Pro Football Historian (PFH) is a blog page written by Flint Given. Pro Football Historian or PFH is a page to inform people on prior NFL events that people might not know about. Learning about teams from the 1920s or even the first few NFL World Championships in the 1930s fascinates me. It's these kinds of events that I want to discuss in this blog. Hopefully you are interested and will continue to check up on my blogs. Check out the website at https://profootballhistorian.lovable.app/
Frank "Gunner" Gatski was an American professional football center who played for the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and the National Football League in the 1940s and 1950s. Gatski was one of the most heralded centers of his era. Known for his strength and consistency, he helped protect quarterback Otto Graham and open up running lanes for halfback Marion Motley as the Browns won seven league championships between 1946 and 1955. Gatski won an eighth championship after he was traded to the Detroit Lions in 1957, his final season.
Gatski was born in West Virginia to a coal-mining family. He played for three years on his local high school team before attending Marshall University, where he continued to play football. He joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and went to fight in World War II. Upon his return in 1945, he played in a couple of games at Auburn University in Alabama, before officials found out he had attended and played for Marshall, and took classes. After graduating, he tried out and made the roster for the Browns, a team under formation in the new AAFC thanks to Johnny Brickels, the former Huntington High School football coach who knew Paul Brown (Ed Ulinski of Marshall also tried out, played and later coached the Browns) after another former Marshall player, Sam Clagg, alerted Brickels to the two players. Gatski played as a linebacker and backup center for most of his first two years before earning a spot as the starting center. He retained that position as Cleveland continued to dominate the AAFC, going 47-4-2 and winning four championships before the league dissolved and the Browns, the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts were absorbed by the NFL in 1950. Gatski and the Browns won the 1950, 1954 and 1955 titles, losing in the title game in 1951-52-53. He retired after the 1957 season when he won an eighth title with the Detroit Lions, never having missed a game or practice in his career.
After leaving football, Gatski worked briefly as a scout for the Boston Patriots. He then joined a reform school in West Virginia as athletic director and head football coach, staying there until the school closed in 1982. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. Marshall retired Gatski's number 72 in 2005, the only football number retired for the Thundering Herd. He died that year in a nursing home in West Virginia. In 2006, the East End Bridge in Huntington, West Virginia was renamed the Frank Gatski Memorial Bridge in his honor.
In 1940, Marshall University coach Cam Henderson offered Gatski a chance to attend the West Virginia school on a football scholarship. Gatski accepted. He joined the junior varsity team, where he was the starting center for a season before moving to Marshall's varsity football team in 1941. He started 17 games at center and linebacker beginning in 1941, when Marshall posted a 7–1 record. The team faltered the following year, falling to 1–7–1 as its best players went to serve in the military.
Gatski enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve Corps before the 1942 season as America's involvement in World War II intensified. Marshall canceled its football program in 1943 as Gatski entered his senior year, and he was called to active duty and later sent with an infantry division to fight in the European theater of World War II. He went to England and followed American troops as they landed in Normandy and marched further into Europe. "I wasn't in any heavy fighting," he later said. He attained the rank of private first class. Gatski returned from duty in 1945, but Marshall had yet to resume its football program, so he enrolled at Auburn University in Alabama and finished out his studies, playing part of the season on the school's football team. "Marshall hadn't started back up, and I hadn't played football for two years," he later explained. "I didn't want to sit around and do nothing, so I went to Auburn."
When Gatski graduated, Sam Clagg, a teammate at Marshall, helped get him a tryout with the Cleveland Browns after contacting John Brickels, an assistant coach with West Virginia ties. The Browns were a new team in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and were set to begin play in 1946. Gatski, who was working in the mines after graduating from Auburn, hitchhiked to Bowling Green, Ohio for the team's training camp. He did not consider a football career a certainty, and returning to the coal mines where his father had died in an accident was a distinct possibility. "I didn't know what was going to happen," he said later. "I just went up there to see what would happen."
