Forty-eight years ago today the Cleveland Browns beat the Baltimore Colts, 27-0, to claim the NFL Championship, the last time a Cleveland team has won a championship in any of the major sports.
"The Browns are the National Football League champions after what well may be the best performance ever in the sparkling history of this football club.
"They stifled the Baltimore Colts, highest scoring team in the league this season, 27-0, before 79,544 on a windy, chilly afternoon at the stadium yesterday."
According to Pro-Football-Reference.com, the Browns finished the 1964 season with a record of 10-3-1 while Baltimore went 12-2. The Colts and Browns were ranked 1st and 2nd respectively in total points and were the only two teams in the league to tally 400 or more points.
Baltimore was led by Johnny Unitas, the AP and UPI Most Valuable Player and the Bert Bell Award winner for the Player of the Year, and Lenny Moore, the Newspaper Ent. Assoc. MVP.
The Browns were paced that season by Jim Brown's 1,446 rushing yards and Frank Ryan's 2,404 passing yards.
But, according to Heaton, it was the defense that won the day for the Browns:
"Despite the fact that he had a hand heavily encased in a cast, Galen Fiss played what must be the finest game of his career. The captain and linebacker from Kansas made tackles that rattled the teeth of fans in Row Z.
"And if there was any doubt about this defensive showing being a team effort it was dispelled in the jam-packed Cleveland dressing room. You'd congratulate Larry Benz and he'd mention Jim Houston. Houston would mention Ross Fichtner and Ross would mention Vince Costello.
he emotional release of Peyton Manning by the Indianapolis Colts on Wednesday wasn't close to how Bernie Kosar left the Cleveland Browns many years ago.
Belichick turned Kosar, already a hero in the eyes of Browns fans, into a martyr that day. Headlines in newspapers the next morning were as big and bold as "Japan Bombs Pearl Harbor," and that is no exaggeration.
Two hours before Belichick and Browns owner Art Modell met with the media, they met with Kosar to deliver the news. Cutting Kosar was Belichick's idea, but Modell backed it 100 percent.
The departure of Kosar began early that season when stories of Kosar and Belichick disagreeing on offense in the 2 1/2 years Kosar played for Belichick were legendary, but Belichick said that is not why he benched and then cut Kosar.
"I've even heard I sat Bernie because I don't like him," Belichick said a week or so later in a Sports Illustrated story. "Anyone who thinks I'd do all this work and then sit some guy because I don't like him — that's insane. All the decisions I made are for what I feel gives us the best opportunity to win."
Patricia Modell wife of the former owner of the Cleveland Browns Art Modell died today. She was 80. Mrs. Modell had been hospitalized for around five months. Art Modell who moved the Cleveland Browns from Cleveland to Baltimore was married to Patricia since 1969. Mrs. Modell was pronounced dead around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, the Baltimore Ravens announced after being contacted by Modell’s son.
Patricia Breslin Modell was a popular television actress before being married to Art Modell.
During a 22-year acting career, Patricia Breslin Modell performed on the New York stage, in motion pictures and on television. She starred in the “People’s Choice” television series with actor Jackie Cooper and played the role of Meg Baldwin in the soap opera “General Hospital.” She also played Laura Brooks on the prime time soap opera “Peyton Place.”
Among her many television other roles, she was a regular on “Twilight Zone,” ‘’Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” ‘’Perry Mason,” and “Maverick.” She retired from acting after getting married to Art. Patricia Modell is survived by her husband, two sons, John and David, and six grandchildren.
For many Clevelander’s this has to be said news. Pat Modell did lots for the Cleveland area when the Modell’s owned the Cleveland Browns.
The Cleveland Browns had Bill Belichick as their head coach from 1991-1995. Belichick even took the Browns to the play offs in 1994. Oh how the fans in Cleveland wish they had a coach like Bill Belichick now. When Belichick was here people couldn’t wait to fire him. The Fans couldn’t stand the guy. Now the Browns are going through more coaching pains. The Browns fans hopefully learned a lesson with Belichick. With the New England Patriots Belichick has evolved into one of the best coaches in the National Football League.
Belichick has taken the Patriots to the super bowl not once, not twice but four times winning three of them. If only Browns fans and the Browns front office knew what they had then. Belichick is the kind of coach that even finds fault in winning. Belichick always seems room for improvement with his team. Last weekend Belichick’s Patriots beat the 38-24 win over Miami Monday night. The game was one of the best offensive productions in the New England Patriots 52 year history.
