Who's the best runningback in NFL history?

[Bfgrn]

there's jim brown and then there's the also rans.

Jim Brown was the best I've seen. He dominated his sport like no one has since and he may have been the best athlete of his day. His best sport was lacrosse; the fastest game on two feet.

Jim Brown

Brown, the only person to be inducted into the halls of fame for pro football, college football and lacrosse, was an All-Star lacrosse midfielder at Manhasset High School on Long Island.

“Lacrosse was his best sport,” said Ed Walsh, Brown’s football coach in high school. “He had all the skills, and his skills were better than all the opponents.

When at Syracuse, according to statistics from US Lacrosse, Brown scored 30 goals as a junior and followed that with 43 goals and 21 assists as a first-team All-America midfielder in 1957, his senior season. That, in an era where the lacrosse season was only 10 games long.

Most people remember Jim Brown as the legendary Cleveland Browns running back from the 50’s and 60’s. Nearly impossible to catch, and if you did, it was just as difficult a task to tackle him. He led the NFL in rushing 8 times and his name is on a long list of accolades that he has earned as a football legend.

Most people do not know he earned 13 varsity letters at Manhasset High School in Manhasset, NY playing football, lacrosse, baseball, basketball and running track. Some consider Jim Brown the best multi-sport athlete in sports history.

 

[Billo_Really]

Nothing to be gained?...fuck you and Harris you are both pussies. Larry Csonka and I both spit on you. There are ALWAYS more yards to be gained by crushing through your opponent.

Leave it to a PussyBurg fan to revel in a theft and a fraud.

Don't forget about Mercury Morris!

BTW, Bob Griese kicked major ass!

 

[Billo_Really]

Jim Brown was the best I've seen. He dominated his sport like no one has since and he may have been the best athlete of his day. His best sport was lacrosse; the fastest game on two feet.

Jim Brown

Brown, the only person to be inducted into the halls of fame for pro football, college football and lacrosse, was an All-Star lacrosse midfielder at Manhasset High School on Long Island.

“Lacrosse was his best sport,” said Ed Walsh, Brown’s football coach in high school. “He had all the skills, and his skills were better than all the opponents.

When at Syracuse, according to statistics from US Lacrosse, Brown scored 30 goals as a junior and followed that with 43 goals and 21 assists as a first-team All-America midfielder in 1957, his senior season. That, in an era where the lacrosse season was only 10 games long.

Most people remember Jim Brown as the legendary Cleveland Browns running back from the 50’s and 60’s. Nearly impossible to catch, and if you did, it was just as difficult a task to tackle him. He led the NFL in rushing 8 times and his name is on a long list of accolades that he has earned as a football legend.

Most people do not know he earned 13 varsity letters at Manhasset High School in Manhasset, NY playing football, lacrosse, baseball, basketball and running track. Some consider Jim Brown the best multi-sport athlete in sports history.

Jim Brown?

Ummm..................wasn't he the running back before Leroy Kelly?

 

[Bfgrn]

Jim Brown was the best I've seen. He dominated his sport like no one has since and he may have been the best athlete of his day. His best sport was lacrosse; the fastest game on two feet.

Jim Brown

Brown, the only person to be inducted into the halls of fame for pro football, college football and lacrosse, was an All-Star lacrosse midfielder at Manhasset High School on Long Island.

“Lacrosse was his best sport,” said Ed Walsh, Brown’s football coach in high school. “He had all the skills, and his skills were better than all the opponents.

When at Syracuse, according to statistics from US Lacrosse, Brown scored 30 goals as a junior and followed that with 43 goals and 21 assists as a first-team All-America midfielder in 1957, his senior season. That, in an era where the lacrosse season was only 10 games long.

Most people remember Jim Brown as the legendary Cleveland Browns running back from the 50’s and 60’s. Nearly impossible to catch, and if you did, it was just as difficult a task to tackle him. He led the NFL in rushing 8 times and his name is on a long list of accolades that he has earned as a football legend.

Most people do not know he earned 13 varsity letters at Manhasset High School in Manhasset, NY playing football, lacrosse, baseball, basketball and running track. Some consider Jim Brown the best multi-sport athlete in sports history.