Gatski arrived in Bowling Green with the nickname "Gunner" for his strength and speed on the offensive line that he had acquired in Huntington. The center before Gatski at Marshall, Jim Roberts, was said to hit like a tail gunner, and that may have had something to do with Gatski picking up Gunner as his nickname and as the newest Herd center. Growing up in the rough surroundings of a West Virginia mining town had toughened him up, and he did not mind Cleveland coach Paul Brown's overbearing perfectionism. As a professional, he later said, "you're supposed to be able to take that crap." Initially, Gatski's prospects of making the team looked dim. Brown had brought in veteran center Mo Scarry to be the starter. But Gatski proved his value to the team with his reliability and work ethic. He made the team and signed a $3,000 per year contract.
Gatski played mostly as a backup to Scarry and as a linebacker in his first and part of his second season. He became the full-time starter at center in the 1948 season. The Browns, meanwhile, were an immediate success. The team won the AAFC championship every year from 1946-47-48-49, posting a perfect season of 14–0 in 1948 and losing only four games in four seasons. Gatski's role on the offensive line was to help protect quarterback Otto Graham from defenders when he went back to pass. He also helped push away defenders and create space for fullback Marion Motley to run47- in.
The Browns merged into the more established National Football League in 1950. Aided by Gatski's blocking, the offense and the team continued to succeed. Cleveland won the 1950 NFL championship, and reached the championship game in each of the following five seasons, winning again in 1954 and 1955. By the time the Browns entered the NFL, Gatski had developed a reputation for consistency, durability and toughness. Brown began keeping only one center on the roster – Gatski. Centers today would complain about that, Walt Michaels, who played with Gatski in the early 1950s, said in later years. Gatski, however, did not mind. "He would take all the snaps," Michaels said.
Gatski was a quiet man who liked to hunt. He practiced hitting targets with his bow and arrow at League Park in Cleveland, where the Browns trained during the season. He was one of the Browns "Filthy Five" players who did not wash their practice uniforms during the season. Brown called him one of the strongest men on the team's roster. Graham thought of him as sure protection against opposing linemen. Teammates called him an "iron man" and a "Rock of Gibraltar". He was named to All-Pro lists in all but one year between 1951 and 1955.
The Browns struggled after Graham retired in 1956 and ended the regular season at 5–7, their first-ever losing record. After the season, Brown traded the 35-year-old Gatski to the Detroit Lions for a draft pick after Gatski asked for a raise. He only played in the 1957 season with the Lions. Detroit beat the Browns for the NFL championship that year. By the time he retired after the 1957 season, Gatski had won eight championships and played in 11 championship games in 12 seasons played, a professional football record and still best for any non-kicker/punter. Gatski did not miss a practice or a game during his 12 seasons in football.
After retiring from football, Gatski was a scout for the Boston Patriots for two years before becoming head football coach and athletic director at the West Virginia Industrial School for Boys, a correctional facility for young offenders in Pruntytown, West Virginia.
Gatski was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985 as part of a class that included Joe Namath, Pete Rozelle, O. J. Simpson, and Roger Staubach. Gatski said he had not expected to make it into the hall. He had not played for 28 years when he was selected by an old-timers committee. Two decades later, Marshall University retired Gatski's number 72 during a homecoming game against the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Gatski was the first and remains the only Marshall football player to be so honored.
Gatski died on November 22, 2005, at a nursing home in Morgantown, West Virginia and was buried at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton. He was married and had seven children. The following year, the East End Bridge in Huntington, West Virginia was renamed the Frank Gatski Memorial Bridge during halftime of a Marshall-UTEP football game.
Sauerbrei, Harold (December 7, 1949). "Gatski's Duel With Grgich Looms as One of Highlights in Brown-49er Battle". Cleveland Plain Dealer. p. 30.
Keim 1999, p. 69.
