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Debbie Kaore

Before last week, Debbie Kaore was best known in Papua New Guinea as a champion boxer who won gold at the Pacific Games in 2015 and had recently made a career-changing move to rugby.

Then last Friday, a video was widely shared on social media that showed Ms Kaore being violently attacked with a hot iron in her home. The video was posted on TikTok and Instagram by her friend, with permission, and went viral. Ms Kaore’s partner Murray Oa, a lieutenant in the Papua New Guinean army, was arrested and charged with grievous bodily harm.

Graphic pictures showed terrible injuries on the rugby player’s face and body. “I realised if I didn’t get out of our room, he would burn me alive,” she said in an interview with the BBC.

The footage of her Ms Kaore’s assault has shone a light on the extent of domestic abuse in Papua New Guinea, and led to statements of support for her from the UN and the nation’s Prime Minister James Marape, who urged Papua New Guinea’s men to “leave that lady alone”.

But too many of the nation’s women would have been able to empathise with what they saw in the video. As many as two-thirds have experienced domestic violence, according to one study by the UN.

Ms Kaore started seeing Mr Oa just over a year ago. The first attack happened when she was about two months pregnant, she told the BBC. “And from then on he continued to verbally, mentally and emotionally abuse me,” she said. “I was psychologically breaking down.”

On 4 June, she posted a video on the app TikTok. It was a response to a video posted by her sister’s ex-boyfriend, creating a duet which showed the two in split-screen – a feature of the app. Happy with the result, she shared it via her Whatsapp status.

She told the BBC that Mr Oa saw it while out having drinks, and returned home shortly after.

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Debbie Kaore

“I saw him parking the car across the road, and noticed that he looked uneasy,” Ms Kaore recalled. “He came in, walked up to me and asked for my phone so he could send an email. So I gave it to him, and he went into our room and viewed my WhatsApp video again.”

She said he called her into the room and started questioning her about the video. “But as I started showing him my phone, he punched me down and picked up the iron,” she said.

Mr Oa burned her across the face and stomach with the iron, she said, and headbutted her, while demanding to see her Facebook account.

Her two sons from a previous relationship, both younger than 10, saw the attack. She managed to escape through a back door and call her father, who picked her up and took her to hospital.

“I got burned by an iron and then hit by it while our children watched,” she wrote on social media afterwards. “A victim to Lt. Murry Oa … I am putting this out here cause this has gone too far. I can only hope that there won’t be another victim after me.”

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De’Bono Paraka Facebook

With Mr Kaore’s permission, one of her friends posted footage of the attack online the following day. It went viral, forcing to the surface conversations about the country’s widespread domestic violence problem.

Mr Oa was arrested and charged with grievous bodily harm. He has yet to comment on the incident.

The prime minister, among other high profile figures, released statements condemning not just Debbie’s attacker but domestic abuse in general. Papua New Guinea’s Olympic Committee and Rugby Association both spoke out in support of Debbie too.

But what happened to her was not a one off. In 2016, the charity Human Rights Watch called Papua New Guinea one of the most dangerous countries in the world for women and girls. The violence is so systemic that many women don’t seek help until it’s too late, said Kate Schuetze, Pacific researcher at Amnesty International.

“It becomes so normalised in society and in culture that people don’t think to get help when they experience abuse,” she told the BBC. “The day-to-day levels of violence are extremely high. Often only once a woman needs serious medical help will they seek help or try to escape that relationship.”

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For people outside Papua New Guinea’s cities, there barriers to seeking help are particularly high. About 80% of the country’s population lives in rural areas with little access to emergency or other supportive services.

One woman was forced to walk for five days from a rural part of the country’s Highlands to reach hospital, after a severe assault, Ms Schuetze said.

“There are a lot of rural areas around there that don’t have good transport infrastructure, which is why she had to walk. But she said to me that if she hadn’t gotten out of that situation, she wouldn’t have lived.”

Women facing domestic abuse are also trapped by financial obstacles. In parts of Papua New Guinea, significant sums of money – known as a “bride price” – are paid to a groom by the bride’s family. There is a fear that if a woman escapes, her family will be expected to repay the sum to her husband.

And widespread drug and alcohol abuse among men was also a part of the problem, said Professor Judy Atkinson, the founder of We Al-li, a group which works with indigenous communities in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

“It’s a major problem in the community,” she said. “They’re being marketed on the streets in Papua New Guinea – and that creates violence, and leads to a culture of violence.”

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In 2013, Papua New Guinea passed the Family Protection Act, criminalising domestic violence and allowing victims to obtain protection orders. It became law four years later, but enforcement remains “weak and inconsistent”, according to Human Rights Watch.

Complaints of intimate partner violence are often not taken seriously by the police, or the officers involved lack the training to deal with the case effectively and sensitively, said Ms Schuetze. Papua New Guinea’s police force is relatively small, and a lack of legal support can make it too costly for many to seek justice through the courts.

A 2019 report by the charity said police and prosecutors “rarely pursued investigations or criminal charges against people who commit family violence – even in cases of attempted murder, serious injury, or repeated rape – and instead prefer to resolve such cases through mediation and/or payment of compensation”.

Ms Kaore said she hoped the unusually high level of coverage prompted by her assault last week would hasten change.

“I’m thankful for the love and support I’m getting from all over the world. Knowing I’m not alone in this means so much to me and my family,” she said.

“I can only hope things will change after this. I hope to see that people can be educated properly and learn to respect one another, and change their mindsets.”

Coming out of college at Missouri, Keith Wright was a promising talent destined for NFL success. In 2003, Wright completed his lifelong dream of becoming a professional football player when he was drafted by the Houston Texans. However, Wright didn’t quite pan out in the NFL. He lasted just four years in the league, and he went down a dark path in retirement. Wright went on to commit a series of robberies and assaults that landed him a 234-year prison sentence. It’s safe to say he won’t be getting out at any point in this lifetime.

Keith Wright had a short-lived NFL career

Wright was an effective pass rusher and run stuffer on Missouri’s defensive line in the early 2000s. He recorded 68 tackles in his first year with the Tigers and amped it up to 92 tackles in his second year. Between 2001 and 2002, Wright switched from defensive end to defensive tackle, and it paid dividends.

Wright was selected by the Texans in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL draft. His success at Missouri didn’t translate to the NFL, though. Wright was sent to the Texans’ practice squad to start the season, and he was picked up by the Indianapolis Colts shortly after.

From there, Wright jumped to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004. He spent one season with the Bucs before he was released in 2005. The Arizona Cardinals then signed Wright to a one-year contract, but he was released less than a month later.

Wright finished his career with stints with the Buccaneers again and the Detroit Lions. He barely made an impact on the field in four years, and he was out of the league by 2006.

Keith Wright committed 19 felonies by the time he was 32

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After his NFL career ended, Wright turned to a life of crime. In 2011 alone, Wright committed three home invasions around the Sacramento area where he lived at the time. During one of the home invasions, Wright sexually assaulted a woman and forced her to take money out of an ATM.

Wright racked up 19 felony charges in his second life. Along with home invasion, Wright was charged with kidnapping, armed robbery, false imprisonment, forcible oral copulation, and first-degree burglary.

In 2012, Wright was sentenced to 234 years and 8 months in prison. He was just 32 years old at the time.

Wright’s 234-year prison sentence is the longest in sports history

Keith Wright’s reckless actions after his NFL career cost him four lifetimes in prison. Imagine hearing the number 234 and realizing you’ll never experience freedom again. That was the harsh reality for Wright in 2012.

Wright’s lengthy prison sentence is actually the longest for any athlete in professional sports history. No one else even came close to 200 years.

Clifford Etienne, a boxer from the early 2000s, came closest to Wright when he was sentenced to 160 years in prison for a slew of crimes.

