Redemption in '64

John Harris

Description

The Cleveland Browns set the standard by which all professional football teams were measured in the 1940s and '50s, but when they won the National Football League championship in 1964 it came as a surprise. Sports Illustrated called it "one of the biggest of all football upsets." Redemptionin '64 tells the story of these 1964 NFL champion Browns, focusing on four individuals who were redeemed by the team's 27-0 win over the Baltimore Colts: owner Art Mod- ell, head coach Blanton Collier, superstar running back Jim Brown, and quarterback Frank Ryan.Following the 1962 season, Modell fired Paul Brown, the team's first and (then) only head coach and the man for whom the team was named. Modell was an outsider, a New York ad man, and the move elicited much criticism. The team's turnaround in 1963-it improved from seven wins to 10 under Collier-and the 1964 championship proved Modell right.Collier, a longtime assistant of Paul Brown, helped build the Browns into professional football's premier franchise. The Kentucky native left the club in 1954 for his dream job, head coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats, but he was fired following the 1961 season. He returned to Cleve- land and was Modell's surprise choice to replace Brown. Collier led Cleveland to the NFL title in just his second year as head coach.Jim Brown had established himself as the greatest running back in NFL history, but Cleveland hadn't won a championship in his seven years with the team. Frustrated with playing in Paul Brown's system, he criticized the coach publicly. Many believed the rebellious running back was to blame for Paul Brown's dismissal.Frank Ryan was a second-string quarterback for the first six years of his NFL career. He was a backup even while playing at Rice Institute where he was pursuing a doctorate in mathematics. In 1963 and '64, however, he blossomed into a first-stringer and a championship quarterback-one of only two in Cleveland Browns history, along with Otto Graham.Redemption in '64 entertains readers with the growing excitement of the Browns' turnaround seasons. It concludes with play-by-play action of Cleveland's thrilling victory over Johnny Unitas's Baltimore Colts in the 1964 NFL championship contest, still one of the greatest professional football upsets of all time.

Sujets

• USA
• Fútbol americano
• American football
• History of sport
• États-Unis
• Ohio

Informations

• Publié par: The Kent State University Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781631013157
• Langue: English