Woodrum, Woody (July 15, 2010). "Herd Greats: Frank "Gunner" Gatski". Herd Insider. Archived from the original on January 24, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
Barnett, Bob. "Frank Gatski" (PDF). Pro Football Researchers. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 18, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
Piascik 2007, p. 28.
Saturday Down South
Piascik 2007, pp. 11–30.
Piascik 2007, p. 29.
Heaton 2007, p. 188.
Sauerbrei, Harold (October 9, 1952). "Gatski Punches Hole in Grid Rival's Line on Motley Trap Play". Cleveland Plain Dealer. p. 15. He came to them as a linebacker in 1946 and the first two seasons did nothing but observe Mike Scarry as an offensive center.
Piascik 2007, p. 147.
Goldstein, Richard (November 26, 2005). "Frank Gatski, 84, Hall of Fame Lineman for Powerful Browns, Is Dead". New York Times. Archived from the original on May 26, 2024. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
Piascik 2007, p. 141.
Piascik 2007, pp. 233, 253, 283, 325, 341.
Keim 1999, pp. 69–70.
Keim 1999, p. 70.
Piascik 2007, p. 24.
Piascik 2007, p. 366.
"Parker Goes On Another Swap Spree". The Windsor Daily Star. Associated Press. September 17, 1957. p. 21. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
Heaton 2007, p. 189.
"New Hall of Famers reach emotional pinnacle". The Milwaukee Journal. August 4, 1985. Retrieved July 20, 2012.[permanent dead link]
Heaton 2007, p. 187.
Withers, Tom (November 24, 2005). "Hall of Fame Center for Browns". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. p. B6. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
"Herald-Dispatch". Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
"Bridge renaming to honor ex-Marshall standout". ESPN.com. November 17, 2006. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
Arnold George Weinmeister was a Canadian professional football player who was a defensive tackle. He went to four Pro Bowls, but with only a six-year tenure in the All-America Football Conference and National Football League combined, his career is one of the shortest of any Pro Football Hall of Fame member. He also played in the Canadian Football League. He was born in Rhein, Saskatchewan.
Weinmeister was a two-time All-City tackle in high school, and played end, fullback and tackle during a 4-year tenure at the University of Washington which was interrupted by four years of army service. He was scouted by New York Yankees (AAFC) head coach Ray Flaherty while playing fullback.
Weinmeister turned professional in 1948 and played defensive tackle for the New York Yankees in the All-America Football Conference until 1949, and for the New York Giants from 1950 to 1953. During his final season in New York, he served as the team captain. In 1949, Weinmeister won second-team All-AAFC as a rookie followed by first-team All-AAFC honors, was voted All-NFL Choice for four consecutive years (1950–1953), and was selected to play in the NFL's Pro Bowl every year from 1950 to 1953.
He was on the inaugural roster for the BC Lions in 1954, and played for the team for two seasons. He is one of five Saskatchewan natives to make it to the NFL (the other four being Jon Ryan, Rueben Mayes, Ben Heenan, and Brett Jones).
Few players ever have been so dominant at their position in pro football than Arnie Weinmeister was in his six-year stint as a defensive tackle that began with the New York Yankees of the All-America Football Conference in 1948 and ended with the New York Giants of the NFL in 1953.
He won second-team All-AAFC as a rookie followed by first-team All-AAFC honors in 1949 and then was a unanimous All-NFL choice all four years with the Giants. He also was selected to play in the NFL's Pro Bowl each of the first four years in the NFL.
Arnie was one of the first defensive players to captivate the masses of fans the way an offensive ball-handler does. At 6-4 and 235 pounds, he was bigger than the average player of his day and he was widely considered to be the fastest lineman in pro football.
Blessed with a keen football instinct, he was a master at diagnosing opposition plays. He used his size and speed to stop whatever the opposition attempted, but it was as a pass rusher that he really caught the fans’ attention. A natural team leader, he was the Giants co-captain in his final season in New York.
