JU lacrosse coach John Galloway has fond memories of meeting fellow Syracuse alum Jim Brown

Jacksonville University lacrosse coach John Galloway said it was a sad day for fans of two sports with the news of Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown's passing late Thursday in Los Angeles at the age of 87. 

“He was a great supporter of lacrosse his entire life,” said Galloway on Friday, who shared an important distinction with Brown — both were lacrosse All-Americans at Syracuse. “He’s said and written many times that lacrosse was actually his favorite sport. His son [Aris] played lacrosse at Hampton University. He is as much a legend in the lacrosse community, especially in the Northeast, as he is in football.” 

Galloway met Brown once, in 2011 during a lacrosse banquet function at Syracuse. 

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“Very soft-spoken guy but very passionate about talking lacrosse,” Galloway said. 

Brown played four sports at Syracuse and made his greatest accomplishments in football, where he is in the pro and college football halls of fame. He gained 2,091 yards and scored 19 touchdowns in three seasons at Syracuse, then was a Pro Bowl player in each of the nine years he played in the NFL, breaking every important rushing record at the time and finishing with 12,312 yards and 106 touchdowns. 

But Brown also is the only man in the pro football, college football and lacrosse Halls of Fame. Statistics are incomplete but he scored 77 goals and had 21 assists in two seasons for the Orangemen, capped by a 43-goals during a 10-0 season for Syracuse in 1957. 

Brown was first exposed to lacrosse after his family moved from St. Simons Island, Ga., to Long Island, N.Y., when he was 8 years old. Brown has said in numerous interviews that he got hooked for good after he went to Syracuse and would go to the nearby Onondaga Nation reservation to play lacrosse and box lacrosse. 

Galloway said he’s never seen any film of Brown playing lacrosse and doubts it exists. But his college coach, Roy Simmons Jr., played with Brown and frequently regaled Galloway and his teammates with tales of Brown’s domination. 

“He basically held the stick at chest level and ran through everyone,” Galloway said. 

Brown inspired a rule change, requiring players to keep the stick in motion with the ball in their possession. 

And there's also something about lacrosse that continues to interest football players to this day. Jaguars safety Rayshawn Jenkins visited JU practice last fall and tried his hand with a lacrosse stick.

Brown told the New York Times in a 1984 interview that lacrosse was his best sport because he could use his flat-out speed more than in football. He also wrote in his book that given a choice, he would play lacrosse six days a week and football one. 

“That quote, right there, gave our sport credibility,” Galloway said.