Wright will remain locked up in prison for the rest of his life. What could’ve been a promising football career turned into one of the most tragic sports stories ever told.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Maurice Clarett is going to be late for the baby shower.

He’s dressed and ready. His fiancée, Ashley, and the couple’s 13-year-old daughter, Jayden, are finishing hair and makeup. Family and friends soon will gather in Worthington, Ohio, just outside Columbus, to celebrate the couple’s baby boy due in about a month.

Then Clarett gets a call on FaceTime. It’s Mike Tyson.

The legendary boxer asks, or rather demands, to see him. Clarett tells Ashley he will go meet Tyson, then come to the shower afterward.

“You have to understand,” Clarett says while driving to the meeting. “Tyson is my guy.”

Two of Clarett’s fellow former Ohio State Buckeyes, Mike Doss and Jonathan Wells, met Tyson earlier that day during an autograph-signing event at a Columbus hotel. Doss, an All-American at Ohio State who played in the NFL and is married to Ashley’s sister, participated in the signing. Afterward, they introduced themselves to Tyson.

“Who was that crazy motherf—er you played with?” Tyson asked.

Tyson told Doss and Wells he had seen Clarett on TV talking about how he had turned his life around after serving nearly four years in prison for aggravated robbery and carrying a concealed weapon, a dramatic fall from his glory days as the star freshman running back on Ohio State’s 2002 national championship team.

Tyson needed to meet Clarett.

An exploration of class and power dynamics in college sports through the parallel, interconnected journeys of Maurice Clarett and Jim Tressel. Stream on ESPN+

“I feel like I made it now,” Clarett says. “As a football player, I ran like I was Mike Tyson. A lot of stuff, I identified with him. He got taken out of boxing at his prime. I got taken out of football in my prime. For this dude to know who I was and know who I am — this is the biggest star in my era, him and [Michael] Jordan.”

Clarett pulls up to the hotel. He meets Doss and Wells, and they walk to a room near the lobby. A security guard is told, “Maurice Clarett to see Mike Tyson.” They enter a room filled with red-and-black boxing gloves. Pete Rose, also part of the autograph event, sits quietly at another table.

Tyson greets Clarett and immediately starts talking — about how he hurt people, how he hated himself, how his children hated him, how he contemplated suicide but was too narcissistic to go through with it. The former world heavyweight champion had served three years and six weeks of a six-year sentence for a rape conviction before being released from prison in 1995. He attempted several comebacks to the ring. He lived with depression, other mental health issues and alcoholism for years. Tyson says Clarett’s comeback story gave him hope that he could revise his own story.

The two men embrace, as tears roll down Tyson’s face.

Clarett tells Tyson about the work he’s doing now and gives him a copy of his new book: “One and Done: How My Life Started After My Football Career Ended.”

“Legendary moments,” Clarett says as he leaves the hotel. “They say you never know who’s watching.”

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Clarett doesn’t meet his childhood heroes every day, but these types of encounters are not rare, given the work he does and the message he shares. He calls himself a social entrepreneur who is living out his latest chapter of a journey filled with promise, controversy and challenges.

After entering college as one of the top recruits in the country, he helped Ohio State win the 2002 national championship. In 2003, he was suspended before the season for receiving improper benefits worth thousands of dollars, and he was eventually dismissed from the school. Clarett challenged the NFL rule requiring players to wait three years after their high school graduation before entering the draft.

Following several unsuccessful attempts to make it in the NFL, Clarett saw his life veer off track. On New Year’s Day 2006, he was charged with robbing two people at gunpoint in Columbus, and that September, he was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. (He served three and a half years.)

He knew then that something had to change. Several years after his release, he started sharing his story during speaking engagements with high-profile college teams and other organizations. He used the money he received from those events to launch The Red Zone, a behavioral health and substance abuse agency in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, which services adults and children. Clarett regularly makes the roughly 160-mile commute from his home outside Columbus to the facility.

“His heart was always there,” says Jim Tressel, Clarett’s coach at Ohio State, who now serves as president at Youngstown State University. “I remember when he first got to Ohio State, he talked about wanting to be a preacher, wanting to be a difference-maker in the urban areas. He’s just a loyal guy to his roots.”

Clarett says his main mission is deeply personal: to help others and make a positive impact for those who face the same demons that once derailed him.

“I want to talk about my life, I want to talk about what’s next,” he says. “‘OK, you f—ed up. S— happened. Own it.’ … My life started once the game was over. It’s to talk about that, not anything else.”

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CLARETT’S HOME OFFICE in suburban Columbus occupies half of his basement. A bookcase includes titles from Tony Robbins, Warren Buffett and Robert Kiyosaki. A large dry-erase board is filled with small, neatly written words under individual sections, each representing an entrepreneurial area.

“My prison cell,” Clarett calls the basement.

Most days, Clarett is down here by 4:30 a.m. A morning routine of meditation and exercise helps him stay in balance. So does regular therapy and medication. “I still go to therapy,” he says. “I still take psychiatric meds. I don’t even want to minimize that. Going to therapy on a consistent basis and taking medication on a consistent basis, all that plays into personal wellness practices.”

He clears his mind and sets his intentions, visualizing projects and goals, not shying away from big ideas or what it will take to make them happen.

“Once you’ve lost everything,” he says, “you don’t fear [failure].”

Clarett began rebooting his life back in 2012, when he returned to Ohio after the United Football League suspended operations, ending his stint in Nebraska with the Omaha Nighthawks. He was catapulted back into the spotlight the following year with the release of “Youngstown Boys,” an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about Clarett and Tressel. He started speaking to teams and other groups, and traveled frequently.

During his reintegration, there were tough choices to make. He cut ties with some friends — not bad people, just no longer the right people for him to be around.

“What I was trying to do with my life, or the responsibility I had to my family,” Clarett says, “I had to let ’em go.”

There were still obstacles. In February 2016, nearly a year after his probation expired, Clarett was pulled over while making the familiar drive from Columbus to Youngstown and later charged with driving under the influence. He received a 60-day suspended jail sentence and two years’ probation, and he had his license suspended for six months.

Clarett says he hasn’t had a drop of alcohol since.

“At some point, you’ve got to realize, ‘Bro, this s— ain’t for you,'” he says. “Going to therapy, you have to find out what does and doesn’t work for you. There’s more than drinking and drugging. Stay away from lazy motherf—ers. Stay away from people who lie.

“You’re never in the clear.”

Clarett opened The Red Zone in June 2016, and the agency in Youngstown now employs more than 100 people and services 700 kids and 300 to 400 adults. About 60 adult clients live in houses Clarett has bought and fixed up in and around Youngstown. Clarett also purchased a four-story building near The Red Zone’s facility that will offer medical services. The Red Zone transports adult clients to and from the clinic for meetings and other services.

Fred Muench, a clinical psychologist and president of the Center on Addiction, says that sober housing increases the chances of recovery for people bouncing in and out of the criminal justice system, as long as additional supports are in place.

“If you don’t have housing and you don’t have a meal and you don’t have transportation, your recovery is going to come last,” Muench says. “By offering individuals housing in a supportive environment, [Clarett’s Red Zone] increases the chances of recovery, and the research shows that.”

After visiting a house he purchased and refitted in downtown Youngstown, Clarett says he put in the flooring and carpet himself and collected furniture from Habitat for Humanity. “If I’m not willing to stay there, I’m not going to put these guys here,” Clarett says.

Says one of the men living in the house, “I’ve been in another sober living house and it was a s—hole.”

The Red Zone has also placed more than 40 social workers and counselors in local schools, where they work with children flagged by educators for behavioral concerns.

“Social-emotional issues for brown people are taboo — they don’t want to talk about it,” says Justin Jennings, CEO of the Youngstown City School District and a former basketball player at Purdue. Jennings oversees a student population that, according to the Ohio Department of Education, is 57.7% black and 100% at an economic disadvantage.