In high school Arnie was a two-time All-City tackle. He played end, fullback, and tackle in his four-year tenure at the University of Washington, a tenure interrupted by a four-year Army stint. New York Yankee Coach Ray Flaherty first spotted Weinmeister as a fullback but wisely made him into a two-way tackle when he turned pro in 1948. When he moved to the Giants, Arnie was used almost exclusively on defense. With a six-year tenure in the AAFC and NFL, his career is one of the shortest of any Pro Football Hall of Fame member.
Clarence McKay "Ace" Parker was an American football and baseball player and coach. He played professional football as a quarterback in the National Football League for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1937–1941) and Boston Yanks (1945) and in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) for the New York Yankees. He was an All-American halfback at Duke University in 1936. Parker also played Major League Baseball during 1936 and 1937 with the Philadelphia Athletics. He served as the head baseball coach at Duke from 1953 to 1966. Parker was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972.
Parker was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers as the third pick of the second round in the 1937 NFL draft. Sammy Baugh was the only passer drafted ahead of Parker. Parker, who played for the Philadelphia Athletics of Major League Baseball beginning in 1937, originally had no intention of playing in the NFL. Baseball was the glamour pro sport at the time and the NFL had a rough, vulgar reputation. But perhaps because of his .117 batting average that year, he asked for and received permission from the A's to play football. Parker thus became a true two-sport phenomenon, playing both Major League Baseball and NFL football in both 1937 and 1938. Parker, playing various infield positions, batted .179 over two seasons with the A's, scoring 20 runs with 25 RBI over 94 games. Parker was the first American League player (and second player overall, behind National Leaguer Eddie Morgan) of only a handful of Major League Baseball players to hit a home run as a pinch-hitter in their first at bat.
When Parker joined the Dodgers in 1937, Brooklyn had been a perennial NFL cellar-dweller in the East Conference since 1930. With his running, passing, and punting ability, he brought them instant credibility. He led the team in passing in 1937 and every year he played. In 1938, he led Brooklyn to a .500 record and led the NFL in passing yards with 865. When legendary coach Jock Sutherland joined the Dodgers in 1940, Parker's career took off. In 1940, he threw for 817 yards and 10 touchdowns, rushed for 306 yards, caught 3 passes, including 2 for touchdowns, and led the league in points after touchdowns. The Dodgers finished only one game out of first, with an 8–3 record, and Parker was named the NFL MVP. In 1941, Parker continued to shine, but the Dodgers again finished second to the New York Giants, despite beating their New York rivals twice during the season. Parker's NFL career went on hold in 1942, as he, like many NFL players, left football to enlist in the Armed Services. After serving for over two years, Parker returned to the NFL, this time with the short-lived Boston Yanks, but at age 33, he took on a minor role.
He rejoined the former owner of the Dodgers, Dan Topping, in 1946 as part of the New York Yankees of the new All-America Football Conference (AAFC). Coached by former Washington Redskins coach Ray Flaherty and led by Parker, the Yankees won the AAFC East, giving Parker his only division title in pro football. The Yankees met the powerful Cleveland Browns in the championship game. The Yankees played well, but eventually succumbed to the Browns. Parker was 8 of 18 passing, for only 81 yards and an interception. Parker retired after the game, completing a fine career at age 34. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1972.
After his playing days, Parker became the head baseball coach (1953–1966) and assistant football coach (1947–1965) at Duke University. He was manager of the Durham Bulls from 1949 to 1952, serving as player-manager for the first three seasons and finishing with a record of 303–266 (.533). He was Piedmont League manager of the year in 1949 and 1951. He was also a founding member of the Elizabeth Manor Golf and Country Club in Portsmouth, Virginia.
On August 13, 2008, Parker was part of the inaugural class inducted into the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame, honoring athletes, coaches and administrators who made contributions to sports in Southeastern Virginia.