Jim Brown?

Ummm..................wasn't he the running back before Leroy Kelly?

Yes, he was the Cleveland Browns running back before Leroy Kelly. And he was the Syracuse University running back before Ernie Davis, Jim Nance, Floyd Little and Larry Csonka.

Your point?

 

[HUGGY]

Jim Brown was the best I've seen. He dominated his sport like no one has since and he may have been the best athlete of his day. His best sport was lacrosse; the fastest game on two feet.

Jim Brown

Brown, the only person to be inducted into the halls of fame for pro football, college football and lacrosse, was an All-Star lacrosse midfielder at Manhasset High School on Long Island.

“Lacrosse was his best sport,” said Ed Walsh, Brown’s football coach in high school. “He had all the skills, and his skills were better than all the opponents.

When at Syracuse, according to statistics from US Lacrosse, Brown scored 30 goals as a junior and followed that with 43 goals and 21 assists as a first-team All-America midfielder in 1957, his senior season. That, in an era where the lacrosse season was only 10 games long.

Most people remember Jim Brown as the legendary Cleveland Browns running back from the 50’s and 60’s. Nearly impossible to catch, and if you did, it was just as difficult a task to tackle him. He led the NFL in rushing 8 times and his name is on a long list of accolades that he has earned as a football legend.

Most people do not know he earned 13 varsity letters at Manhasset High School in Manhasset, NY playing football, lacrosse, baseball, basketball and running track. Some consider Jim Brown the best multi-sport athlete in sports history.

Jim Brown?

Ummm..................wasn't he the running back before Leroy Kelly?

And Leroy Brown...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB_TM5AvJP0]Jim Croce - Bad Bad Leroy Brown (Live) [remastered 16:9] - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Billo_Really]

Yes, he was the Cleveland Browns running back before Leroy Kelly. And he was the Syracuse University running back before Ernie Davis, Jim Nance, Floyd Little and Larry Csonka.

Your point?

Just giving you shit!

I'm a big Brown fan myself.

He's No.2 in my book behind Sayers.

 

[NoNukes]

Oh please... Harris is a fraud. His immaculet reception was a fraud. He spent his last 5 or 6 yrears running out of bounds rather than take any contact. Harris was a pussy.

True story.

Harris was a smart runner who protected his legs when there was nothing else to be gained. The Immaculate Reception was one of the most exciting plays in the history of pro football.

Nothing to be gained?...fuck you and Harris you are both pussies. Larry Csonka and I both spit on you. There are ALWAYS more yards to be gained by crushing through your opponent.

Leave it to a PussyBurg fan to revel in a theft and a fraud.

I remember once when Harris was about to step out of bounds and the defensive back slowed down figuring Harris was going out of bounds. Harris cut back and ran 40 - 50 yards for a touchdown. Smart runner, true story.

Putting Larry Csonka in the same group as Brown, Simpson, Harris, Peyton, and Sayers is an insult.

I usually like your posts, quit being an insecure little boy.

 

[NoNukes]

I wonder if OJ would have gotten more votes if it were not for his activities after football.

 

[Bfgrn]

I wonder if OJ would have gotten more votes if it were not for his activities after football.

Probably. I was a Bills season ticket holder during the OJ years. My buddies and I even went to the airport when he first arrived in Buffalo. But the guy turned out to be a real scum bag as a human being.

As great as Jim Brown was on the football field, he is even a greater person off the field. He has mentored many troubled young men.

 

[HUGGY]

Harris was a smart runner who protected his legs when there was nothing else to be gained. The Immaculate Reception was one of the most exciting plays in the history of pro football.

Nothing to be gained?...fuck you and Harris you are both pussies. Larry Csonka and I both spit on you. There are ALWAYS more yards to be gained by crushing through your opponent.

Leave it to a PussyBurg fan to revel in a theft and a fraud.

I remember once when Harris was about to step out of bounds and the defensive back slowed down figuring Harris was going out of bounds. Harris cut back and ran 40 - 50 yards for a touchdown. Smart runner, true story.

Putting Larry Csonka in the same group as Brown, Simpson, Harris, Peyton, and Sayers is an insult.

I usually like your posts, quit being an insecure little boy.