According to the National Council for Behavioral Health, African Americans are 20% more likely to report serious psychological distress than whites but are much less likely to seek and receive treatment.

“We offer them the opportunity in school and after school to get that service,” Jennings says. “Eventually, we would like to extend the service to our parents.”

“I’m living proof that no matter where you start off at and no matter what you’re going through, there’s a way to gradually get to where you want to go.”

Maurice Clarett

Because The Red Zone is funded through Medicare and Medicaid, there’s an added financial benefit for Youngstown schools. Jennings says the district used to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for social work and counseling services.

“I grew up with all these people, so all I had to do was say, ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing, this is what these services are all about,'” Clarett says. “Just the affiliation and me explaining, ‘This is the stuff I’ve been through.’ … I know we’re not miracle workers, but I know people will have some level of interest and they won’t be as scared.”

David Magura, chief of probation for Youngstown Municipal Court, makes about 300 substance abuse referrals a year to several agencies, including The Red Zone. He mentions a woman whom he repeatedly sent for rehab without success. She then came to The Red Zone, which addressed not only her substance abuse but also her history of trauma. After she completed a one-year program, charges against her were dismissed.

“We’re talking about basic needs here, getting places and having a roof over your head,” Magura says. “When we send someone to Red Zone, we feel like they’re getting personalized care … which was really lacking in our community.”

Clarett says some clients stay only a few days, while others might remain up to a year. Some are felons who have struggled to secure independent housing elsewhere.

On a Friday last November, Clarett walked into The Red Zone’s clinic and greeted a client named Steve. Last spring, Steve’s mother had cold-called Clarett. Her son had tried and failed to get clean and needed help. Clarett picked up Steve in an Ikea parking lot near Columbus and drove him to Youngstown to start the program. Now Steve tells Clarett he has been sober for six months. “A milestone for me,” Steve says. “Things just keep getting better.” Steve ended up successfully completing his rehab program and returned to Columbus.

“You’re invested in these dudes,” Clarett says. “You can see my man [Steve]. You see the joy on his face.”

The individual success stories are why Clarett does this work, but there are also challenges to running a social services agency. In January, The Red Zone closed a smaller facility in Columbus, citing repeated paperwork errors that resulted in hundreds of rejected Medicaid claims.

The closure took employees by surprise. Keah Carter, who worked at The Red Zone in Columbus, told WBNS-TV that employees were “blindsided” by the decision to close, and no one tried to correct the claims forms. Clarett told ESPN that the Columbus office went through several managers but that errors continued. “It’s a standard that wasn’t being met,” he says. “There’s really no more to it. I was like, ‘This is 10% of what we do.’ Youngstown is thriving. We have to move on.”

The Red Zone has since referred all clients from that office to other agencies, as required by law, and paid employees for hours they worked but at a lower rate because of the claim rejections. A spokesman for Medicaid Ohio said The Red Zone remains an active provider.

The Red Zone’s Youngstown clinic has remained open for its adult clients during the COVID-19 outbreak, strictly following guidelines from the state, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). All clients and staff members get their temperatures checked at the door every time they enter. Groups of no more than five meet at one time, with chairs at least 6 feet apart. Rooms are sanitized multiple times per day.

“This was a request from the clients,” says Nicolette Bleacher, director of new business development for The Red Zone. “They really wanted to have that structure and stability back in their lives. They were struggling with their sobriety because right now they’re stuck in the houses. Where we normally had two groups, now we have four groups. So we’re keeping all of the safety precautions in play, because that is our priority.

“We’re an essential business, and we do have clients we need to service.”

The Red Zone is also offering telehealth for Youngstown schoolchildren, providing services through cellphones, tablets and computers. Each family has different needs and access to technology, but many have wanted to continue the services and even expand them.

“It’s a struggle right now,” Bleacher says. “This is something that is extremely surreal. People who have been serviced on our mental health side, they need us more now than ever. They have really lessened the restrictions and guidelines for telehealth because of the need that’s still out there.

“We’re going to play it out, based on what their needs are as well as the direction we’re given from the governor and the CDC. We have to be on top of that.”

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FEW HIGH-PROFILE college players have left a program in a messier way than Clarett did at Ohio State. His clashes with then-athletic director Andy Geiger played out publicly. During a well-chronicled controversy before the BCS title game against Miami in January 2003, Clarett was unable to fly home to attend a friend’s funeral and criticized Ohio State for not assisting him.

“Life’s a whole lot more important than football, you know what I mean?” he then told reporters in Arizona. “We’re sitting here in this old grand hotel, things like that, but we can’t feed the homeless or poor. That’s real life. This is a game.”

His dismissal and subsequent struggles created even more distance between him and the university, but Clarett has been trying to rebuild his relationship with the school.

During a visit for an Ohio State basketball game last fall, Clarett stopped to take pictures with fans outside the arena. Nearby, a current Buckeyes football player was doing the same thing.

“Blond dreadlocks, as big as a house,” Clarett says. “I walked up and said, ‘You famous?’ I’m joking with him. He’s like, ‘My name’s Chase Young.’ I was like, ‘If I have to ask your name, you’re not that famous.’ I didn’t know who this dude was. I said, ‘Next year, I better find out who you are.'”

Later in Young’s record-setting 2019 season, Clarett sent him a message on Twitter: “Yeah, I know who you are now.” In last month’s NFL draft, the Washington Redskins selected Young with the No. 2 overall pick.

In the past four years, Clarett has spoken to many high-profile college football teams but not the one 20 minutes from his home. His Ohio State affiliation can best be described as limited. He attends one or two football games each season and follows the team. In 2012, he returned for the 10-year reunion of his national championship team but felt “real funky” and “uncomfortable.”

“There’s been enough time to say, ‘Hey, us as an institution, we’re not there anymore, and you as a person, you’re not there anymore,'” Clarett says. “A large part of what I’m known for today is [because of my] time spent at Ohio State. I love Ohio State. I love what it’s done for me, what it continues to do for me.”

Current Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith is open to Clarett becoming more involved. Smith told ESPN that Ohio State’s coaches decide who speaks to their teams and that Clarett should reach out to them or to Smith.

“The people he may have had challenges with are all gone,” Smith says. “He’s done a great job with what he’s done. It’s great to see people like him change their lives to an unbelievable positive. I’ve listened to him, I’ve seen him talk, he’d be great. He has to make the attempt to reach out.

“We have people calling us every day. If he called us, we’d embrace him.”

In February, Clarett met Buckeyes coach Ryan Day for the first time at a Nike Coach of the Year Clinic in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They took a picture together, and Clarett came away hopeful about rebuilding a connection with the Buckeyes program.

For Clarett, a return to Ohio State, and possibly completing his degree there, would close an important loop.

“Look, s— happened,” Clarett says, “but what I contributed to this place and what I made people proud of, it was from an 18-year-old kid who loved this place more than anyone could love anything else. What’s done is done, brother. It’s over.

“How do you move forward?”

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CLARETT OFTEN RECEIVES follow-up calls from coaches after his speaking engagements, asking if he can work with a particular athlete. When Clarett visited Xavier University’s basketball team a few years ago, then-coach Chris Mack told Clarett that coaches aren’t sure how to help their athletes.

“My expertise is not in the brain,” says Mack, now the head coach at Louisville. “It’s not in dependency issues. It’s not being able to analyze what went wrong in a kid’s childhood and how they’re dealing with it now. There are times when you feel like you’re not equipped, and Maurice is very identifiable to the kids we have.

“I told him I’ve had players who maybe didn’t have the problems with getting arrested and all the things that happened to him, but they needed help.”

Mack told Clarett about John Lucas, the former NBA player and coach who lived with cocaine and alcohol addiction and has run a substance abuse recovery program for athletes in Houston since 1986. “He’s John Lucas, 25 years later,” Mack says.

Like Lucas, Clarett is acutely aware of what athletes endure once their playing days are over.