Tom Brady the New England quarterback threw for 517 yards the best in his career and he has had a good one. The total offensive output was a whopping franchise-record 622 yards in the game. Belicheck still sees room for improvement. This guy is just one of those people who always wants to strive for perfection. Belichick isn’t happy unless everything goes just right. Could you imagine of the Cleveland Browns had Belichick now? Just think if the Browns could have went out and hired this guy after last season? People wouldn’t even be able to control themselves in Cleveland.
The fans would be thinking Browns to the super bowl and why not Belichick knows how to get them there after all he did it in New England, why couldn’t he do it in Cleveland.
Well, it wasn’t the case, Browns president Mike Homgren went out and got us a guy some have never heard of. A guy that was an offensive minded coach, a guy who has a way developing young quarterbacks. A guy named Pat Shurmur. He may not be Bill Belichick but even Bill Belichick wasn’t Bill Belichick when he was in Cleveland. Lets use a bit of patients people. Lets give Shurmur a chance. He may not be Belichick but Mike Holmgren sees something in this guy that he liked well enough to put him in charge.
And Mike Holmgren knows a thing or tow about getting a team to a supper bowl too……
The Cleveland Browns won the NFL Championship in 1950; their first year in the league, beating the Los Angeles Rams who had previously been the Cleveland Rams.
In the early 1950′s, the Browns drafted a defensive back and a linebacker that would both go on to eventually make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame… as coaches. In 1951 they drafted Don Shula
A book by former Cleveland Browns kicker Don Cockroft, a Hills and Dales resident, about the 1980 Kardiac Kids team should be available in mid August. Cockroft said the book — “The 1980 Kardiac Kids — Our Untold Story” — was going to press this week. The book looks at the 1980 Cleveland Browns who earned the nickname Kardiac Kids with an 11-5 record that featured multiple last-second victories. The season ended with a playoff loss to the Oakland Raiders on a play known as Red Right 88. On the pass play, Raiders defensive back Mike Davis intercepted a Brian Sipe pass that sealed the loss for the Browns. Cockroft has spent four years working on the book, which includes comments and stories about each player on the team. “I don’t think anyone has written a book as comprehensive,” he said. More information about the book can be found at Cockroft’s website: thekardiackids.com
RB Earnest Byner will always be remembered in Cleveland Browns’ history for what happened in Denver back on January 17, 1988. That was the game with the moniker of “The Fumble” as he fumbled the ball late in the game deep in Broncos’ territory to lock up another Super Bowl appearance for the Broncos. A closer look at the stats from that AFC Championship Game shows that Byner had a really good game before the fumble. He carried the ball 15 times for 67 yards (4.5 ypc) with 1 TD run and he also caught 7 passes for 120 yards (17.1 avg) with 1 TD grab. But in the end, the Browns lost 38-33 to the Broncos in Denver that day.
The Fumble
Owner Art Modell never seemed to forgive him for “The Fumble” as the Browns dealt Byner to the Redskins for fellow RB Mike Oliphant. Oliphant played in 18 games in his two years with the Browns and he carried the ball 15 times for 97 yards (6.5 ypc) with 1 TD run. He also caught 3 passes for 22 yards (7.3 avg) and he returned 5 kickoffs for 69 yards (13.8 avg) with the Browns. Earnest Byner played five years for the Redskins before returning to the Browns as a free agent in 1994. Byner made it to 2 Pro Bowls and he helped the Redskins win a Super Bowl in his five years in the nation’s capital. Byner played in 80 games in his five years with the Redskins and he carried the ball 990 times for 3,950 yards (4.0 ypc) with 25 TD runs. He also caught 185 passes for 1,577 yards (8.5 ypc) with 4 TD grabs with the Redskins. This was one of the worst trades in Cleveland Browns’ history.
Earnest Byner came to the Cleveland Browns in 1984 as a 10th round draft pick. In his second year with the Browns, Byner played in 16 games (13 starts) in which he carried the ball 244 times for 1,002 yards (4.1 ypc) with 8 TD runs. He also caught 45 passes for 460 yards (10.2 avg) with 2 TD grabs in 1985. Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner both rushed for over 1,000 yards in 1985 for the Browns! Byner played in 99 games in his 7 years with the Browns and he carried the ball 862 times for 3,364 yards (3.9 ypc) with 27 TD runs. He also caught 276 passes for 2,630 yards (9.5 avg) with 10 TD grabs for the Browns. Byner finished up his career with the Browns #7 in team history in rushing yards with 3,364. He also finished #7 in TD runs in Browns’ history with 27 of them. Byner is tied for 13th in Browns’ history in receptions (276) with Dennis Northcutt and he is also #21 in receiving yards with 2,630 in team history.