I'm not really all that slight. 6' 220lb. Security is a myth...we all go away and are forgotten eventually. I revel in my insecurity..it is freedom. Thanks for noticing!

I only mentioned Csonka because I really liked his toughness ...he clearly was not the talent blessed upon some others mentioned.. and of course like I said I did in fact save his life..

PS Thanks for liking my posts! That doesn't mean we will BFF on facebook or anything...

 

[Billo_Really]

...he clearly was not the talent blessed upon some others mentioned...

That's right!

He was no Bobby Douglas!

 

[HUGGY]

...he clearly was not the talent blessed upon some others mentioned...

That's right!

He was no Bobby Douglas!

I hope you are not talking about Bill Douglas the QB for the Washington Huskies that broke his leg in the first half of the 64 Rose bowl after we, my gramps and grandma and me drove all the way down to see and that Bowl game in Pasadena and that stupid Fuck Douglas gets his damn leg busted after we( U of W ) score and lead 7 - 0. He was a talented QB though.. I think Dick Butkus was the one that hit him. Of course we went on to lose. 7 - 17.

 

[Billo_Really]

I hope you are not talking about Bill Douglas the QB for the Washington Huskies that broke his leg in the first half of the 64 Rose bowl after we, my gramps and grandma and me drove all the way down to see and that Bowl game in Pasadena and that stupid Fuck Douglas gets his damn leg busted after we( U of W ) score and lead 7 - 0. He was a talented QB though.. I think Dick Butkus was the one that hit him. Of course we went on to lose. 7 - 17.

I'm talkin' bout the Bears QB who just wanted to run!

 

[NoNukes]

Nothing to be gained?...fuck you and Harris you are both pussies. Larry Csonka and I both spit on you. There are ALWAYS more yards to be gained by crushing through your opponent.

Leave it to a PussyBurg fan to revel in a theft and a fraud.

I remember once when Harris was about to step out of bounds and the defensive back slowed down figuring Harris was going out of bounds. Harris cut back and ran 40 - 50 yards for a touchdown. Smart runner, true story.

Putting Larry Csonka in the same group as Brown, Simpson, Harris, Peyton, and Sayers is an insult.

I usually like your posts, quit being an insecure little boy.

I'm not really all that slight. 6' 220lb. Security is a myth...we all go away and are forgotten eventually. I revel in my insecurity..it is freedom. Thanks for noticing!

I only mentioned Csonka because I really liked his toughness ...he clearly was not the talent blessed upon some others mentioned.. and of course like I said I did in fact save his life..

PS Thanks for liking my posts! That doesn't mean we will BFF on facebook or anything...

Absolutely not, just means that I respect you. I can see what you liked about Csonka, he was tough, his own person and had to work hard to achieve what he did.

 

[rightwinger]

1. Jim Brown


2. Walter Payton
3. OJ
4. Earl Campbell
5. Riggins

 

[chikenwing]

Brown and Sanders tied,they did what they did despite the teams they were on,others like Smith and Riggins did what they di because of the teams they were with.


Hard choices so many dynamic players.

 

[Toro]

Barry Sanders was the best I ever saw. Peterson is coming close though.

 

[Bfgrn]

Barry Sanders was the best I ever saw. Peterson is coming close though.

The very BEST running back no one knows about. The closest I've seen the Jim Brown, and he almost became a Cleveland Brown out of High School! Had he been paired up with Jim Brown, it would have formed the most devastating backfields in football history.

Please check out the hilarious story from teammate Paul Maguire embedded in the article.

You are probably too young to remember a guy who was a huge star in the CFL, then came to Buffalo to play in the AFL (before they merged with the NFL). He was a tremendous running back and athlete. I had the pleasure of seeing him as a Buffalo Bill...the fan chant was "lookie, lookie, he comes Cookie"...

Bill's backup QB Daryle Lamonica handing off to Cookie Gilchrist

'I'm a Negro Who Speak Up': Remembering Football Great Cookie Gilchrist

With the passage of time, there are two establishment responses to the great political rebels in sports. You either see them commodified and defanged—think Muhammad Ali—or they are simply erased from history. Count Carlton Chester "Cookie" Gilchrist among the erased. Gilchrist, a former Buffalo Bills running back, died of cancer on January 10 at the age of 75. His legacy as both a player and athletic rebel are well worth restoring.