“You’re pissed off at yourself, you’re pissed off at the world, you’re pissed off that the dreams you had as a seventh-, eighth-, ninth-, 10th-, 11th-, 12th-grader didn’t happen,” he says. “If you’re that person, you’re going to do some things to self-destruct. You’re going to be drinking, drugging, smoking, popping pills, you’re going to be reliving your glory years with your college friends. You see it all the time: Guys get done with the game, and the only thing these guys want to do is f—ing tailgate all the time because they can’t leave that atmosphere.”

Which brings Clarett to his most personal project yet: a Red Zone-like facility for college athletes facing substance abuse, mental health issues and other challenges.

He has scouted sites around Columbus and has already started fundraising. Because The Red Zone is accredited, colleges could use the NCAA special assistance fund to send athletes to the facility. (Ironically, the same fund could have been used to fly Clarett home before the national title game.) Insurance from the schools would cover other expenses. Clarett’s plans also include fitness equipment so athletes could continue to train while there.

Many colleges have counselors and other specialists either on or near campus to help struggling athletes, but Clarett sees value in changing their environment.

“That removal is a little bit of a safety net for student-athletes,” says Mario Mercurio, Xavier’s associate athletic director for basketball administration. “Being with someone who’s not necessarily tied to your program gives them an opportunity to have a fresh lens and look at their situation and find a solution. A structure built by somebody like Maurice Clarett, if he had a campus, the sky would be the absolute limit.

“There’s a huge market for it. There’s an absolute need for it.”

Clarett wants to help college athletes get healthy and return to competition, but he’s more invested in their personal development for life after sports. After speaking to a college basketball team recently, he asked a player to describe himself. The player responded that he was 6-foot-5 and black. “That was the depth of his explanation,” Clarett says. “He didn’t see himself being a person who can run a company. Athletes have a lot of social equity. There’s a service you can do. There’s a product you can push. But we don’t talk about those things being transferrable.

“You’ve got to say, ‘Bro, it’s OK to build a f—ing life.'”

Clarett is deeply affected by stories like that of Charles Rogers, the former Michigan State All-America receiver and No. 2 overall NFL draft pick who played only 15 pro games. Rogers was addicted to opioids and had legal issues, and he died last November of liver failure at age 38. Clarett sees many athletes headed down a troubling path, the same one that led him to prison.

“A lot of athletes, the reason why they stay stuck is because they have no platform, like, ‘How do I become comfortable living in this real world?'” Clarett says. “Being comfortable with yourself and processing s—, it’s just a lot, man. But this is the process.

“I’m living proof that no matter where you start off at and no matter what you’re going through, there’s a way to gradually get to where you want to go.”

 

By all accounts, Jim Brown is arguably the greatest running back in Cleveland Browns history. 

He’s also been ranked as the top running back (and number four overall player) on the NFL’s top ‘100 players of all time’ list. 

Brown was an imposing force on the field and he could also impose his will off the field (sometimes to his detriment). 

Since retiring from the game in 1966, he has been an actor, color analyst for NFL games and, perhaps most significantly, a civil rights activist. 

Brown continues to be a role model for athletes and activists alike. 

Here is a look back at the mercurial life of Jim Brown.

 

Brown’s Life Growing Up

 

Jim Brown was born on February 17, 1936 on an island, St. Simons Island to be exact. 

February 17, 1936 James Nathaniel “Jim” Brown, hall of fame football player and actor, was born. Brown was selected in the 1957 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns and over his nine-season professional career was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time NFL MVP. pic.twitter.com/hZucgfpCG7

— Merrell R. Bennekin (@MerrellBennekin) February 17, 2020

The island, located off the Georgia coast, would not be his home for long. 

Brown experienced life’s trials and tribulations from the beginning. 

When he was just two months old, Brown’s father, a boxer, took off and never returned. 

His mother did not stay long either after taking a job as a maid in Manhasset, New York. 

Brown then spent his formative years in the care of his great grandmother.  

When he was eight, Brown’s mother sent for him so he could live with her in New York. 

Brown arrived in New York and blossomed in Manhasset, although it didn’t start out well at first. 

Years ago, Brown shared a recollection with Newsweek magazine about this first day of school in Manhasset.  

“My mother had dressed me in new clothes,” he remembered. “That morning when they gave us recess, a black boy made a wisecrack, said I looked ‘pretty,’ and he shoved me. I reacted Georgia-style. I tackled him, pinned him with my knees, punched him. The closed circle of kids watching then started chanting, ‘Dirty fighter, dirty fighter’ I stopped fighting. I was mystified. How did these boys fight up here?”  

Attending the mostly white Manhasset High School, Brown not only played football but also competed in baseball, basketball, track, and lacrosse. 

Displaying an amazing talent for all the sports he played, Brown averaged 38 points per game in basketball. 

He also averaged an astounding 14.9 yards per rushing attempt as a high school senior. 

Yes, that Jim Brown. #Manhasset pic.twitter.com/Wh9d1jRiyp

— Andrew Bogusch (@AndrewBogusch) February 21, 2019

Needless to say, the recognition he received from his prowess as an athlete brought college suitors.

 

Brown’s Time at Syracuse

 

Brown ended up staying in-state for college and attended Syracuse University. 

Just like his time in high school, Brown did not stick only to football in college.

Happy birthday to Jim Brown, February 17, 1936. ????

A four-sport letterman in football, lacrosse, track & field and basketball.

He was commissioned as a second lieutenant through the Army ROTC upon graduation at Syracuse. pic.twitter.com/nXco3Zqt2c

— AFL GODFATHER (@NFLMAVERICK) February 17, 2019

He also ran track and played lacrosse and basketball. 

As a basketball player during his sophomore and junior years, Brown averaged 13.1 points per game. 

In a game against Sampson Air Force Base during his sophomore year, Brown came off the bench and scored 33 points.  

He had planned to return to the team as a senior but he was not allowed to be a starter. 

Apparently, at that time, there was an unwritten rule at the university that the basketball team would not start three black players. 

Many believe that if Brown had played with the team that year, they would have won the national championship. 

Instead, the team lost in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. 

Although some people considered Brown’s best sport to be lacrosse, he made a name for himself on the football field. 

As Jim Brown is being named the No 1 CFB player, throwback to when Jim Brown dominated lacrosse at Syracuse.
One time Brown scored a hat trick vs Army after competing in a track meet that same day?
As Brown put it him self “Lacrosse is probably the best sport I ever played” pic.twitter.com/yJmII8EXPG

— Throwback Sports (@Throwback_Sport) January 14, 2020

When he was a sophomore, Brown was the second-leading rusher on the team. 

As a junior, he was the leading rusher with 666 yards and a 5.2 yards per carry average.  

As a college senior, Brown was considered to be one of the best, if not the best, running backs in the nation. 

That season he played in only eight games yet still rushed for 986 yards. 

His average yards per attempt was a school-record 6.2 and he even scored six touchdowns in one game. 

In the last game of the season, he rushed for 197 yards, scored six more touchdowns and added seven extra points as a kicker. 

 

Brown finished the year with 14 touchdowns total and was a consensus First-team All-American. 

Astoundingly, he finished fifth in the Heisman voting that year.  

In the Cotton Bowl against TCU after the season, Brown continued to run wild with 132 yards, three touchdowns, and kicking three extra points. 

Not only was he recognized as an All-American in football as a senior, Brown was also recognized as an All-American in lacrosse. 

This honor came on the heels of a lacrosse season where he scored 43 goals in 10 games. 

Although he did not play the sport professionally after leaving college, Brown was still voted into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame.  

 

Brown in the NFL 

 

Brown’s adroitness on the college football field drew a flock of interest from the NFL. 

In the 1957 draft, he was taken by the Cleveland Browns with the 6th overall pick. 

