorry.”

I was an off and on friend of his for over 60 years “I am sorry” was not a part of his vocabulary.

Legendary jazz crooner, Frank Sinatra was not the only one to do it “My Way”! Jim Brown once said, “I do what I want, when I want!”

Jim Brown was a complicated and complex human being. He definely marched to his own drum beat. I was an eye witness up close and personal to his Good, Bad and Ugly ways for over 60 years.

There were times I had to wear my “Peace Maker Hat” to squash beefs he was having with his peers and they always seen to be other great running backs, two of them were friends of mine.

First, meet Avatus Stone a native Washingtonian and one of the greatest all-around athletes to ever come out of DC.

THE GREAT AVATUS STONE

He was a standout athlete from Armstrong High School in NW Washington D.C. Avatus lettered in football, basketball and baseball. He entered Syracuse in 1949 to become the first black player during the era of Coach Ben Schwartzwalder.

Avatue Stone was a standout quarterback, defensive back and punter. He was a force on the Syracuse squad in 1950, his first season. Although newspaper accounts described his play as “erratic” there is no denying he was a dangerous player when he was on his game.

Another native Washingtonian Wilmet-Sedat Singh was the first black QB to play for Syracuse in the 1930s.

Against Rutgers in the 1950 season, Avatus boomed a 67-yard punt that stood as a school record for decades. Another Syracuse record was set against Penn State when he grabbed three interceptions – running one back 98 yards for a touchdown and another 85 yards to score. Only two other players have tied that single game total, Tommy Meyers in 1970 and Markus Paul in 1985.

Avatus returned to Syracuse in 1951, starting quarterback Pete Stark suffered a broken leg, Avatus was moved to the position making him the only black QB for a major college team that season.

The Orangemen promptly went on to win three of the final four contests that season. Avatus threw a school record three touchdowns against Fordham and his 25.9 yards per completion that day remains 7th in the Syracuse record book.

With all these achievements he was expected to have a stellar senior season in 1952. But two days before the first game he tore the ligaments in his knee in practice and missed the entire season.

When Syracuse announced the roster for the Orange Bowl game, it was legit there were no black players on the Syracuse roster when the University of Alabama barred any black players to play against them in the Orange Bowl in 1952.

AVATUS STONE WAS DOWN BUT NOT OUT IN 1952

Integration came slowly to Syracuse from Wilmet-Sedat Singh in the 30s to Avatus Stone and Jim Brown in the 50s. The Syracuse football team in 1950 was not equal for black players. Avatus was not allowed to eat or room with white teammates and the coaching staff barred him from fraternizing with white co-eds (who he reportedly dated while at school). When Stone lashed out against these prohibitions he was labeled a “troublemaker.”

Due to untimely injuries, Avatus never reached his full college potential. He was drafted by the NFL St. Louis Cardinals in 1953. He reported to the Cardinal’s camp and two weeks later disappeared. He was found in the Canadian League with the Ottawa Rough Riders. It was rumored the Rough Riders gave his mother $2,000 to come to Canada.

The Cardinals threaten to sue, all of the threats and posturing between the two clubs never materialized in a lawsuit. Avatus remained with the Rough Riders and enjoyed a fruitful season in 1953, finishing among the league leaders in rushing, scoring, pass interceptions, punting, and kickoff returns.

He played in the Canadian league through 1957, was twice named to the All-Star team. In 1955 he received the Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy as the Most Outstanding Player in the Eastern Division.

Avatus Stone was last seen in 1958 in the camp of the NFL Baltimore Colts. He played in one game and disappeared again for the last time.

I first met Avatus in the early 50s in my Parkside Housing Project in NE DC. The brothers from the housing project would meet after school on an empty lot and play tackle football behind a DGS Food Store.

There was a new middle class apartment complex Mayfair Mansions built directly across the street from my housing project in the 50s.

One evening a mother from Mayfair showed up with her son and left him to join us. It didn’t go well for her son. We roughed him up pretty good and he ran home with tears in his eyes.

The next day she brought the son back again and left him to fend for himself. This time he would return home with a bloody nose. The very next day she returned with him again, but this time Avatus Stone was with them.