Gilchrist, the 1962 American Football League MVP, died the day before a remarkable anniversary not exactly celebrated by the world of professional football. On January 11, 1965, Gilchrist led an African-American boycott of the AFL All Star game, which was to be played in New Orleans. In 1965, an informal Jim Crow system ruled the Crescent city, and African-American players talked among themselves about their inability to get cabs, be served in restaurants or stay at certain hotels. Gilchrist organized all twenty-two African-American All-Pros to approach AFL commissioner Joe Foss and make clear that unless the game was moved, they wouldn't be playing. White players also announced that they would stand in support of their black teammates. Foss had no choice but to accede to their demands, and moved the game to Houston's Jeppesen Stadium.

The actions of Gilchrist and his fellow All-Pros inspired Dr. Harry Edwards, Tommie Smith and Lee Evans to launch the Olympic Project for Human Rights, calling for an African-American boycott of the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Gilchrist's courageous organizing also echoes today as Latino baseball stars like Adrian Gonzalez and Yovani Gallardo have indicated that they won't play in the 2011 All-Star Game in Phoenix, Arizona, because of harsh anti-immigration legislation signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer.

Gilchrist later said that his role leading the boycott was "better than anything I did playing football." That's quite the statement because we are talking about one of the great players to ever put on cleats.

Gilchrist was signed, in violation of NFL rules, by Cleveland Browns owner Paul Brown right out of high school. The NFL voided the signing and Gilchrist, who was now also ineligible to play college ball, had to trek up north and ply his trade in the Canadian Football League. In Canada, starting as a teenager. Gilchrist made six consecutive all-pro teams before moving to the AFL. There he dominated, becoming the first 1,000-yard rusher in league history, and setting the record for rushing touchdowns in a season. In one 1963 game against the New York Jets, Gilchrist rushed for 243 yards and five touchdowns.

For someone named Cookie, there was no sweetness to his game. As teammate Paul Maguire remembered to writer Tim Graham on ESPN.com,

"On the football field, he was one of the nastiest sons a b------ I ever met in my life. There was absolutely no fear in that man."

Before one critical playoff game, as Maguire remembered, "Cookie stood up 'I'm going to tell you something. If we don't win this game, I'm going to beat the s--- out of everybody in this locker room.' " Then Cookie pointed at coach Lou Saban. "'And I'm going to start with you, Coach. I'm going to kick your ass first.' I just sat back in my locker. I knew he meant it.' "

But Cookie wasn't seen as a leader just because he could play. He was outspoken He was loud. He was unapologetic.

As he said to Sports Illustrated in 1964, "People think I'm an oddball because I'm a Negro who speak up. But I have a lot on my mind. It's an internal disease, and it'll eat me alive if I don't get it out of my system what I think about things."

Cookie took his anti-racist tenacity and applied them to his dealings with management. He sent an open letter to the club owner Ralph Wilson before one season that read, "Gentlemen, it unfortunately becomes necessary again for me to formally request that you make efforts to trade me to some other football club." He received his raise. But he wanted more.

As he said in an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, "I wanted a percentage of the hot dog sales, the popcorn, the parking and the ticket sales," Gilchrist said. "[Coach Saban] said that would make me part owner of the team. I was a marked man after that."

More

 

[JWBooth]

If you were a small defensive back and saw Earl Cambell breaking from the line of scrimmage,
what would be going through your head right now?

Earl left cleat marks on my back in HS.

True story.

I still hate John Tyler High.

 

[Trakar]

Who's the best runningback in NFL history?

1. Adrian Peterson
2. Eric Dickerson
3. Emmett Smith
4. Walter Payton
5. O.J. Simpson
6. Jim Brown
7. Bo Jackson
8. John Riggins
9. Earl Campbell
10. Red Grange

If I missed someone, feel free to add them in.

Well, not top ten yet, so, not "best," but I do know a young skittleback that is a real "Beast," and he's probably a year or two away from realizing his full potential.

More to your list, however, where's Barry Sanders?