Before the Barack Obama mantra of "Yes We Can" became integral to American political speech, Jim Brown had proclaimed Yes I Can! His national Amer-I-Can Life Skills and Youth Motivational Program is a 60-90 hour life skills geared curriculum that is designed to help individuals take control of their lives and to change them for the better to take them from the mindset of "I Can't" to " I Can." http://www.amer-i-can.org
New Haven is blessed to be a participant in the Amer-I-Can movement and the graduation for students from Wilbur Cross High School , was held on Friday, June 13, 2008. Click on this link for a video excerpt about Jim Brown:
http://www.amer-i-can.org/files/Videos/WhoIsJimBrown.wmv
Tellingly, Brown mentioned during his congratulatory remarks that as a sophomore at Syracuse he was thinking of quitting because the football coach did not think he could play.
Click on the videos below to view excerpts from the graduation:
A four part photo slide show from the graduation is below:
Additional Information about Jim Brown:
Brown was born on St. Simons Island in coastal Georgia, the son of Theresa, a housekeeper, and Swinton Brown, a professional boxer. He grew up in a devoutly Baptist family. He was raised for six years by his grandmother after his mother left him at age 2 to work on Long Island (his father left the family shortly after Brown's birth). At age eight, he moved to Long Island in the 1940s to live with his mother, who at the time was working as a housekeeper for wealthy homeowners. At Manhasset High School, Brown earned 13 letters playing football, lacrosse, baseball, basketball and running track.
Brown attended Syracuse University. As a sophomore, Brown was the second leading rusher on the team. That winter, he was Syracuse's second leading scorer in basketball, averaging 15 points. He also earned a letter in track that spring. As a junior, he rushed for 666 yards (5.2 per carry), averaged 11.3 points in basketball and was named a second-team All-American in lacrosse. In his senior year, Brown was first-team All-American in both football and lacrosse (43 goals in 10 games to tie for the national scoring championship). He averaged 6.2 yards in running for 986 yards -- third most in the country despite Syracuse playing only eight games -- and scored 14 touchdowns. In the regular-season finale, a 61-7 rout of Colgate, he rushed for 197 yards, scored six touchdowns and kicked seven extra points for 43 points. Then in the Cotton Bowl, he rushed for 132 yards, scored three touchdowns and kicked three extra points. But a blocked extra point after Syracuse's third touchdown was the difference as TCU won 28-27.
Brown was taken in the first round of the 1957 draft by the Cleveland Browns. Brown announced his retirement on July 14, 1966 after Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell insisted that Brown report to training camp instead of finishing his work on the movie The Dirty Dozen. He departed as the NFL record holder for both single-season (1,863 in 1963) and career rushing (12,312 yards), as well as the all-time leader in rushing touchdowns (106), total touchdowns (126), and all-purpose yards (15,549). He was the first player ever to reach the 100-rushing-touchdowns milestone, and only a few others have done so since, despite the league's expansion to a 16-game season in 1978 (Brown's first four seasons were only 12 games, and his last five were 14 games). 
Brown also set a record by reaching the 100-touchdown milestone in only 93 games, and is the only rusher in NFL history to average over 100 yards per game for a career. Brown was also a superb receiver out of the backfield, catching 262 passes for 2,499 yards and 20 touchdowns. Every season he played, Brown was voted into the Pro Bowl, and he left the league in style by scoring three touchdowns in his final Pro Bowl game. Perhaps the most amazing feat is that Jim Brown accomplished these records despite never playing past 29 years of age.
Brown has been no stranger to the field of public service. As early as his playing days in Cleveland, he founded the Black Economic Union (BEU), which used professional athletes as facilitators in the establishment of black-run enterprises, urban athletic clubs, and youth motivation programs. The BEU eventually folded, but Brown took his ideas to the Coors Golden Door program and Jobs Plus. In 1986, he founded a new endeavor, Vital Issues, aimed at teaching life management skills and personal growth techniques to inner-city gang members and prison inmates. By 1989, Vital Issues had evolved into Amer-I-Can.
Brown had begun his career as an actor with an appearance in the film Rio Conchos in 1964, then played a villain in a 1967 episode of I Spy called "Cops and Robbers", went on to star in the 1967 war movie The Dirty Dozen (during the filming of which he announced his retirement from professional football), the 1970 movie ...tick...tick...tick..., as well as in numerous other features. In 1969, Brown starred in 100 Rifles with Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch. The film was one of the first to feature an interracial love scene. Raquel Welch reflects on the scene in Spike Lee's Jim Brown: All-American. Brown acted with Fred Williamson in films such as 1974's Three the Hard Way, 1975's Take a Hard Ride, 1982's One Down, Two to Go, 1996's Original Gangstas and 2002's On the Edge.
He also guest starred in a handful of television episodes of various programs with Williamson. In 1998, he provided the voice of Butch Meathook in Small Soldiers Perhaps Brown's most memorable role was as Robert Jefferson in The Dirty Dozen, and in Keenen Ivory Wayans' 1987 comedy I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. Brown also acted in 1987's The Running Man an adaptation of a Stephen King story. He played a coach in Any Given Sunday and also appeared in Sucker Free City and Mars Attacks!
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