Byner came back to the Browns in 1994 and 1995. He had a great game against the Cincinnati Bengals in the last home game in Browns’ history at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Browns won the game 26-10 as Byner carried the ball 31 times for 121 yards (3.9 ypc) and he also caught 7 passes for 36 yards (5.1 avg) in that game. Byner then did a victory lap around the stadium before heading to the locker room.
Earnest Byner was a good RB who always gave the Browns or any team he played with 100% every game. So he made a big mistake in a big game……a lot of players in NFL history have done that.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Preston Carpenter, the Cleveland Browns’ first pick in the 1956 draft who made a position change after Jim Brown joined the Browns the following season, died on Thursday at age 77.
Published reports in Arkansas indicate Carpenter died of natural causes after a brief illness.
Carpenter was an Arkansas star halfback drafted by the Browns with the 13th overall pick. He rushed for 756 yards in his rookie season with Cleveland, then moved to wide receiver the next season, when Brown began his Hall of Fame career. Carpenter totaled 96 receptions for 1,368 yards and five touchdowns in his four years with the Browns.
Carpenter played for five teams in 12 NFL seasons, catching 305 passes for 4,457 yards and 23 touchdowns. He made the Pro Bowl team in 1962 while with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Carpenter lettered at Arkansas from 1953-55 and is remembered for teaming with Buddy Bob Benson for a 66-yard touchdown on “The Powder River Play.” Carpenter’s catch and run was the only score in the 6-0 win against No. 5 Ole Miss in 1954, a season in which coach Bowden Wyatt’s “25 Little Pigs” won the Southwest Conference title.
Neiswanger writes that Carpenter was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UA Sports Hall of Honor in 1996. He also writes, with a quote about Carpenter:
“He loved the University of Arkansas,” Harold Horton, executive director of the Razorback Foundation, said Thursday night. “He loved coming back to our reunions in the spring. He enjoyed being in the lettermen’s room prior to games. He was the life of the group. Wherever he was, he just added to where he was. People enjoyed being around him."
Carpenter's brother Lew began a 10-year NFL career in 1953 with the Detroit Lions, and played on the Browns with Preston in the 1957 and 1958 seasons. Lew Carpenter died at age 78 in 2010.
This is an actual complaint letter sent by a season ticket holder to the Cleveland Browns in 1974.
Here is an enlarged image of the text.
Here is the response that Dale Cox received.
Here is a larger version of the text.
The year was 1974. Mike Phipps was the quarterback, and the Browns were having a lousy season. They would finish 4-10. (The more things change . . .)
Dale O. Cox, a season-ticket holder and attorney from Akron, was bothered by fans making paper airplanes out of game programs and sending them out onto the field and into other areas of the stands. He expressed his displeasure in writing -- and threatened legal action if anyone in his party were injured by one of the airplanes.
The letter found its way to Bailey's desk. He responded with a two-sentence note: "Dear Mr. Cox, Attached is a letter we received on Nov. 19, 1974. I feel you should be aware that some a - - - - - - is signing your name to stupid letters."
He copied team owner Art Modell.
Bailey, 66, now lives in San Diego, where he is a senior consultant with Brailsford and Dunlavey, a sports-facility planning company. "I was all of 28 years old when I wrote that letter. I should have been more cautious. I'm just glad my mother's not around to see that letter."
And what was Modell's reaction?
"After I wrote it, I heard about it right away from Art. He said something like, 'What the hell are you doing?' He was not a guy lacking passion," Bailey said.
"That stadium was a big place to fill. And there were plenty of seats behind poles. But I have good memories about those times."
Cox, 72, who wrote the complaint, is now in private practice as a lawyer in Orofino, Idaho.
"I'm still a Browns season-ticket holder," he said. "I found out that Bailey and I both went to the University of Michigan Law School."
Was he angry at Bailey's response?
"No. I thought it was pretty cool," he said with a laugh. "I've used that letter a couple times myself since."
Modell, reached at home in Baltimore, doesn't remember either the letters or chewing Bailey out. But:
"If Bailey says it happened," Modell said, "then I'd believe him."
The most recent time there was a work stoppage in the NFL was the players' strike in 1987. They walked out to force owners to give them free agency after their contracts ran out.
