Syracuse Football: Jim Brown officially receives GOAT crown from ESPN
Syracuse football legend Jim Brown still receives the respect he deserves in 2020. Here are all the details on his latest honor and what it means.
All year long ESPN has been rolling out there college football 150 celebration counting down the best college football players to ever play the game and they wrapped it up during the National Championship game on Monday night.
Former Syracuse football star Jim Brown earned the No. 1 spot on the list.
"“ESPN’s 150 greatest college football players were determined by a blue-ribbon panel of current and former writers, broadcasters, administrators, sports information directors, and ESPN personalities,” per Cuse.com."
Although Jim Brown wasn’t the only former member of the Syracuse football squad to crack the list. Both Floyd Little and Ernie Davis also cracked the list.
Davis, the lone Heisman Trophy winner in program history was voted the 15th best player in college football history. While Little was named the 52nd best college football player of all time.
Although it’s a special honor for Jim Brown to be voted No. 1 on this prominent list featuring legends from a variety of eras.
He suited up for Syracuse from 1954 through 1956. In his Orange career, he ran for over 2,000 yards (2,091) and scored 26 touchdowns. Not only did he play football, but he also played basketball, lacrosse, and track earning 10 varsity letters across all the sports he participated in.
The only shame for Brown is he never won a Heisman trophy when he was on the hill playing for the Orange. In 1956 he finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman not because he didn’t score enough touchdowns, but because of the color of his skin.
Jim didn’t only pave the way for future running backs to have success, but he paved the way so players like Ernie Davis could have a chance to win the Heisman trophy.
Next. Syracuse Football: Ranking every SU first round pick in NFL Draft history. dark
One final nugget on this story: the only criticism of the list in the court of public opinion so far has been the lack of balance from players of yesteryear compared to players in the 21st century. As a matter of fact, only 16 players in the modern era (21st century) cracked the all-time list.