ABS honors #BlackHistoryMonth⁠ ⁠⁠ ⁠
Today’s showcase player: Jim Brown

Drafted 6th overall by the Cleveland Browns in 1957, Brown was a four sport athlete at Syracuse. He is the only man to average 100 rushing ypg over his entire career. He was inducted into 3 HOFs #SB53 pic.twitter.com/SD2DSmCOwD

— The Association for the Business of Sports (@OhioStateABS) February 3, 2019

Jim Brown rookie contract $12,000 pic.twitter.com/U2ayXABWKX

— ??? ???????? ???????? (@NFL_Journal) April 26, 2020

It didn’t take long for the league to see Brown’s talent first-hand. 

In his ninth game, he rushed for 237 yards against the Los Angeles Rams. 

That performance set an NFL single-game record that stood for 16 years before being broken by O.J. Simpson. 

His mark also set an NFL rookie record that remained in place for 40 years. 

Brown ended his rookie season with 942 rushing yards, nine rushing touchdowns, and a receiving touchdown.

In his second pro season, Brown set an NFL single-season rushing record with 1,527 yards (which he would break again in 1963). 

Oct 20,1963 – Jim Brown, #Cleveland Browns sets #NFL single-season rushing record, 1,863 yds #browns #history pic.twitter.com/nzi4RxWw12

— Richard Krivo (@RKrivoFX) October 20, 2015

At the time, the NFL season was only 12 games. 

Many modern historians wonder what his final tally would have been with a modern 16 game regular season. 

His rushing total in 1958 far surpassed the former record of 1,156 yards set by Steve Van Buren of the Eagles in 1949. 

In 1958, Brown also scored a whopping 17 rushing scores and one receiving touchdown.  

In 1964, Cleveland had a good year, finishing 10-3-1. 

Brown continued to rack up huge numbers and finished the season with 1,446 yards at a 5.2 yards-per-carry clip. 

Although the team had Brown pacing them with his legs, Cleveland was also dangerous through the air. 

Their first-round draft pick in 1964 was Ohio State’s Paul Warfield. 

Warfield and Browns quarterback Frank Ryan kept defenses honest as Ryan passed for over 2,400 yards and Warfield hauled in 52 receptions and nine scores. 

The trio led the team into the championship game against the Baltimore Colts.  

Just as it is typical in modern times, media pundits resoundingly picked the Colts to win the game after Baltimore finished the ‘64 season at 12-2. 

The Colts were confident in their own trio of Johnny Unitas, Lenny Moore, and John Mackey leading the team to victory. 

However, Brown was not fazed and, before the game, was quoted as saying, “We’re going to kick their [butt] today.” 

Sure enough, Brown backed up his bold statement with 114 yards rushing on the way to a 27-0 pasting of the favored Colts. 

Jim brown in the 64’ championship game on December 27th at municipal stadium the Cleveland Browns defeated the Baltimore Colts 27-0 on this day brown had 114 yards on 27 attempts @Browns pic.twitter.com/UuIuxIyXAv

— Aaron Wood (@Aaron_330) April 21, 2020

Ryan contributed 206 passing yards and three touchdown tosses to receiver Gary Collins.  

The win was the team’s first championship game victory since 1955. 

In Brown’s final season of 1965, Cleveland finished 11-3 and returned to the championship game against Green Bay. 

This time, however, the team was not victorious and lost to the Pack 23-12. 

Brown was bottled up by Green Bay and rushed for only 50 yards.   

Brown put up staggering numbers throughout his nine-year NFL career. 

The only other season he rushed for under 1,000 yards (besides his rookie season) was in 1962, his sixth year in the league. 

In that season, he finished four yards short of the 1,000 mark (996). 

When he retired after the 1965 season, he led the NFL in numerous categories. 

Among the categories were: single-season record holder (1,863 in 1963), career rushing yards (12,312 yards), all-time leader in rushing scores (106), and total touchdowns (126). 

He was also the all-time leader in all-purpose yards with 15,549.

Jim Brown #Browns
pic.twitter.com/JseMPocCO8

— CleWest (@erjmanlasvegas) March 22, 2020

In his somewhat short pro career, Brown led the NFL in rushing eight times. 

His final game was the 1966 Pro Bowl where he scored three touchdowns. 

As he was walking away from the game, fans and fellow pros alike were upset as to why Brown was calling it a career. 

After all, in his final season of 1965, he rushed for 1,544 yards (the second-most of his career) and had 21 total scores. 

Brown was also the NFL MVP that season and the team went to the championship game. 

Even more baffling, Brown was not yet 30 years old. 

As it turns out, history has shown us that Brown’s retirement had nothing to do with injuries or a decline in athletic ability.

 

Early Film Roles and “The Dirty Dozen”

 

Just before the 1964 season, Brown filmed the role of a Buffalo Soldier in the movie “Rio Conchos.” 

When the movie premiered in Cleveland, Brown viewed it with many of his teammates. 

Critics panned the movie but said Brown’s acting in the film was “serviceable.” 

RIP #StuartWhitman (February 1, 1928 – March 16, 2020)
Rio Conchos, 1964, directed by Gordon Douglas.
Richard Boone, Stuart Whitman and Jim Brown.
Opening scene. pic.twitter.com/NH8yW2PVWB

— Sergio Rodríguez (@Sergiofordy) March 19, 2020

In the early months of 1966, Brown was working on his next movie, “The Dirty Dozen.” 

The film is a WWII story about 12 convicts selected for a special mission to assassinate German officers before the D-Day invasion.  

@Pinceladasdcine Clint Walker and Jim Brown.”The Dirty Dozen”.#cinema pic.twitter.com/uKAQkNttpi

— Tom’s Old Days (@sigg20) January 30, 2016

There were numerous production delays during the filming because of weather. 

Those delays threatened to cause Brown to miss part of training camp and that caught the attention of former team owner Art Modell. 

Modell threatened Brown with a $1,500 fine for every week of training camp he missed. 

To show the world, and Brown himself, that he meant business, Modell sent out a message:

“’No veteran Browns player has been granted or will be given permission to report late to our training camp at Hiram College — and this includes Jim Brown. Should Jim fail to report to Hiram at check-in time deadline, which is Sunday, July 17, then I will have no alternative to suspend him without pay. I recognize the complex problems of the motion picture business, having spent several years in the industry. However, in all fairness to everyone connected with the Browns — the coaching staff, the players and most important of all, our many faithful fans — I feel compelled to say that I will have to take such action should Jim be absent on July 17.”  

Brown had already said that the ‘66 season would be his last and, instead of haggling with Modell, declared his retirement while still on the set of the movie. 

Hold my beer.https://t.co/94SVdKJhGe

— Mark Standriff (@MarkStandriff) April 16, 2020

Modell later admitted in the book When All the World was Browns Town that he had overplayed his hand with Brown.

“I may have acted hastily (with Brown) in 1966. If I had told him to just forget training camp and show up when he could, I think he would have returned. But it wasn’t fair to the coaches and players (for Brown to miss camp).”

 

Brown Continues His Acting Career

 

At 30 years old, Brown was finished playing sports for the first time in his life.  However, he kept plenty occupied with his work in the film industry. 

The same year he filmed “The Dirty Dozen,” Brown was also seen in an episode of the television series “I Spy.” 

The following year he took larger roles in the movies “Ice Station Zebra,” “Dark of the Sun,” and “The Split.”  

When the 1970s dawned, Brown got involved with several ‘Blaxploitation’ films that were a popular genre at the time. 

Entertaining and well-directed, “Black Gunn” (1972) is a perfect #blaxploitation flick with badass Jim Brown in the lead. #movies #cinema pic.twitter.com/EuZS7I51qF

— matte (Matt Cote) (@m77oz) September 16, 2017

Blaxploitation was termed as a way to describe how the roles in these films were made up largely of black actors who played controversial characters. 

