Whenever a debate arises about who the best running back of all time in the NFL is, you often hear names mentioned such as Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith, and Bo Jackson, just to name a few. One of the most overlooked players in all of this discussion is none other than Long Islands Jim Brown. What makes it even worse for Brown is that his statistics are better than those of his counterparts, which leads you to believe that off the field drama has led to people overlooking Brown and his accomplishments.

Jim Brown was born in Georgia, but moved to Manhasset, New York shortly following his birth. Brown eventually attended high school at Manhasset High School, earning thirteen varsity letters in football, baseball, basketball, lacrosse, and track. After his high school career, he attended Syracuse University and earned All-American status in football and lacrosse. Not only was Brown an excellent football player in his earlier years, but he was also an overall tremendous athlete. Brown began his career with the Cleveland Browns rushing for 942 yards, and 9 TDs, which earned him the Rookie of The Year honors. Brown continued to dominate the NFL for 8 more seasons, accumulating career totals of 12,312 rushing yards, 15,459 combined total yards for a combined 126 TDs, statistics which easily eclipsed the current records of the time.

Brown qualified for the Pro Bowl team in every single season of his career, nine times. Top ten statistics were only kept after the 1960 season, which leaves Brown with six seasons to qualify for top ten numbers. He led the NFL in rushes four of those seasons, led the NFL in rushing yards in five seasons, led in TDs twice and was third four other times. He was also the leader in total yards four separate times. To sum it up for Jim Brown, in each of the six seasons after 1960, he was in the top four of every rushing category for every single season. Jim Brown is the all-time leader in YPC (yards per carry) with 5.2 YPC; in 1963, he rushed for an absolutely ridiculous 6.4 yardsper carry, which is practically unheard of in pro football. With a perfect combination of finesse and power, Jim Brown had the ability to run past or juke his defenders, but still had the strength to bulldoze his opponents.

The only other running back in the NFLs history that compares to Jim Brown is Barry Sanders. In 35 fewer games played in his career, Jim Brown had 7 more rushing TDs than Barry, and 10 more receiving TDs. Jim Brown played every single game of his career, never missing a start for the Cleveland Browns. While Barry Sanders didnt miss all that much time as a RB, he did completely miss seven games of action in his career. Brown reached the 17 TD plateau twice in his career, once in a 12 game season, and once in a 14 game season. The closest Sanders reached to that mark was 16 TDs in a 16 game season. Also, in one of those 17 touchdown seasons, Jim Brown averaged 5.9 YPC, while Sanders was only able to average 4.5 YPC, which is a half-yard lower than his career average.

Jim Brown was able to increase his output in TDs, as well as sustain an incredibly high yards per carry; the same can not be said about other rushers. Despite playing in much fewer games than his predecessors, Brown still holds the career record for yards per carry (5.2), and total seasons leading the NFL in all-purpose yards. (five seasons, 1958-1961, 1964) Jim Brown from Georgia, but most notably Manhasset, NY, set milestones that are hard to reach today, even with the increase in number of games, as well as an increase in technology and medicine that allows players to play longer than ever. While some may remember him for his off the field antics, such as his centerfold debut in Playgirl magazine, lets not overlook the unbelievable achievements of the greatest running back of all time, growing up right in our own backyard.