As a part of their Alumni Weekend celebration, the Cleveland Browns unveiled a statue of Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown on Sunday before the Browns took on the Baltimore Ravens.
Dee and Jimmy Haslam had the statue commissioned in February on Brown's 80th birthday to honor his many on-field accomplishments. Brown was the leading NFL rusher in 8 of the 9 seasons he played and set the NFL's record for highest yards per carry average by a running back in a career.
"There is a natural feeling that I have today of joy and celebration. This represents one of the highest moments of my life because when I look at the audience, about 95 percent of the people I know personally and most of them I know through the work they do, the work I do and the work we do together in the community to make it a better community," Brown said.
Haslam went on to say, “It is pretty hard to argue with what Jim did as a player. I’m sure you could argue with some various franchises whether he is the greatest NFL player of all time, even the greatest NFL running back, but it would be pretty hard to argue that he is not the greatest Cleveland Brown of all time."
The statue was made out of bronze with stainless steel support. It stands at 11'6" and weighs over 2,000 pounds. Fans can find the statue outside of University Hospitals Gate at FirstEnergy stadium.
View a full photo gallery from the unveiling here.