While the films received some acclaim, they also received a fair share of backlash. 

Many critics said Blaxploitation was a means to show stereotyped black actors playing roles that entailed poor and questionable motives. 

Brown paid no attention to the critics and appeared in at least a half dozen such movies. 

As the genre ebbed in the mid-70s, Brown found work in other projects.

For the next few decades, Brown would appear in numerous television and movie roles. 

Most notably, he played ‘Fireball’ in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film

“The Running Man” and ‘Slammer’ in the movie “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka”, both in the late 1980s. 

Jim Brown was born on this day in 1936 – appeared in two great 80s roles, Fireball in The Running Man (https://t.co/G6zfaGQY60) and Slammer in I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (https://t.co/MS3fMx2yL1) pic.twitter.com/SBByiCy2n1

— Betamax Video Club (@BetamaxPod) February 17, 2020

Before the century came to a close, Brown could be seen playing football coach ‘Montezuma Monroe’ alongside actor Al Pacino in “Any Given Sunday.” 

As the years continue to roll along, Brown has appeared less and less in the film and television industry.

 

Don’t Call it a Comeback…

 

Although Brown was highly involved in his television and movie roles, he still kept his toe in the sports world. 

In 1978, he joined CBS as a color analyst as part of a trio that included Vin Scully and George Allen. 

Brown also occasionally announced boxing matches on television and, later, pay-per-view Ultimate Fighting Championships.  

In 1983, Brown was at the forefront of NFL news when he announced he was coming back to play in the league. 

Despite the fact that he had been retired for 17 years did not matter. 

Brown was determined not to let then Steelers running back Franco Harris take his all-time rushing title. 

He made it widely known that he did not care for Harris’ running style as Harris had a tendency to step out of bounds to avoid big hits and potential injuries. 

In contrast, Brown had played with a style of straight ahead, brute force. 

“I never ran out of bounds. I would drop my shoulder and tried to run through the tackle. …. You never know when you may break one all the way.”
-Jim Brown pic.twitter.com/4Zk2UqK9xS

— John Hines (@JohnHines66) November 19, 2019

So, Brown signed with the Los Angeles Raiders and was ready to step in to play and add yards to his career totals. 

Although he never did play in a game for the Raiders, he still had a deep disdain for Harris. 

After Harris retired as a member of the Seattle Seahawks in 1984, Brown wasn’t through with him. 

Harris had not surpassed Brown’s rushing total (Walter Payton would eclipse the total in 1984) but Brown still wanted to show Harris that he was a better athlete. 

In a nationally televised event, Harris and Brown ran against each other to see who had the faster 40 yard dash time. 

It should be noted that, on the day of the event, Brown was 47 years old and Harris was 34. 

In the end, it wasn’t even close as Harris finished with a 5.16 time and Brown trailing at 5.72.

After being released by the Steelers in 1984, Franco Harris signed with the Seahawks. He played eight games, gaining 170 yards before retiring. He was 192 yards short of Jim Brown’s record. Although, he did beat Brown in the ‘I Challenge You’ 40 yard dash. pic.twitter.com/Pypspy88bj

— One Team Too Many (@OneTeamTooMany) February 1, 2020

“I wore 32 on my back to be like Jim Brown.”

– HOFer Franco Harris on @JimBrownNFL32 #JimBrownAt80 pic.twitter.com/nhydygObVj

— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) February 18, 2016

Brown remained active in sports for decades. 

In 2008, he was named as an executive advisor for the Browns, helping to build relationships with Browns players and assisting with Cleveland’s player programs department. 

Going back to his roots, Brown bought a stake as a part-owner for the New York Lizards of Major League Lacrosse in 2012. 

Then, in 2013, Brown was named as a special advisor for the Browns.    

 

Legal Issues

 

Unfortunately, not all news regarding Brown has been good news. 

His first wife, Sue, filed for divorce in 1968, nine years after they were married. 

In her reason for wanting a divorce, she charged Brown with “gross neglect.” 

The couple had three children together, Kim, Kevin, and James Jr. 

Terms for the divorce stipulated Brown pay alimony and weekly child support.

In 1965, while still married to his first wife, Brown was arrested in a hotel room for assault and battery against an 18-year-old named Brenda Ayres, although he was acquitted of the charges. 

Only a year later, Brown had to fight an allegation by Ayres that he fathered her child.  

In 1968, model Eva Bohn-Chin was found beneath the balcony of Brown’s second-floor apartment. 

Apparently, Brown had been dating Bohn-Chin and she had become jealous over an affair he was having with social activist Gloria Steinem. 

The two argued about the affair and Brown became physical. 

He was charged with assault to commit murder in the case. 

However, Bohn-Chin refused to cooperate with the prosecutor’s office involved in the case, so Brown’s charges were dismissed. 

Brown did have to pay a $300 fine due to an altercation with a deputy sheriff who was investigating the case.

And if you watch “Jim Brown: All-American,” it’s pretty much impossible to accept his version of events regarding Eva Bohn-Chin. pic.twitter.com/bW8hl9Cxqp

— Joel D. Anderson (@byjoelanderson) October 9, 2018

Although he was not charged, Brown knew that he had done wrong, not by trying to hurt Bohn-Chin, but by, “Slapping her.” 

He later admitted in his memoir that he knew this behavior was wrong.  

“I have also slapped other women,” he wrote. “And I never should have, and I never should have slapped Eva, no matter how crazy we were at the time. I don’t think any man should slap a woman. In a perfect world, I don’t think any man should slap anyone. . . . I don’t start fights, but sometimes I don’t walk away from them. It hasn’t happened in a long time, but it’s happened, and I regret those times. I should have been more in control of myself, stronger, more adult.”

In 1969, Brown was embroiled in a road rage incident and charged with assault and battery. 

He was found not guilty of the charge a year later. 

Brown then met an 18-year-old college student named Diane Stanley in 1973 and, months later, proposed to her. 

They broke off their engagement the following year. 

Roughly a year after that, Brown was sentenced to a day in jail, two years probation, and a $500 fine for beating and choking Frank Snow, his golfing partner.

A decade later, in 1985, Brown made headlines again when he was charged with raping a 33-year-old woman. 

The charges in that case were dismissed as well. 

The following year, Brown assaulted his then fiancee Debra Clark and was arrested. 

When Clark refused to press charges, Brown was released from jail.  

Brown’s internal opinions (and not-so-subtle view) about women was made known four years later. 

In 1989, The LA Times newspaper interviewed Brown after the release of his memoir, “Out of Bounds.” 

In the article, Brown is quoted comparing women to fruit and meat.

“I prefer girls who are young,” he says in “Out of Bounds,” his hot-off-the-press memoir. “When I eat a peach, I don’t want it overripe. I want that peach when it’s peaking.”  Or to put it another way, “If I wake up in the morning, I hunger for crab, then I don’t want steak.” Steak being a woman who is older, say over 25.

In 1997, Brown married for the second time to Monique Brown. 

Two years later Brown was arrested yet again and charged with making terrorist threats against his wife. 

That same year, Brown smashed a window of his wife’s car and was charged with vandalism. 

After this latest incident, Brown was given three years probation, one year of domestic violence counseling, 400 hours of community service (or 40 hours on a work crew), and charged with an $1,800 fine.  

Brown proceeded to ignore the terms of his judgment and was sentenced to six months in jail in 2000. 

He didn’t start serving time until 2002 when he refused to undergo counseling and partake in community service. 

In the end, he only served three of the six months in jail. 

Brown later admitted his issues with women in an Esquire Magazine article.

“I’ve done things I’m not particularly proud of,” he said, “but at least I’m honest enough to talk about them.”

 

Brown as a Civil Activist

 

Although he may have had serious issues with women, Brown did make time to mentor minorities during and after his playing career. 

While playing in Cleveland, Brown founded the Negro Industrial Economic Union (later changed to Black Economic Union, or BEU). 

