Friday Featured Athlete: Cleveland Browns and NFL Legend Jim Brown

Each Friday, Ultimate Autographs will feature one athlete that is part of the Ultimate Autographs lineup. This week's Friday Featured Athlete is one of the all-time great players in NFL history, Jim Brown.

Jim Brown attended Syracuse University and showed the makings o fa truly special athlete by not only being a star on the football field but also in a number of other sports. He was the second-leading scorer for the men's basketball team in his sophomore year and even finished in fifth place in the National Championship decathlon. Jim Brown was also named as a second-team All-American in lacrosse as a junior and earned first-team All-American honors in lacrosse as a senior.

The Cleveland Browns selected Jim Brown with the No. 6 overall pick in the 1957 NFL Draft. Jim Brown would set a NFL single-game record and a rookie record for most rushing yards in a game after compiling 237 yards on the ground against the Los Angeles Rams.

He broke the NFL single-season rushing record the next season, shattering the previous mark of 1,146 yards by rushing for 1,527 yards in just 12 games. He also scored an impressive 17 touchdowns to go with his impressive rushing performance.

Throughout his NFL career, Jim Brown would rewrite the record books for NFL running backs. His bruising style of rushing left defenders aching in pain to go with the confusion of how to stop the Jim Brown freight train. 

At the conclusion of his NFL career, Jim Brown held the record for single-season and career rushing yards, career rushing touchdowns, career total touchdowns and all-purpose yards. Jim Brown also became the first player to reach the 100-rushing-touchdowns milestone, an achievement few others have reached despite the NFL's expansion to 16 regular season games.

Jim Brown was voted to the Pro Bowl in every season he played and led the NFL in rushing every season but one. He's the only player to average over 100 rushing yards per game over the course of his career and currently sits No. 2 all-time with a 5.2 yards-per-carry mark. On top of his individual success, Jim Brown and the Cleveland Browns also won the NFL Championship in 1964.

Jim Brown was inducted in the Pro Football Hall of fame in 1971, was named to the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team and saw his jersey number retired by the Cleveland Browns.

Following his NFL career, Jim Brown entered Hollywood and starred in a number of films. He even garnered leading roles in The Split, Riot, 100 Rifles and others. Younger fans may known him from roles in Small Soldiers, Mars Attacks!, Draft Day and perhaps most memorably as Montezuma Monroe, the defensive coordinator from Any Given Sunday.

Jim Brown is widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best, players in NFL history. For this reason, Jim Brown autographed sports memorabilia is always sought after and retains great value throughout the years.

"Make sure when anyone tackles you he remembers how much it hurts."

- Jim Brown pic.twitter.com/meEf9XzXvp

— Football Advantage (@AdvFootball) May 8, 2019