Avatus, took charge of the field with pass catching drills and taught us defensive passing skills. The little kid had no more problems from us.

The little kid went on to become a trailbalazing wide receiver for the Naval Academy and the University Maryland in the ACC. His name is Darryl Hill.

The history he never talks about (CRT). He wants us to believe he was a tough guy growing up in NE DC. I know the real deal!

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND TRAILBLAZING PASS CATCHER DARRYL HILL

Avatus and I would later become great friends, his wife Carrie and my wife Hattie were Physical Education teachers at McKinley Tech High School in NE DC. We hung out on his boat on the weekends, and there were the dinner parties at their home in SW DC.

We would talk about his football trials and tribulations at Syracuse, the Canadian League and the NFL, no regrets, except Jim Brown.

He could not figure out why Jim spend his NFL career bad mouthing him about his life on Syracuse Unversity. The problem, Jim was reminded by the Syracuse coaches on his arrival not to be like Avatus Stone “The Original Trouble Maker.”

It was hard for me to believe these two great athletes had never met!

Avatus knew Jim and I were good friends. One day he asked me to set up a meeting for the two of them. No problem, Jim would becoming to DC in a couple of weeks for a fund raiser for my non-profit Kids In Trouble, Inc.

CONGRESSMAN LOU STOKES & JIM BROWN ON THE HILL

The fundraiser would be held at the PIER 7 on the SW Waterfront. I invited Congressman Lou Stokes (D-Ohio) an Vinnie Cohen. Stokes and Jim were good friends during his great playing days in Cleveland and Vinnie was his roommate at Syracuse.

As luck would have it Avatus was now a successful businessman and he was called out of town at the last minute for an important business meeting on the day of the fundraiser. Avatus died a year later–I tried.

I never told Jim, Avatus Stone was scheduled to attend. I was looking forward to making that connection.

Lenny Moore of the Baltimore Colts is considered one of the most electrifying players to ever play in the NFL. The tandrem of QB Johnny Unitas, WR Raymond Berry, TE John Mackey and WR/RB Lenny Moore was considered the most dangerous offense in the entire NFL in the 60s.

Lenny Moore was an All-American at Penn State. In the NFL he played both halfback and flanker/WR. He spend his entire 12 year career with the Baltimore Colts from 1956 to 1967. Lenny’s NFL trademark was the white tape he wore outside of his football cleats during the games (Spats).  He is the only running back in NFL history to score 25 pass catching touchdowns while averaging 50+ yards. He spend his entire professional career giving back to others. Kids In Trouble was one of the benefactors and the Baltimore Juvenile Justice System was the other. Lenny was an officer and a gentleman.

When the Cleveland Browns returned to Baltimore after a 12 year absense it was the homecoming of homecomings. Jim Brown traveled from California to Baltimore to maintain his ties with owner Art Modell.

Lenny Moore made his home in Baltimore after his career was over. He was a fan favorite during and after his playing days. The Baltimore Raven players loved him and confided in him. Jim tried to maintain his locker room presence but found it difficult traveling from California to Baltimore for home games.

He became paranoid about Lenny’s presense in the locker room with the players. According to Lenny, Jim was spreading the word Lenny was telling lies about him to the Raven players.

When Lenny called to ask me to come to Baltimore for lunch, I had no clue that would be about a misunderstanding between him and Jim Brown. Lenny is one of the nicest brothers in pro sports. He was truly a man of integrity. It was an easy truce for me to settle.

It took me several days to catch up with Jim, I told him, “Lenny Moore would never say anything negative about you to anyone. He loves you like a brother.”

Evidently, he took my advice to call Lenny and straighten things out. Lenny called me several days later to say Jim had called and claimed it was all a misunderstanding and he apologize. Usually, when there were misunderstanings, it was never his. Lenny Moore is a jewel of a man!

I introduced the University of Maryland All-American running back Lamont Jordan to Lenny at one of my Kids In Trouble Christmas toy parties at Union Station. Lenny told him, ” If you need any advice heading into the NFL, I am just a telephone call away in Baltimore”.

