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Jim Brown, considered by many to be the greatest running back in the history of football, retired at the peak of his professional football career to pursue a career in motion pictures.

Brown was born at St. Simons Island on the southern Georgia coastline in 1936, and raised by his grandmother until the age of seven, when he joined his mother near Long Island, New York. He later enrolled in nearby Manhasset High School, where his sensational athletic career began in both football and basketball. Brown was educated at Syracuse University, where he was named an All-American running back and later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He was also All-American in lacrosse and is considered one of the best players ever in that sport. In addition, Brown excelled academically and was named as one of five recipients of the "NCAA Silver Anniversary Outstanding Students of the Past 25 Years."

During his illustrious professional football career, all of which was spent with the Cleveland Browns, he established many records on the field, including a nine-year career total of 12,312 yards gained. His 5.2 yards-per-carry average has never been broken. He was later inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, and won the NFL Championship and MVP of the League in both 1958 and 1965.

As a screen actor, Brown has appeared in more than 20 motion pictures, including Rio Conchos, Robert Aldrich's classic war adventure The Dirty Dozen, John Sturges' Cinerama epic Ice Station Zebra, Dark of the Sun, 100 Rifles, Riot, El Condor, The Grasshopper, ...tick...tick...tick..., Black Gunn, Slaughter and its sequel Slaughter's Big Rip-Off, Three the Hard Way, James Toback's provocative Fingers, The Running Man, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka and Original Gangstas (both of which affectionately spoofed the African-American action films of the 1970s), Tim Burton's comedy epic, Mars Attacks!, and Spike Lee's He Got Game.

While playing professional football, Brown began laying the foundation for the Black Economic Union. In 1966, he and some of the finest African-American minds in the country formally established the BEU, whose motto was produce, achieve and prosper. In 1980, Brown set his aspirations toward helping empower the disenfranchised, and became involved with Coors' Golden Door and Barriers, two job-creation programs for ex-convicts to properly re-introduce them into society's mainstream. Brown's six-year association with the Vital Issues Project helped elevate that organization's status nationally and help thousands of inmates and ex-convicts transition back to society.

In 1988, Brown founded and became president of The Amer-I-Can Program Inc., a self-esteem/life management skills curriculum that teaches responsibility and self-determination. Approximately 95% of the Amer-I-Can staff is composed of former gang members and/or ex-convicts, and Brown's efforts contributed to the gang truce and have helped keep peace among warring gangs in Los Angeles.