At the time of his death, Parker was the oldest living member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the oldest living former professional football player and the last living person to play on the same major league baseball field as Baseball Hall of Fame member Rogers Hornsby. On May 7, 1937, Parker appeared for the Philadelphia Athletics while Hornsby played one of his last games for the St. Louis Browns.[4] Before his death, Parker and Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr were the last men to play on the same field as baseball immortal Lou Gehrig.
Parker died the morning of November 6, 2013 at the age of 101. He is the first member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to have lived past their 100th birthday.
Bowling, Lewis (November 2013). "The Ace of them all: Duke legend Ace Parker passes away at age 101; was the oldest living Pro Football Hall of Famer". GoDuke the Magazine. 5 (3). Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Blue Devil IMG Sports Network: 14–16.
"Ace Parker Celebrates 100th Birthday Today – Duke University Blue Devils | Official Athletics Site". GoDuke.com. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
"1937 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
"Pinch Hitting Records". baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
"Ace Parker dead at 101 - Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site". www.profootballhof.com. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
"May 7, 1937 Philadelphia Athletics at St. Louis Browns Box Score and Play by Play". Baseball-Reference.com. May 7, 1937. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
"April 26, 1938 New York Yankees at Philadelphia Athletics Play by Play and Box Score". Baseball-Reference.com. April 26, 1938. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
Frank Manning "Bruiser" Kinard Sr. was an American football tackle and coach and university athletic administrator. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a charter member in 1951 and into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.
A native of Pelahatchie, Mississippi, he played college football for Ole Miss from 1935 to 1937. He was the first player from any Mississippi school to receive first-team All-American honors, receiving those honors in both 1936 and 1937.
Kinard was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers in the third round of the 1938 NFL Draft and played seven years in the National Football League for the Dodgers/Tigers from 1938 to 1944. He was selected as a first-team All-Pro in six of his seven years in the NFL (1938, 1940–1944). After missing the 1945 NFL season due to wartime service in the United States Navy, he played two years in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) for the New York Yankees from 1946 to 1947 and was selected as a first-team All-AAFC player in 1946.
Kinard also served as an assistant coach for New York Yankees in 1947 and for the Ole Miss football program from 1948 to 1970, as Ole Miss' athletic director from 1971 to 1973, and as its assistant dean of student personnel from 1974 until 1978.
Kinard was selected by the Brooklyn Dodgers in the third round (18th overall pick) of the 1938 NFL Draft. He made $1,974 as a rookie, a sum that Kinard recalled "was a lot of money back then." Even in 1938, Kinard was small for a lineman at 210 pounds, but he noted: "I had enough ability to offset my size. And my speed was a lot better than any of the linemen." He was a two-way player known for making "crushing blocks" on offense and as a "smothering, dominant tackler" who made "stops all over the field" on defense.
Joe Stydahar, a fellow Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee who played against Kinard, recalled: "The Brooklyn team used to have plays designed just for the blocking of Kinard. They'd get Frank out there against a defender and he'd just mow them down."
Kinard spent seven seasons with the Dodgers from 1938 to 1944 and developed a reputation as one of the toughest and most durable players in the NFL. According to his Pro Football Hall of Fame biography, he "rarely needed a rest and near-60-minute performances were the rule, rather than the exception." He appeared as a starter at tackle in every game for the Dodgers in 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943, and 1944. During his seven years in the NFL, he missed only two games, those coming in the 1940 season after an opposing player stepped on his hand and gangrene threatened amputation of the hand. Kinard was also a regular on the NFL's annual All-Pro teams receiving first-team recognition from one or more selectors in six of his seven years in the NFL: in 1938 from the Pro Football Writers Association (PFWA); in 1940 from the NFL, Associated Press (AP), United Press (UP), and International News Service (INS); in 1941 from the NFL and UP; in 1942 from the INS; and in 1943 and 1944 from the AP. He received second-team All-Pro honors in 1939 from the NFL, UP, and PFWA.
Although used principally as a tackle, Kinard scored 42 points for the Yankees, scoring touchdowns on receptions in 1943 and a fumble recovery in 1941, kicking a field goal in 1943, and converting 27 of 30 extra-point kicks.
