Legendary NFL running back Jim Brown passed away last Friday at the age of 87, and Brent Musburger was able to share some of his fondest memories of the former Cleveland Brown.
Talking to Nick Wilson and Dustin Fox on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland on Friday, Musburger remembered Brown as a truly one-of-a-kind person.
“I found him to be one of the most interesting men that I’ve ever been around,” Musburger said. “And that goes beyond his unbelievable athletic talent.”
When Musburger worked at CBS and hosted The NFL Today, Brent said he thought it was funny to talk to Brown and hear him talk about other running backs who were making headlines during that era.
“He would always complain about Franco Harris, who was a star at the time,” Musburger said. “He said ‘Franco, he runs out of bounds too often. He doesn’t take on the safeties. Now a running back I really admire is Walter Payton!'”
Of Brown’s athletic ability and being a hard-nosed runner not afraid to take on defenders head-on, Musburger said there weren’t too many instances he could recall in which Jim was on the losing end of a 1-on-1 situation.
“The first person would usually fall away from bringing him down,” he said. “I can’t remember many times when just one guy in an open field was able to take the great Jim Brown down.”
“They don’t realize how tough he was,” Musburger later added. “He didn’t miss games, I mean he wasn’t limping off the field or anything.”
Musburger considered Brown the greatest running back of all time ahead of Walter Payton. But Brent made sure to touch on some of the other ventures Brown was successful in after football, including having a career in Hollywood. More importantly, Brent made sure to speak about Brown’s role as a civil rights leader.
Musburger said Brown and NBA legend Bill Russell were examples of athletes during the civil rights movement who weren’t afraid to talk openly about the treatment of Black people in America at that time.
“A lot of the athletes they were timid and they didn’t like to speak out about it. But Jim Brown, no. He would take it on head-on,” he said. “I think his leadership in other areas need to be remembered too.”