Extrait

REDEMPTION IN ’64
REDEMPTION IN ’64
THE CHAMPION CLEVELAND BROWNS
John M. Harris

BLACK SQUIRREL BOOKS ®
Kent, Ohio
BLACK SQUIRREL BOOKS®
Frisky, industrious black squirrels are a familiar sight on the Kent State University campus and the inspiration for Black Squirrel Books®, a trade imprint of The Kent State University Press. www.KentStateUniversityPress.com
© 2018 by The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Number 2018008745
ISBN 978-1-60635-343-1
Manufactured in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced, in any manner whatsoever, without written permission from the Publisher, except in the case of short quotations in critical reviews or articles.
Portions of Redemption in ’64 were originally published in “The Last Champions,” Timeline Jan.–Mar. 2015, Vol. 32, Issue 1, pp. 2–15 and are reprinted with the permission of The Ohio History Connection.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Harris, John M. (John McCormick), 1954- author.
Title: Redemption in ’64 : the champion Cleveland Browns / John M. Harris.
Other titles: Redemption in 1964 | Cleveland Browns
Description: Kent, Ohio : The Kent State University Press, [2018] | “Portions of “Redemption in ’64” were originally published in “The Last Champions,” Timeline, Jan-Mar 2015, Vol. 32, Issue 1, pp. 2-15 and are reprinted with the permission of The Ohio History Connection”--T.p. verso. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018008745 | ISBN 9781606353431 (paperback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Cleveland Browns (Football team : 1946-1995)--History. | National Football League--History--20th century. | Football--United States--History--20th century--Anecdotes.
Classification: LCC GV956.C6 H37 2018 | DDC 796.332/640977132--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018008745
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For Sheryl
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Epilogue
Notes
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book grew out of an article I wrote on the fiftieth anniversary of the Cleveland Browns’ 1964 NFL championship season. The story in Timeline , a publication of the Ohio History Connection, caught the attention of Kent State University Press, which asked me to write a book about the ’64 Browns. As a lifelong (and long-suffering) Cleveland fan, I was delighted at the opportunity to delve deeply into the season, the title game, and its participants.
This book and the Timeline article couldn’t have been produced without the help of a number of individuals, beginning with Tony Dick, formerly the Browns’ manager of alumni relations. Tony put me in contact with former players and with fans of the championship team, and he also made the club’s scrapbooks available to me.
I had the privilege of speaking with a dozen former Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Colts, and a handful of them were especially patient and generous with their time. Frank Ryan and his wife, Joan, opened their Grafton, Vermont, home to me and answered innumerable queries about their personal and professional lives. Dick Schafrath, John Wooten, and Jim Ninowski helped place issues of the era into their proper context—among them football strategy, race relations, and the complicated genius Paul Brown. Howard Schnellenberger provided insights into Blanton Collier’s time as coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats. Kay Collier McLaughlin, Blanton’s daughter, steadfastly preserves her father’s legacy, and she made sure I had whatever information I needed about him and her mother, Forman. Kay’s biography of her father, the aptly named Football’s Gentle Giant , is a treasure trove of information about him and the men he coached and with whom he worked.
Others I had the opportunity to interview included former Browns Walter Beach, Dale Lindsey, Paul Warfield, and Paul Wiggin and former Colts Gary Cuozzo, Tom Matte, and Don Shula (a former Browns player as well as coach of the Colts).
Lady Gilmore explained the Browns’ place in Cleveland’s African American community, and Doris McFarland supplied information about Paris, Kentucky, the hometown of Blanton and Forman Collier. Jon Kendle, archivist at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, made the Cleveland Browns archives available to me. Jonathan Knight and Roger Gordon read the first draft of the manuscript and provided valuable suggestions and edits. Tony Tomsic, a Cleveland native and renowned sports photographer, including for the Cleveland Press and Sports Illustrated , provided photos for this book and an account of what it was like to watch the ’64 title game from the sideline.
A posthumous note of gratitude goes to my parents and maternal grandparents, all of whom instilled in me a love for football, especially the Cleveland Browns.
PROLOGUE
C leveland Browns owner Art Modell stood on the sideline of Cleveland Municipal Stadium looking as though he’d just swallowed a slug. Dressed in a camel-hair overcoat to shield himself against the wind whipping off Lake Erie, he appeared older than his thirty-nine years, lines creasing his forehead, his dark eyes hollow. Beside him stood Baltimore Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom, smiling under a corduroy cap that covered his gray-blonde toupee. Rosenbloom appeared oblivious to the cold and unruffled by the fact that his club was about to play for the 1964 National Football League championship.
“I just hope you guys don’t embarrass us,” Modell said.
“Don’t worry,” Rosenbloom responded. “This thing will be just fine.” 1
Modell had as much reason to worry as Rosenbloom had to be confident. The Browns were a one- or two-touchdown underdog, depending on who was laying the bets. Baltimore was quarterbacked by Johnny Unitas, the league’s Most Valuable Player, and the Colts led the NFL in scoring in 1964, totaling the third-most points in league history to that date. The Browns played a “rubber band defense”: they bent but didn’t break, conceding short completions but nothing long. As a result, they gave up more yards than any team in the league. The prevailing thought was Unitas and the Colts would put up so many points Cleveland would be unable to keep pace.
Modell had much more than bragging rights riding on the game’s outcome. His reputation and judgment were also at stake. Three years earlier, he’d left New York for Cleveland after buying a majority share of the club, and after two seasons as owner he shocked the NFL by firing the team’s founder and only head coach, Paul Brown, a man whom many considered the greatest coach in pro football history. It was a bold and risky move. Arthur Daley of the New York Times said, “The dismissal defies comprehension,” and Whitey Kelley of the Charlotte Observer said it would have been more believable to hear Jimmy Hoffa give a nomination speech for Bobby Kennedy. To some, Brown’s firing was the beginning of the end for professional football in Cleveland. From its birth in 1946, the franchise had boasted local ownership, a local coach, and a team stocked with local players. Now it was just another business venture, owned by some guy from Brooklyn. “Baseball has ceased to exist as a money-making major league sport in Cleveland,” wrote Bud Furillo, a columnist for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner . “Now that Brown has passed from the scene, you can summon the gravediggers for football, too.” 2 A loss to the Colts would prove Modell’s naysayers right: Cleveland couldn’t win a championship without Paul Brown.
Modell had made millions as a pioneer in television production and later in advertising. He gave it up to become involved in professional football. Cleveland especially excited him because the Browns were the most successful franchise in the league and because this made him a partner with Paul Brown. Modell readily admitted he was starstruck. A tug-of-war for control of the franchise began immediately. The first time the two met, Modell tried breaking the ice by telling a joke. Brown stared at him without a word. Modell wanted to learn about the team, and he liked to be near the players, so he visited the team’s practices every day. Brown never acknowledged him, and Modell showed up less and less. Eventually he quit going.
Modell was swept up in the game’s passion, and no city was more passionate about its team than Cleveland. Municipal Stadium regularly was filled to capacity, with eighty thousand or more spectators for home games, and the Browns were the city’s main topic of conversation. “I’ve never seen anything quite as emotional as football,” Modell said. “Even when I was putting out twelve hours a week of live TV programming the pressures were not comparable.” 3 He watched the Browns games from a box above the field, packs of Marlboros and antacids arrayed before him. He banged the counter in front of him, cigarette butts flying from an ashtray and antacid tablets bouncing to the floor. “Watching Art Modell watch the Cleveland Browns is often more interesting than watching the game,” one observer noted. Modell groaned, cried, pleaded, clawed at his hair, and lit cigarette after cigarette, “the match cupped inside his hand like Humphrey Bogart.” 4
Paul Brown, though, was stoic and strict (he was described as having all the warmth of a glacier). He had developed a set of rules, and he—and everyone associated with the Browns—lived by them. To Brown’s way of thinking, the rift between him and the upstart ad man didn’t stem from a difference in personalities, as many assumed. “It was a basic conflict,” he said, “between two different styles and two different philosophies of operating—one from knowledge and experience; the other from a complete lack of either.” 5
In the Browns’ first thirteen years of existence, the team won four A