The BEU used professional athletes as facilitators in establishing black-run enterprises, urban athletic clubs, and youth motivation programs.  

In addition to marching alongside Bill Russell in many civil rights protests in the 1960s, Jim Brown also started the Black Economic Union, which helped black professional athletes establish their own businesses after their playing careers ended. pic.twitter.com/e6omsp4mVA

— Black Athlete Protests (@3030Auburn) November 14, 2018

A few years after retiring, Brown, Lew Alcindor (eventually known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Bill Russell and numerous other black athletes came together to pledge their support for Muhammad Ali. 

The assembled group met at Brown’s BEU headquarters in Cleveland. 

The meeting, dubbed the “Ali Summit” was initially convened to try and persuade Ali to enter the military and accept a deal with the government whipped up by boxing promoter Bob Arum.

The Ali Summit in Cleveland, 1967
Front row: Bill Russell, Boston Celtics; Ali; Jim Brown and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Back row to follow pic.twitter.com/Pb1UsgwOSw

— Rabih Alameddine (@rabihalameddine) September 26, 2017

Arum, along with others, had convinced the government to drop Ali’s “draft dodger” charges if Ali joined the military and performed boxing exhibitions for U.S. troops. 

Years later, it came to light that some of the men in the room actually had financial reasons to want Ali to accept the deal. 

However, he stuck to his proverbial guns and refused to enter the military.  

Brown and the other black athletes assembled did not gain any possible monetary kickback because of Ali’s stance. 

However, they discovered a new found respect for what Ali stood for. 

The summit ended up being a show of solidarity for Ali and for religious freedom. 

At that point moving forward, the group became one voice in standing up to the government and their view that the government was targeting Ali simply because he was black.      

Some time later, well after the Ali Summit, the BEU closed shop. 

Brown then brought the BEU idea to the Coors Golden Door program as well as Jobs Plus. 

In 1986 Brown started Vital Issues, a new program that taught life management skills and personal growth techniques. 

Specifically, this program was implemented to reach inner-city gang members and prison inmates. 

Two years later, Vital Issues was rebranded Amer-I-Can. 

In 1988 Jim Brown founded Amer-I-Can, an org that helps gang members & at-risk youths. https://t.co/0wZFth9oPd pic.twitter.com/B3A4YoE0eY

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) February 16, 2016

Found on the Amer-I-Can web page, the program goal specifically is to, “…help enable individuals to meet their academic potential, to conform their behavior to acceptable society standards, and to improve the quality of their lives by equipping them with the critical life management skills to confidently and successfully contribute to society.”  

When meeting with members of his program, Brown can be found teaching lessons from his home near Los Angeles. 

He believes that failure in personal development and lack of self-esteem are at the root of the problems many young, black people face. 

To rehabilitate their own image and improve their lives, Brown believes Amer-I-Can (in theory) will work, “…by enlarging the scope of individual lives, by introducing them to self-determination techniques, by motivating them with goals, by showing them how to improve and achieve success and financial stability, we will save lives that now seem to be lost.”

Jim Brown’s Amer-I-Can makes a difference https://t.co/rJvtSdwz9L pic.twitter.com/R1a9WqYwQq

— ASCS Awakening the compassionate heart in athletes (@ascs98) June 20, 2016

In 1992, the program received a $1 million grant to expand to San Francisco and Cleveland. 

In addition to his work with Amer-I-Can, Brown’s civic programs expanded in the 1980’s. 

No stranger to the television and movie industry, he founded Ocean Productions to facilitate minorities working in movie making.  

Brown has been hands-on with each of his programs and encourages all athletes to get involved in their communities. 

Specifically, he urges his fellow athletes to do more than “make gestures” when confronting societal issues. 

Brown has publicly made known what he’s hoped his programs will accomplish.

“For too long black Americans have been chasing the shadow of the rabbit. It’s time for us to start chasing the rabbit, not his shadow.”

Brown ultimately wants to give minorities the opportunity and chance to succeed.

“The young black male is the most powerful source of energy and change we have.  My hope is to start a direction where these young men will be given respect and taught how to utilize it.”

 

In Conclusion…

 

Brown turned 84 years young in February yet he remains as active as possible. 

His appearances have been minimal and have not garnered the same notoriety as in his younger days. 

However, in 2018 Brown and rap star Kanye West visited the White House to meet with President Donald Trump. 

WATCH: Trump meets with Kanye West and former NFL player Jim Brown in the Oval Office #tictocnews pic.twitter.com/jVcwIG0FZ2

— QuickTake by Bloomberg (@QuickTake) October 11, 2018

The meeting served as an opportunity for Brown and West to share their views about what problems need to be addressed in America. 

Both men received backlash for seeking an audience with the polarizing president. 

However, Brown defended why he and West met with Trump.

“This is the President of the United States. He allowed me to be invited to his territory, he treated us beautifully, and he shared some thoughts, and he will be open to talking when I get back to him. That’s the best he could do for me.”     

Although Brown’s actions and words have also made him a polarizing figure through the decades, he views his life as one well-lived.

“When I lay down, I think of all the experiences I’ve had and the respect that I’ve gotten. That’s my glory.”

A former French star footballer who now directs FC Miami City’s soccer club was arrested Wednesday for smashing open a condominium apartment door, stealing a knife and spraying the apartment and a tenant with foam from a fire extinguisher.

Gregory ReneRobert Dutil, 37, was taken into custody while holding a cup of red wine and wearing only his boxer briefs and socks, Miami police said. He was booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and charged with armed burglary, burglary with assault or battery, two counts of criminal mischief, possession of coke and improperly using a fire extinguisher.

Police said just before handcuffing Dutil they noticed a bulge in the left side of his white briefs.

“The defendant then reached for the bulge at which point Officer Russell observed it to be a silver kitchen knife,” the arresting officer wrote in Dutil’s arrest form. “Officer Russell immediately confiscated the knife.”

Dutil, who now directs soccer in Miami began his professional career in the 1990s in France and played in that nation’s First and Second divisions before playing in Spain., according to his profile on the website for Miami FC, which is a semi-professional club in a developmental league. Dutil played on the French team Nimes Olympique during the 2011-2012 season, when it won its first French national title in over a decade.

Police said they were called to the Charter Club condominium at 600 NE 36th St. at about 9 a.m. Wednesday about vandalism and possible battery. When they arrived, Dutil’s arrest report says, the soccer player was sitting on a couch in the hallway wearing only his boxer briefs, socks and holding a cup of red wine.

After confiscating the knife, police said, they made contact with a woman in the apartment that Dutil is accused of breaking into. It was not clear from the arrest report if they knew each other. She told officers that he busted the door open, sprayed her in the face with foam from a fire extinguisher and went on to spray down much of the apartment.

The report says she ran to the balcony and screamed. When a security guard at the condo showed up, he told police that Dutil was still in the apartment. He said he managed to control Dutil and sit him down until police arrived. Police said the female tenant said that Dutil gotten the knife from her kitchen.

Police said the apartment floor was covered in red wine and once they searched Dutil they found suspected cocaine in his socks.

Dutil remained in jail Thursday afternoon. No bond had been set for the armed burglary and burglary with assault or battery charges. He could not be reached for comment and it was not immediately clear if he had retained an attorney.

A close friend of Ulster rugby players Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding accused of rape told a court he was shocked to hear alleged victim was ‘in hysterics’ when she left the house.

Blane McIlroy took Belfast Crown Court the events of the night. He claims that the woman had smiled at him when he walked in on her and Jackson in bed together earlier in the evening.

The 26 year-old, of Royal Lodge Road, Belfast, who is charged with one count of exposure, was giving evidence in his own defence at the high-profile trial on Friday.

He is on trial alongside Jackson and Olding who are both charged with raping the same woman following a night out in Belfast on June 28 2016.

