Ultimately, a running back has to get rid of tacklers without his blockers being a part of it.
— Jim Brown
I am forever a Cleveland Brown.
I played basketball, and I loved it. But I never thought of it seriously as being a professional.
I want the violence among young people in this country to stop - particularly gang violence.
I would never try to motivate anyone to follow me. I would motivate him to follow certain principles.
If you want experiences to make you a better person, then you play two or three sports.
I'd like to make one thing very clear: Muhammad Ali loved people, and he had white friend as well as black friends - and the only thing that he hated was discrimination and racism.
NASCAR stepped up their safety concepts, and I think the drivers feel NASCAR is doing everything that can be done. So we are a little behind NASCAR in that respect. Someone in NASCAR realized there were certain things that could be done to make it safer. The same thing has to happen in football.
When Kennedy could not get the civil rights bill passed - and he was the big liberal - Lyndon Johnson came in and it got passed, and he was the conservative and the southerner. So sometimes in politics, to get something done, it takes a special kind of knowledge and a special kind of person, but it doesn't always follow the party lines.
Michael Jordan brings millions of dollars when he shows up in an arena. Since money is how we judge people, he's very valuable. But while that's happening, Rome is burning within the black community.
The NFL pension is the worst in the world of business. It's an embarrassment.
There have been so few decent films involving Negroes that right away everybody expects every film to do everything. But when you make a flick, there are maybe two things you're trying to put into that flick. You can put the other things in another time.
If you truly believe something, and it's incorrect, that doesn't mean you don't have integrity.
People think that coaches are always right, but it's difficult to teach a runner how to run, because every runner is different. You have to have an understanding of how to assist what that runner has, so they know how to assist what you have without taking away your special ability, because you're not like anybody else.
I don't teach kids to be No. 1. Organizations and people that tell you you have to be No. 1; that's not it. You don't have to be No. 1. What I teach is to be as good as you can be. Use what you have and be as good as you can be. That's all you can do, anyway.
The social issues outside of football are not as defined as they were earlier, when integration took place and certain rights were legislated. The Civil Rights movement is over. Individuals can buy homes wherever they want, travel first class wherever they want, eat wherever they want.
What I want to do is play roles as a black man, instead of playing black man's roles. You know?
I'm stuck with being No. 32 for the Cleveland Browns. I can't do anything about that, and I don't' want to do anything about it.
When I think of greatness, I think of guys like Earl Campbell and Gale Sayers and Walter Payton, and these individuals who, it's unanimous they're going to make a difference - when they're coming out of college, there's no doubt.
I was an in-between size. I wasn't tall enough to be a real forward, and I probably didn't handle the ball well enough to be a point guard.
I know a lot of kids that if you don't know how to deal with them, you lose them. They don't come ready-made.
'The Autobiography of Malcolm X.' I've used it to demonstrate racial attitudes to people who I thought needed a better understanding of all human beings. Malcolm was not a racist. He was not looking for revenge. He realized that kindness and goodness did not come from any one kind of person.
Money has stepped to the forefront of everything.
Money is not God, and human dignity is very important.
I'm a fan of NASCAR, in a certain kind of way.
The truth is that politicians are basically tied to trying to get reelected, so they can't really make landmark changes.
Everybody does good things, but I'm talking about making major changes in the educational system that would impact an entire race. I'm talking about stopping these young gang members from killing one another. I'm talking about keeping prisons from overflowing.
I run a program called Amer-I-Can. We've taught in prisons, schools, juvenile facilities and we teach in the community. We have the greatest record from the standpoint of dealing with grade point averages, disciplinary action and attendance in schools.
AI don't make a big thing out of my race. If you try to preach, people give you a little sympathy and then they want to get out of the way. So you don't preach; you tell the story.
The need to be cared for is the base of everything. In the penitentiaries, you won't hear gangbangers and criminals say, 'No, I don't want to be cared for by nobody.' When you care about them, they'll open up to you.
Martin Luther King was a misguided leader. He worked to be recognized as the leader of black America when what black America needs isn't a leader, it is education.
When you have a problem, rules don't solve your problem. It's caring and education.
When you go out on a football field, you are responsible for taking care of yourself. The more rules you get, the less players truly take care of themselves.
There's a trend toward anti-heroes now, and I think it goes back to guys like Bogart and Cagney. They seemed to have no compassion, and they were always alone.
I would love to have a role with the Browns. I think that's what every ex-player would like to do most of all: to be a contributor to the success of an organization that he was a player that brought a certain amount of success.
Baltimore has proven themselves on the football field. We can't take that away.
I don't feel I could've played major league baseball.
No human being should be a role model. We all have flaws.
America says we are a great democratic society and other people should follow our example. Well, I say we benefited from slavery, and as a nation, we never faced that because the people in power chose not to.
One of the most fantastic experiences I ever had was as a decathlete. I finished fifth in the nation my senior year of high school. I had no training or nothing.
I never had a father, really. My great-grandmother raised me. But I was in this country where I got help from people that were not of my same color. So when I come out of the box, I don't come out of the box as racial. I look for good people, and people that will be like-minded and help me try to do good for other human beings.
Obama was elected by the people, and I was glad that barrier was broken down. I did, along with my wife, campaign for him in Ohio because that was a key state. If I had to say does he rate an 'A' or does he rate a 'D,' it would be very difficult. I give him a 'C.'
It is up to God to take revenge. Only God can judge. I don't have to worry about getting even with anybody or taking out any kind of aggression on anybody. Doing that is a weakness, anyway.
My biggest problem was to get the coaches to understand that I was a runner, and I wanted to prepare myself based upon the calisthenics I did and get myself ready. For example, I used my forearm when I ran the ball, so I didn't want to do pushups because I wanted my forearms to heal.
If you help disabled children, it's very appealing. If you help kids with cancer, those are the things you get credit for and those things are beautiful. But when it comes to stopping violence or really putting the time into rebuilding schools, that's just a different kind of project. It takes more than just money to do that.
It's too bad about 'Dark of the Sun.' It was really about Tshombe. When I read the script, I thought it was going to be a political movie, and I thought we might even have a hassle. But the director simplified it to brutality and bad taste.
A liberal will cut off your leg so he can hand you a crutch.
Money has changed today's black athletes. Those who have the ability as African men to bring a change in a community that so desperately needs it are concentrating only on their own careers, some charities and how much money they can make.
Even though the money is great and the fame is great, you still have a lot of disenfranchised young men that are participating in the NFL that are not very happy. A lot of them are very bitter. A lot them are very angry. So many of them have had no fathers and no home life, and basically, no education.
I have a theory. An audience doesn't need to get wrapped up in blackness every time they see a Negro actor. And a movie doesn't have to be about race just because there's a Negro in it.
