First Cleveland Browns Game

Program from the first game

On September 5, 1946, the Cleveland Browns played their first game at Cleveland Municipal Stadium where they beat the Miami Seahawks 44-0 in front of a crowd of 60,135.

Harold Sauerbrei of the Cleveland Plain Dealer Reported:

The Cleveland Browns made 60,135 friends last night at Cleveland Stadium.

Breaking out with a flurry of points in the first half and pouring it on right up to the final seconds, the Browns made their championship debut in the new All-America Conference and first Cleveland appearance highly successful as they undid the Miami Seahawks, 44 to 0.

It was appropriate that the largest crowd ever to see a league game in professional football was on hand to watch the inaugural of the Brownies, who were a vastly improved team over the one that played an exhibition contest in Akron just a week ago last night. They moved the ball down the field with alacrity to score 10 points in the first quarter and 17 in each of the second and fourth periods. Only in the third period did the Browns attack stall.

There were five touchdowns scored by five different players, two of them coming on long runs, two on forward passes and the other on a short jaunt after Edgar (Special Delivery) Jones had put the ball in position as he gave a display of his running ability for the first time in a Cleveland uniform.

The rest of points were accounted for by Lou Groza, the Martins Ferry (O.) place-kicking expert, who added the extra point after each of the five touchdowns and also booted three field goals. That made him the game's leading scorer with 14 points.

Cleveland didn't delay getting the scoring under way as Cliff Lewis, starting his first game at home since his days at Lakewood High School, pitched a 19-yard aerial to Mac Speedle with only three minutes and 45 seconds of the first period gone.

Otto Graham passed to Dante Lavelli for the second in the second period. Tommy Colella raced 50-yards for the third, also in the second, and Don Greenwood and Ray Terrell added the others in the fourth period. Terrell's came on a 76-yard run after he had intercepted a pass. The gun barked shortly after he hit the goal line.

That was the offensive show. The Browns were also superb on defense and stopped everything the Floridians could muster in the way of an attack.

Not once did Miami advance within the Browns' 39-yard line and it was a fumble by Fred (Dippy) Evans as he was attempting to punt on fourth down that gave the Seahawks the break to get that close. That came near the end of the first period and until then the Miami team couldn't get past its own 30.

In the entire first half, Miami broke even in its offensive attempts, making 16-yards passing, but showing a minus 16 on running efforts. The Seahawks' total offense netted them 27 yards. They made only five first downs to the Browns' 13.

The Browns, meanwhile were totaling 345 yards through the air and on the ground, the runners making 178 and passes netting 167. Lewis, who played only briefly, completed two of three throws for 62 yards and Graham connected on six of 13 for 109.

Cleveland's running attack was sharp as compared with the exhibition game efforts. Several times Gaylon Smith, the hard-working ex-Ram, broke away for substantial gains and piled up 54 yards for the night to become the leading individual ground gainer. One of his best gains of the night, a smash straight through center, went for better than 40 yards and a touchdown, but the play was called back and Cleveland penalized 15 yards for clipping.

Cleveland's first touchdown came on the eighth play of the game. The Browns kicked off and on Miami's second effort Jim Tarrant attempted to pass and fumbled. Mike Scarry recovered for the Browns on the Miami 29.

Lewis, carefully looking over the field, tossed a perfect pass to Left End Speedle, who stood waiting for it near the corner of the end zone.

The Browns boosted the margin to 10 points shortly after the next kickoff, the ball being put into position for Groza's field goal by a pass from Graham to Marion Motley that was good for 37 yards. Cleveland had kicked off and, of course, Miami couldn't gain. Johnson punted on fourth down. Lewis taking the kick on his own 40 and running it back 8 yards.

Bill Lund and Greenwood each lost a yard in two tries at the line before Graham connected to Motley. It was a short pass to the right, which Marion took on the 47. He started down the sideline, was almost caught on the Miami 35, but tore loose to pick up 17 more yards before he was finally downed. Greenwood then made three yards in two tries and a Graham pass to Motley was incomplete, whereupon Groza trotted onto the field, brought out his measuring tape and booted the first of his three three-pointers from the 22-yard line.

That ended the first period scoring, and the next Cleveland six-pointer came midway through the second stanza on a drive that covered 80 yards. Most of the yardage was accumulated on two passes from Graham to Lavelli

Graham Connects

The Browns had taken the ball on their own 20 when Johnston's kick went over the goal line. On the first try Graham just missed with a pass intended for John Harrington. He did hit on one to Smith, but it was good for only a yard. Then he tossed a long one to Lavelli, who made the catch as he stumbled on the Browns 46 near the sideline. It was good for 27 yards.

