Retro: When future Cleveland Browns star Jim Brown rocked Baltimore’s Homewood Field as a lacrosse player

Jim Brown, the former Cleveland Browns fullback and civil rights activist, had a night in Baltimore still vividly remembered by lacrosse fans fortunate enough to have witnessed his brilliant performance in 1957.

Brown, 87, died last month and was acclaimed as one of the greatest running backs of all time, an NFL legend and a Most Valuable Player.

As a Syracuse University student, he also played lacrosse and often confessed his affection for the game.

What brought Brown to Baltimore was the North-South All-Star Game, a hybrid contest that was the lacrosse’s season finale showcase. Top college players from the two regions competed against one another.

The North was represented by players from the U.S. Military Academy, Colgate University, the University of New Hampshire, Hofstra University, Rutgers University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Syracuse.

The South was composed of the University of Baltimore, the Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of Virginia and Washington and Lee University.

Brown achieved All-America status at Syracuse and was widely viewed as the player to watch that night. His photo appeared in The Evening Sun the day of the game. He was the first-round draft choice of the Cleveland Browns that year.

The game was held June 7, 1957, under the lights at Homewood Field on University Parkway.

His arrival in Baltimore for the contest was much anticipated among lacrosse followers. Bill Tanton, writing in The Evening Sun, called the game “the final order of business for the 1957 lacrosse season.” He predicted the game would be a toss-up.

“The Homewood Field at Hopkins was the hallowed home ground of lacrosse, and Baltimore was then still a largely segregated city. Lacrosse, although it began with Indigenous people, was then an almost totally all-white sport,” said Stan Heuisler, a former Baltimore Magazine editor.

“Having led his Syracuse team to two national titles, the All-American Jim Brown, who was Black, was not unheard of. But his performance that night on the North’s team stunned an almost all-white attendance.

“He took an early faceoff at midfield and ran down to score. He almost effortlessly did this five times in a row, and then smoothly sat down and let others play. People who knew lacrosse said they’d never seen such singular dominance. He did joke afterwards he was happy to have done it ‘to the South.’ And he later said lacrosse was his favorite sport,” said Heuisler, who was also director of the Columbus Center.

Sun sports writer Edward Atwater wrote: “Brown, speedy, elusive and effortless, thrilled the crowd each time he got the ball. He controlled nearly all the faceoffs and was also a great threat with his passing.”

Washington Post writer William Gildea said in a 2003 recollection of that game, “He was stronger, faster, quicker, more skilled with the stick: He could cradle a ball and protect it from opponents’ thwacking sticks as if he were carrying delicate china.”

Russell T. “Tim” Baker, former U.S. attorney for Maryland, who was then a Gilman School ninth grader and a varsity lacrosse player, said: “The guy was absolutely dominant. He almost scored at will.”

Lewis Noonberg, a Baltimore City College graduate, also was at that game.

“It was the greatest exhibition of lacrosse ever played,” he said.

“I had been a sophomore at Dartmouth playing lacrosse, and Brown was a senior at Syracuse. We competed once,” Noonberg said. “He was absolutely like no lacrosse player I’d ever seen or played with. He had acceleration, speed, power and strength.”

The Sun reported that a crowd of 6,500 fans filled Homewood Field. The game was called a “star-studded contest limited to senior players.”

Al Cosgrove, a University of Baltimore attackman playing for the South, scored seven goals, then a record for the rivalry. However, the North took the game 14-10.

Shortly thereafter, Jim Brown joined the Browns and went on to be named NFL Rookie of the Year.