With Jock Sutherland as head coach, the Dodgers ranked among the top teams in the NFL, finishing second in the NFL East with records of 8–3 in 1940 and 7–4 in 1941. Sutherland left the team in 1942, and the club dropped to 2–8 in 1943 and 0–10 in 1944.
After the Dodgers winless 1944 season, Kinard enlisted in the United States Navy in April 1945. He served until March 1946. Kinard and his brother George Kinard played at tackle and guard, respectively, for the Fleet City Navy football team based at Camp Shoemaker in Dublin, California. Kinard was named to the All-Service football team selected by West Coast sports writers in December 1945.
n January 1946, Dan Topping, owner of the New York Yankees of the newly-formed All-America Football Conference (AAFC), signed the Kinard brothers and four others from the Navy's Fleet City football team. Bruiser Kinard started all 14 games for Yankees in 1946, helping the team to a 10–3–1 record, good for first place in the AAFC's East Division. The team then lost in the AAFC championship game to the 1946 Cleveland Browns. At the end of the 1946 season, Kinard was selected by the AP, UP, and AAFC as a first-team All-AAFC player.
Kinard returned to the Yankees in 1947 and appeared in all 14 games, but in only three as a starter. Kinard was also an assistant coach for the Yankees during the 1947 season. He announced his retirement as a player in January 1948 at age 33.
In February 1948, Kinard was hired as the line coach at Ole Miss under Johnny Vaught. He remained on Vaught's staff for 21 years. During the 12-year span from 1952 to 1963, Ole Miss won six SEC championships and was ranked in the top 11 of the final AP Poll 10 times, including No. 2 finishes in 1959 and 1960 and a No. 3 finish in 1962. Kinard had offers to become a head coach in the NFL for the Boston Patriots and New York Giants, but opted to stay at Ole Miss.
Kinard also served as acting head coach at Ole Miss for the last half of the 1970 season after Vaught suffered a heart attack on October 20. In six games under Kinard, the 1970 Rebels won three games and lost three, including losses to rivals Mississippi State and LSU and to Auburn in the 1971 Gator Bowl. However, Ole Miss credits the entire 1970 season to Vaught.
In January 1971, Ole Miss hired Kinard as its athletic director and his younger brother Billy Kinard as its head football coach. In 1971, the Kinards led the 1971 Ole Miss team to a 10–2 record and a No. 15 ranking in the final AP Poll. However, the team's fortunes declined in 1972 with a 5–5 record. In September 1973, after Ole Miss lost two of the first three games, the university fired Billy Kinard as head coach and relieved Bruiser of his duties as athletic director.
Bruiser remained employed by Ole Miss and was appointed assistant dean of student personnel in June 1974. He held that position until he retired in 1978.
Kinard received numerous honors and awards for his accomplishments as a football player, notably including induction into the two major football halls of fame. He was inducted as a charter member into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951, and in 1971 he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
"Bruiser Kinard". pro-football-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
1920 U.S. Census entry for Major H. Kinard and family. Son Frank M. was age 5 and born in Mississippi. Census Place: Martinsville, Copiah, Mississippi; Roll: T625_874; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 46. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line].
"Bruiser Kinard On Another A-A Team". The Clarion-Ledger. November 7, 1962. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
1930 U.S. Census entry for Major H. Kinard and family. Son F. M. was age 15 and born in Mississippi. Census Place: Utica, Hinds, Mississippi; Roll: 1148; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 0036; FHL microfilm: 2340883. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line].
Jerry Potter (August 25, 1980). "The quiet life of a past legend". The Clarion-Ledger. pp. C1, C3 – via Newspapers.com.
"Brusier Kinard: Former player, coach left his mark on Ole Miss' athletic program". The Ledger (Lakeland, Florida). September 14, 1985. p. 5D.