Ultimately, the players got what they wanted. But to get there, they had to endure the immensely divisive strike, which was broken by the owners' use of replacement "scab" players; four years of partial free agency and other management-friendly rules imposed by owners; decertification of the players union; and finally a huge win in federal court.
By the time a new collective bargaining agreement was reached in 1993, featuring unrestricted free agency for players and a salary cap for owners, many of the players who walked picket lines in 1987 were too old to take advantage of the new system.
Browns cornerback Frank Minnifield was one of them. Minnifield joined the Browns in 1984 and retired after his last season with them in 1992. A successful businessman in his hometown of Lexington, Ky., Minnifield views the current work stoppage with interest. His son, Chase, a starting cornerback at the University of Virginia, will be a draftable player in 2012.
"It's a shame," Frank Minnifield said of the labor dispute. "It happens probably to every generation. I guess it's just part of the evil that's associated with the NFL. You know, money is the root of all evil."
This time, the owners have precipitated the stoppage. They've locked out players and want a deal that is less favorable to the players.
"The owners have such a huge advantage on the players," Minnifield said. "I'm sure we're all amazed [the players] have been able to negotiate to the position where the owners feel they're at a disadvantage. But I don't believe the owners are going to lose that much money."
Minnifield, naturally, sides with the players in this newest scuffle. He said they deserve all the money they can make in their short careers.
"There's just too many kids who get hurt to the point where their life is affected the rest of their lives," he said. "I saw a statistic . . . it was mind-blowing, about how many kids in college are maimed because of football. Then you're talking about a person in the owner's box, just taking a financial risk. That's a different risk than a physical risk."
Minnifield is 51. He played two years in the United States Football League and came to the Browns after surgery to fix a busted a knee. The rest of his injuries in his nine-year NFL career, including a lacerated kidney, were treated without surgery.
"I think anybody that was on the football field trying to win has a [health] problem," he said. "I'm not in no hospital, but I know I played 11 years of pro football. I like playing golf. There are many times I have to say, 'I can't play today,' with something hurting. There's many of those days. That goes on with all of us.
"Some of these guys get through it unscathed, without paying a real heavy toll with their health. But I would say the majority, over 50 percent, when they get to my age will be experiencing some problems they don't even realize. And they're going to need all the money they have to make it to 70. It takes a lot of money to make it to 70."
When Minnifield thinks back to the 1987 strike, the memories are not pleasant. The players walked out after the second game. The third game of the season was canceled. By the fourth week, owners had rounded up whole new teams of "replacement players" -- former college or pro players who had gone on to their life's work as truck drivers, teachers and the like.
Stressed for money, the regulars slinked back late in the week after the second "scab" game -- only to be turned away until the replacements were given a third game. Divide and conquer was a successful strategy for the owners.
The strike tore apart the Browns, Minnifield said.
"It got real ugly," he said. "I think those days are still kind of a little messy for all of us because of how we were all divided. I really believe that it really messed up the chemistry of our team from that point on."
Surprisingly, Minnifield did not begrudge the replacement players from taking his job temporarily. Much stronger emotions were spent on the regular players who broke ranks and crossed picket lines. Eight Browns did that for the third replacement game, including team leaders such as Gary Danielson and Ozzie Newsome.
"It was kind of hard dealing with the fact some guys went back, some didn't, and some guys were financially better off because they went back [versus] the guys who stayed together," Minnifield said. "I think that was tough. We didn't talk about it because everybody would get mad. But I think it affected us for the rest of our careers together.
"We didn't want anybody to go back. We wanted to stay together and whatever consequences there were we wanted to face them as a team. If we were going to have to fight harder because we were behind and lost those three games, then so be it. I don't think anybody was going to accept any reason for crossing the line.
"We had a special relationship. Our whole team was special. We'd go over each other's house. We actually liked each other. There aren't too many [teams] that hung out like we did. It was common to go over somebody's house each week and just eat together. Thanksgiving was unbelievable. After that strike, we didn't do it again. Most of that stuff just stopped. There was a whole lot of guys who were upset that didn't talk about it. We went on with our business. But our relationship was never the same."
The Browns were hurt more than most teams by the disruption. Coming off the AFC Championship Game loss to John Elway and "The Drive," 1987 was to be their year. The strike wiped out Game 3 of the '87 schedule. It happened to be Elway's regular-season return to Cleveland.