He told the court that during a party in Jackson’s house he went upstairs and found his friend in bed with the alleged victim.

“I went up and opened the door of Mr Jackson’s room. I was fully clothed.

“I saw Paddy and (the woman) lying on the bed naked. I said ‘Oh sorry’ and then I went in,” McIlroy told the court.

He added: “I said ‘What have you two been up to tonight?’ and she smiled.

“I sat down on the bed beside (her). She turned towards me and me and her were talking and we started kissing.”

He was asked by his defence barrister Arthur Harvey QC if there had been any reluctance on the woman’s part.

He replied: “No”.

When asked if the kissing was mutual he replied “yes.”

Mr Harvey then asked him: “Did you force yourself on her?”

He replied: “Not at all.”

When asked if the woman had said “no” or “stop” McIlroy replied: “Never. No.”

He told the court that the woman then put her hand down the waistband of his boxer shorts and performed a sex act on him.

McIlroy said he then left the room to find a condom and when he came back the woman was at the foot of bed getting dressed and Jackson was lying in the bed.

“I said I couldn’t find a condom. She said ‘it’s fine. It’s late.’ She said ‘I don’t usually have one night stands’,” McIlroy said.

He claimed that the woman continued to get dressed and then she went downstairs and left in a taxi with co-accused Rory Harrison.

McIlroy said the alleged victim was not upset when she left the house.

He told a court today he dismissed a warning from his friend Harrison that te woman who claims she was raped was in “hysterics” after leaving Jackson’s house.

McIlroy confirmed he received text messages from another pal Rory Harrison in which he stated the woman had been “hysterical” and another saying “it wasn’t going to end well”.

Asked how he reacted to the messages, McIlroy said: “Obviously I didn’t take it seriously because I’d seen [the complainant] leave and I knew she wasn’t in hysterics.”

When asked what his reaction had been when he found out Jackson and Olding had been arrested, he said: “I was shocked. I knew they had been out the night before.

“I just wanted to make sure they had a solicitor or someone to advise them. I was just in shock.”

McIlroy denied the charge against him.

Jackson, 26, from Oakleigh Park in Belfast, and Olding, 24, from Ardenlee Street in the city, deny raping the woman.

Another man, Rory Harrison, 25, of Manse Road, Belfast, is charged with perverting the course of justice and withholding information. He denies the charge.

The prosecution has finished its case in the rape trial of Ireland and Ulster rugby players Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding.

The jury of eight men and three women will begin hearing the defence case on Monday with Judge Patricia Smyth telling Laganside Crown Court the four accused will have an opportunity to give evidence or to call witnesses.

The jury at Laganside Crown Court in Belfast heard on Thursday that Mr Olding had originally been charged with vaginally raping the 19-year-old complainant but the charge was dropped just before Christmas.

Mr Jackson (26), of Oakleigh Park, Belfast has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault in the early hours of June 28th, 2016 at a party in his house.

Mr Olding (24), of Ardenlee Street, Belfast, denies one count of rape on the same occasion. Both men contend the activity was consensual.

Blane McIlroy (26), of Royal Lodge Road, Ballydollaghan, Belfast, has pleaded not guilty to one count of exposure while Rory Harrison (25), from Manse Road, Belfast, pleaded not guilty to perverting the course of justice and withholding information relating to the incident.

A senior investigating officer with the PSNI’s Rape Crime Unit confirmed to defence counsel that Mr Olding was originally investigated and charged with vaginally raping the student.

Forensic testing

Frank O’Donoghue QC, for Mr Olding, asked the officer why the clothing his client was wearing on the night of the alleged rape was not seized and sent for forensic testing.

The trial heard Mr Olding’s house was searched two days later and some clothes were seized but these were not the clothes he was wearing that night.

His clothes would “surely have evidential value” such as showing if Mr Olding’s semen was on his shirt or boxer shorts, counsel said. He said this would have been particularly relevant to the charge of vaginal rape which Mr Olding faced at the time.

The officer denied the clothes had significant evidential value. She said Mr Olding had already admitted he ejaculated and testing the clothes wouldn’t have done anything to prove vaginal rape.

Counsel also asked the officer why she didn’t ask the complainant “some very obvious questions” during her two interviews, such as what happened to her top during the alleged rape.

“Is there not an absence of important detail in these interviews?” Mr O’Donoghue asked the officer.

Version of events

The officer said the purposes of the interviews were not to probe the complainant but to allow her give her version of events in her own words.

On the evening after the alleged rape the woman was examined by a Dr Philip Lavery who took notes and made a statement, both of which were later handed over to police. The officer told counsel she read both these documents.

“When you got Dr Lavery’s statement you must have said ‘what in God’s name is this?’” Mr O’Donoghue said.

He said it must have been apparent to the police that the doctor’s account of what the woman told him contained a number of significant inconsistencies with what she told police during her interviews.

Counsel asked if, in light of this, any consideration was given to interviewing the complainant a third time to ask her about the inconsistencies.

The officer said she does not know if it was discussed but that ultimately no decision was taken to conduct a third interview. She said a third interview would only be done if the complainant said she had further information.

The trial will not sit in evidence on Friday due to the weather. It is expected to finish by March 16th.

Ireland and Ulster rugby player Stuart Olding was charged with vaginally raping a 19 year old Belfast student until the charge was dropped just before last Christmas, his trial has heard.

Mr Olding is standing trial at Laganside Crown Court in Belfast accused of one count of oral rape while his co-accused and teammate Paddy Jackson is accused of vaginal rape and sexual assault.

This morning a senior investigating officer with the PSNI’s Rape Crime Unit confirmed to Mr Olding’s defence counsel he was originally investigated for and charged with vaginally raping the woman.

Frank O’Donoghue QC, for Mr Olding, asked the officer why the clothing his client was wearing on the night of the alleged rape was not seized and sent for forensic testing.

The trial heard Mr Olding’s house was searched two days later and some clothes were seized but these were not the clothes he was wearing that night.

His clothes would “surely have evidential value” such as showing if Mr Olding’s semen was on his shirt or boxer shorts, counsel said. He said this would have been particularly relevant to the charge of vaginal rape which Mr Olding faced at the time.

The officer denied the clothes had significant evidential value. She said Mr Olding had already admitted he ejaculated and testing the clothes would not have done anything to prove vaginal rape.

Counsel also asked the officer why she didn’t ask the complainant “some very obvious questions” during her two interviews, such as what happened to her top during the alleged rape.

“Is there not an absence of important detail in these interviews?” Mr O’Donoghue asked the officer.

The officer said the purposes of the interviews were not to probe the complainant but to allow her give her version of events in her own words.

On the evening after the alleged rape the woman was examined by a Dr Philip Lavery who took notes and made a statement, both of which were later handed over to police. The officer told counsel she read both these documents.

“When you got Dr Lavery’s statement you must have said ‘what in God’s name is this’,” Mr O’Donoghue said.

He said it must have been apparent to the police that the doctor’s account of what the woman told him contained a number of significant inconsistencies with what she told police during her interviews.

Counsel asked if, in light of this, any consideration was given to interviewing the complainant a third time to ask her about the inconsistencies.

The officer said she does not know if it was discussed but that ultimately no decision was taken to conduct a third interview. She said a third interview would only be done if the complainant said she had further information.

Mr Jackson (26), of Oakleigh Park, Belfast has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault in the early hours of June 28th, 2016 at a party in his house. Mr Olding (24), of Ardenlee Street, Belfast, denies one count of rape on the same occasion. Both men contend the activity was consensual.

Blane McIlroy (26), of Royal Lodge Road, Ballydollaghan, Belfast, has pleaded not guilty to one count of exposure while Rory Harrison (25), from Manse Road, Belfast, pleaded not guilty to perverting the course of justice and withholding information relating to the incident.

The trial continues before Judge Patricia Smyth and the jury of eight men and three women.