YEBies Birthday: Jim Brown

On this date in 1936 Jim Brown was born on St. Simons's island, an all-black community off the coast of Georgia. At the age of 8 he moved to Manhasset, N.Y., to live with his mother after being raised by his grandmother. To most football historians Jim Brown is the greatest running back ever and in 2002 was named by Sporting News as the greatest professional football player ever.

The most impressive thing about Brown was success as a multi-sport athlete in college. In addition to his football accomplishments, he excelled in basketball, track, and especially lacrosse. As a sophomore, he was the second leading scorer for the basketball team (15 ppg), and earned a letter on the track team. His junior year, he averaged 11.3 points in basketball, and was named a second-team All-American in lacrosse. His senior year, he was named a first-team All-American in lacrosse (43 goals in 10 games to rank second in scoring nationally).

When Brown retired at the young age of 29, he was the all-time leading rusher in NFL history. He is now the league's eighth all-time leading rusher, and is still the Cleveland Browns all-time leading rusher.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvcV2e5gAOU]