So when these football players came to visit, Elvis would always say,
“What kind of guy is Jim Brown? Do you know him?”
Everybody told us what a cold person Brown was.
They said he never talked to anybody, that he never gave anybody any tips on breaking tackles, and that he was the same on the movie sets—he just didn’t share much.
Well, we found out that Brown sort of liked Elvis, and since it was mutual, Elvis invited him to come on the sound-stage to meet him.
We started talking to him, and he seemed real friendly.
Finally, the conversation got around to…
“Man, how in the world did you break those tackles? You’d have four guys on you, and you’d run right through them.”
And he told us how he did it.
We didn’t find him reticent at all.
He came to Memphis one time for something, and Elvis said he’d like to have him out to the house.
Richard and I took the limo and brought him over.
We all sat in the living room, and somehow the conversation got on karate.
And of course, Elvis had to get up and start doing a demonstration.
For some reason, Jim thought that was childish, or it didn’t set well with him.
So he said,
“Well, I’m late for an appointment. I gotta go.”
And I made some stupid remark, like “What’s the matter? Can’t handle karate?”
And he looked at me like…
“I can handle whatever you got.” And that was it.
Elvis was happy to see him, but they never spoke again. –
Marty Lacker : Memories
Location/Date: L.A California (Paramount Studios) – April 1st 1964
Jim Brown, designated the greatest college football player of all time by ESPN in a 2020 ceremony, is shown between takes of his debut film, the action-soaked 20th Century Fox western “Rio Conchos.”
Brown was still an active football player when he ventured in dusty cowboy regalia to the nearby Paramount Studios to meet Elvis Presley and the Memphis Mafia on the 1964 set of one of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll’s most popular movies, “Roustabout.”
Left to right are Elvis’ first cousin Billy Smith, Alan Fortas, Richard Davis, Brown, Presley, “Diamond” Joe Esposito, Marty Lacker, and Jimmy Kingsley.
Do you know the NFL team that Jim Brown played for? It was Elvis’ favorite team because of Jim Brown.