Had the game been played and the Browns won, they would have finished with a better record than Denver and earned home-field advantage in the '87 season AFC Championship. Instead, they had to play in Denver. Elway again prevailed in the loss remembered by "The Fumble."
"We would have beat Denver in Cleveland because we were a better team," Minnifield said. "They wouldn't have beat us two years in a row. That was our best team. We were all young kids. We were probably as good as football players in '87 as we were in our whole career."
A year ago today, the Browns released quarterback Derek Anderson, a move that was expected as the team acquired Seneca Wallace from Seattle earlier in that same week. Days later, the team shipped away former first-round draft picks Brady Quinn and Kamerion Wimbley. They picked up Peyton Hillis and a sixth-round draft pick for the former Notre Dame quarterback and a third-round pick in exchange for Wimbley, one they later used to select Texas quarterback Colt McCoy.
Out with the old, in with the new.
That was a crazy week for Browns fans as some were still holding out hope that Quinn could figure it out. We wanted so badly for it to work, but aside from a show he put on against Detroit (and they are, after all, Detroit) there was very little that suggested he could excel at this level. While the sample size with McCoy is small, he’s given Browns fans more reason to be optimistic than Quinn ever did between the lines.
Hillis was terrific in 2010-11 and instantly became a fan favorite for his rugged style. I do worry, because this is Cleveland and one-year phenoms like Anderson have got us excited only to bring us back down to earth before. Hillis’ style, the same one that we love, makes you wonder how long he can hold up. He sure does take a pounding. But this site is for positive thoughts, so let’s just hope he can repeat his performance again in 2011-12. Plus, we should have Montario Hardesty back in the fold, and if he can get his knee close to where it was, he should be a nice supplement to the running game.
McCoy does little things, and I think we all felt much better about our chances when No. 12 was in the ballgame. Fans want a quarterback like Bernie Kosar so badly in this town that we’re lovedrunk with a rookie that threw six touchdowns and nine interceptions.
But there’s light at the end of the tunnel now. We saw things last year that were encouraging, and those trades a year ago really stamped that a new regime was in town. They then went out and traded for Sheldon Brown and Chris Gocong and drafted young playmakers like Joe Haden and T.J. Ward. Mid-round selections like Hardesty and McCoy, and even guard Shaun Lauvao, gave us an upgrade at positions that badly needed them.
The Browns might have finished last season with the same 5-11 record that we had in 2009-10, but we saw glimpses. The Browns have some players now that look like professionals. Undoubtedly we need more, and hopefully they can get this collective bargaining straightened out so we can fiddle with the roster, but we’re certainly going to have a draft and we can pick up some more pieces there.
The point is, I feel much better on March 9, 2011, than I did on March 9, 2010. That was a tough week for Browns fans as we cut a Pro Bowl quarterback and two first-round picks, but hopefully it was a ‘one step back to go two steps forward’ kind of deal.
He was a star tailback at Northwestern University, but he is best remembered as quarterback of the Cleveland Browns during a 10-year period (1946 – 55) in which they won 105 games, lost 17, and tied 5 in regular season play and won 7 of 10 championship games. Graham's career average yardage per pass (8.63) was still an NFL record at the beginning of the 21st century.
Following his retirement, Graham served as head coach of the College All-Stars in their 1958 clash against the defending NFL champions, leading the squad to a convincing 35-19 victory over the Detroit Lions. The following year, he accepted a full-time position as head football coach at the Coast Guard Academy, where he served for seven seasons, leading the team to an undefeated regular season campaign in 1963. In that same year he coached the College All Stars to a 20-17 upset victory over Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers.
Graham found time to return to professional football during the 1964 and 1965 seasons by moonlighting as a radio commentator for the American Football League's New York Jets.
Between 1966 and 1968, Graham coached the Washington Redskins, but whatever magic he had as an NFL player disappeared on the sidelines as the team recorded a mark of 17-22-3 during that time period.
Graham and Lombardi would be linked again when Graham underwent surgery for colorectal cancer in 1977, the disease that claimed Lombardi's life seven years earlier. Graham subsequently became a vocal supporter of early detection of the disease
Graham's 1963 CGA team was undefeated in the regular season but was trounced by a Western Kentucky team, 27-0 in the Tangerine Bowl.
Graham died of a heart aneurysm in Sarasota, Florida on December 17, 2003. At the funeral held days later, Graham's longtime friend, George Steinbrenner, fainted, leading to extensive media speculation that he was in ill health, but Steinbrenner lived another six years.