Jordan was drafted by the New York Jets and later signed a multi-million dollar contract with the Oakland Raiders. He squandered millions of dollars away on drugs and prositutes listening to John Thompson and Doc Walker. Lenny was just a telephone call away. Sad to say, “A fool and his money were soon parted”, Jordan returned home a broken man.

UNION STATION KIDS IN TROUBLE CHRISTMAS TOY PARTY: GEORGE NOCK (NFL)-LAMONT JORDAN (MD. U)-LAWRENCE WADE (EASTERN HS)-STANDING: THE LATE BOXING HISTORIAN BERT RANDOLPH SUGAR (BOXING)-SAM JONES (NBA)-HB (KIT) & LENNY MOORE (NFL)

I introduced the University of Maryland All-American running back Lamont Jordan to Lenny at one of my Kids In Trouble Christmas toy parties at Union Station. Lamont was having problems on whether to leave school early for the NFL draft or to stay and finish his senior year!

Lenny told him, ” If you need any advice heading into the NFL, I am just a telephone call away in Baltimore”.

There were several other incidents in media and politics I had to step in and call a truce on Jim’s behalf. There were sports media personalities like James Brown (CBS), he thought it was funny to introduce himself as not the Jim Brown who tossed women over baconies. This was all done during a sports media panel discussion on the campus of the University of the District of Columbia (before CBS). I later spoke with James after the panel discussion and I told him, “Your introduction was not funny and as a black man you shown no respect.”

There was USA Today sports columnist Jon Saraceno. He wrote a column saying, “Jim Brown will always be a hero to blacks, but he does not deserve their admiration. His domestic violence abuse of black women is shameful.”

This was not Saraceno’s call, he had never walked in Jim Brown’s shoes or any other black man in America. He should have checked the history of the slave owners and their abuse of black women long before Jim Brown (This was not to deny Jim had some abuse issues with women).

I called Saraceno out and invited him on sports talk radio to discuss Jim Brown’s abuse of black women. I wanted to know, what did he know and when did he know it as it related to Jim’s abuse of black women?

Instead, Saraceno called Cowboy Reggie a sports talk show host friend of mine in Richmond, Virginia begging him to ask me to stop misquoting him. Saraceno later apologized to Jim in his column.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters a dear friend of Jim Brown or so he thought, called him out at one of the annual Congressional Black Caucus Weekends several years ago. She called him a pimp and hustler in the black community (Jackie Joyner Kersey did something similar on national television).

When I gave Jim the taped version of Water’s testimony, he said, “I introduced her to her husband, my teammate, Sidney Williams. She has been at my home in the company of Jack Kemp (Secretary of Housing and former NFL QB). I don’t know where she is coming from?” Famous last words!

Jim Brown has been accused of domestic violence on six different occasions. His wife Monique called the cops the 7th and last time in 2007. When the cops arrived he was found standing by her smashed up car. He was arrested and taken to jail.

He went before the judge, she offered him 400 hours of community service or 40 hours of picking up trash on the highway. Jim Brown’s response, “I take jail!”

A jail cell for 5 months with 23 hours spend inside and one hour of daylight, made him think a little different.

His call from jail was to his wife Monique, it was a call for help. He told her to call me to help get him an early released and I did.

My media contacts, Congressman Stokes and Jack Kemp were instrumental in assisting me to help get him an early released.

He served less than than 30 days. He hated asking anyone for help. It is the one thing I got from our relationship, I wear as a badge of honor–Jim Brown asked Harold Bell for HELP! I have it on tape him expressing his appreciation.

Jim Brown was a complicated and complex man and love had nothing to do with it–accept for himself and his wife of 25+ years-Monique.

Black Hollywood practiced CRT when it comes to Jim Brown? Brown is a true Hollywood legend and a pioneer. The above 2022 edition “A CELEBRATION OF BLACKS IN FILM.” In the 96 pages Jim Brown is never seen or mention. Governors, Ron DeSantis (Florida) and Glenn Youngkin (Virginia) are not the only ones who’s campaigns are centered around CRITICAL RACE THEORY. Black Hollywood is following their lead. Jim Brown, never worn a dress or spend the night with Marlon Brando or P Diddy–Come on man!