Smith then burst through center on one of those quick openers and was away for 17 yards and another first down on the Miami 37. Graham tried to toss to Harrington that missed its mark, but his next effort again went to Lavelli. It was exactly the same play as that of three plays earlier and the ex-Ohio Stator grabbed the oval on the 2 and stepped over.

The Browns came right back the next time they got the ball, scoring in one play from the 50-yard line as Tommy Colella, running from the left half position, took a pass behind the line from Graham, slashed through center and straight down the field for the six points that made it 24-0.

Mel Maceau, sub center, recovered a fumble by Tarrant on the Miami 34 to set up the next points. It was here that smith made his touchdown dash that was called back. Cleveland moved all the way to the six and then was tossed back to the 11 before Groza entered the game and kicked field goal No. 2 from the 20 for the final points of the first half.

The Browns didn't threaten through the third. Several times Graham hit his receivers with nice passes, but they didn't hang on, keeping the Browns from getting into position for additional points.

Cleveland started a drive from its own 32 late in the third period and resulted in another touchdown at the beginning of the fourth. The big feature of this drive was Jones' 38-yard gain that just missed going for the points. Jones was attempting to pass but couldn't find a receiver. He started to the right and then reversed his field and cut for the corner of the field where he was finally nailed on the 1. On third down, Lou Saban fumbled and Greenwood picked the ball up on the 3 and scooted over.

With the game apparently over and the fans starting to leave, Cleveland mustered its final points. After Monk Gafford had intercepted a Saban pass, Walt McDonald made one last desperate effort to gain some points for the Seahawks.

He heaved a long pass, but Terrell took it on his own 24 and went the distance down the north sideline. 

So who were the Miami Seahawks?

The Miami Seahawks were the last of the original All-America Football Conference teams to be established. They were formed to replace an aborted Baltimore franchise, which was to have been owned by retired boxer George Tunney but was unable to secure a stadium deal. Miami football boosters seized on the opportunity to bring a professional team to their city, and a franchise was awarded to owner Harvey Hester. The Seahawks thus became the first major league sports team to be based in Miami. Home games were played at the Miami Orange Bowl.

The Seahawks stood out from the other AAFC franchises in a several ways. First, they were based in a substantially smaller market, one that had about half the population of other metropolitan areas with professional football teams. The other cities that received AAFC teams were among the 15 largest in the United States, while Miami, though growing quickly, was only 42nd largest in the 1940s. Additionally, owner Harvey Hester was substantially less wealthy than the other team owners, and was the only one among them who was not a millionaire. Cleveland Browns coach Paul Brown remarked that Hester seemed out of his league around the other owners, to the point that he was uncomfortable even playing poker among them.

The Seahawks hired Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks coach Jack Meagher as head coach. Their schedule was quite difficult from the beginning. Miami opened with three straight road games, had a single home game, and then played another four road games. By the time of their first home game they had a record of 0-3-0, leading local papers to describe them as "woefully inept". Meagher quit abruptly on October 22, after the sixth game, having led his team to just one win. Hamp Pool, a former captain of the 1940 and 1941 Chicago Bears NFL championship teams, then took over as head coach. After a 1-7-0 start, the team returned home to host their final six games, a difficult sell to the general public. While an average 28,000 people came to the Seahawks first two home games, fans quickly lost interest in the flagging team, and fewer than around 9000 came to each of the last three games. Brooklyn, Cleveland, and San Francisco had completed their 14-game regular seasons before the Seahawks hosted their final two home games. The team also played all of its November games on Monday night, the first time in major professional football that such a move had ever been attempted more than once in a year. This would later prove to be an inspiration for Monday Night Football, which would not debut for another 24 years.

At the end of the season the team was up to $350,000 in debt, including $80,000 in travel and payroll costs, and Hester could not afford to repay it. Football boosters in Miami attempted to buy the team, though they were unwilling to square the substantial debt Hester had accumulated, and decided to wait a year to make the bid. Before this could happen, however, Hester declared bankruptcy and league commissioner Jim Crowley expropriated the team. Before the Miami boosters could make an offer the league approved a bid by Washington, D.C. attorney Robert D. Rodenburg and four other businessmen. The group reformed the team in Baltimore and renamed it, and the original incarnation of the Baltimore Colts was born.