"Ole Miss football great 'Bruiser' Kinard dies". The Clarion-Ledger. September 8, 1985. pp. 1A, 12A – via Newspapers.com.
"Bruiser Kinard". National Football Foundation. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
"Ole Miss Rebels School History". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
ESPN College Football Encyclopedia. ESPN Books. 2005. p. 1169. ISBN 1401337031.
Davis J. Walsh (December 1, 1936). "Widseth Only Big 10 Man To Rate". The Hammond (IN) Times. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.(INS)
Kenneth Gregory (December 3, 1936). "L.S.U. Places Seven Men On All–Southeastern Elevens". The Daily Times-News. p. 8. Retrieved May 26, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. (AP)
Dayton Moore (December 1, 1936). "Representative Pick Made in Southeastern". The Anniston Star. p. 8. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. (UP)
Death record for Frank Kinard, 10/23/14–9/7/85, enlisted April 17, 1945, discharged March 17, 1946. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on-line]. Original data: Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
"Fleet City in Pro Tilt Today". Oakland Tribune. October 14, 1945. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com.
Pursuer Hewitt (December 9, 1945). "Sports". The Clarion-Ledger. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
"Topping Signs Six Fleet City Grid Players". Los Angeles Times. January 7, 1946. p. II-7 – via Newspapers.com.
"1946 New York Yankees Statistics & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
"Bruiser Kinard To Forsake Pro Football Ranks". Kingsport (TN) Times. January 12, 1948. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
Carl Walters (February 7, 1971). "Bruiser Kinard Is State's Only Pro Grid Hall of Fame Member". The Clarion-Ledger. p. C5 – via Newspapers.com.
"Kinard All-Time All-American". Enterprise-Journal. November 25, 1949. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
"Bruiser Kinard Is Rated 'Best Ole Miss Athlete Of All Time". McComb (MS) Enterprise Journal. March 21, 1950. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
"Bruiser Kinard Day Slated For Vandy Game Saturday". The Clarion-Ledger. October 9, 1953. p. 3-2 – via Newspapers.com.
"Dr. Byrd Named To Helms Grid Coaches Hall of Fame". Baltimore Sun. September 23, 1955. p. 23 – via Newspapers.com.
"Hall of Fame Has 4 Greats". The Clarion-Ledger. April 9, 1961. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
"Bruiser Kinard Given Top Honor As All-Time Gridders Selected". The Clarion-Ledger. September 18, 1969. p. D5 – via Newspapers.com.
"Bruiser Kinard to be honored as all time great". The Delta Democrat-Times (Greenville, MS). September 24, 1969. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
"UM names athletic dorm for Kinard; presents award". The Northside Sun (Jackson, MS). October 2, 1986. p. 7A – via Newspapers.com.
"Kinard Hall dedicated at Ole Miss". The Magee Courier. September 4, 1986. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
"Team of the Century". The Clarion-Ledger. April 25, 1993. p. D1 – via Newspapers.com.
"Ole Miss Notebook". The Times (Shreveport, LA). December 29, 1999. p. 4C – via Newspapers.com.
"Kinard Signs As Ole Miss Line Coach". The Clarion-Ledger. February 4, 1948. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
"John Vaught suffers mild heart attack". Hattiesburg American. October 22, 1970. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
"Ole Miss AD Lauds Coach". The Clarion-Ledger. January 22, 1971. p. 1C – via Newspapers.com.
"It's Official – Billy Kinard Replaces Vaught at OM". The Clarion-Ledger. January 22, 1971. p. C1 – via Newspapers.com.
"Ole Miss Replaces Kinard With Vaught". The Greenville (SC) News (AP story). September 26, 1973. p. 28 – via Newspapers.com.
"Vaught". The Clarion-Ledger. June 26, 1974. p. 4C – via Newspapers.com.
"Bruiser Kinard On Collegiate All-Star Grid Squad: Ole Miss Tackle Is A Winner". The Clarion-Ledger. July 27, 1938. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
"Deaths: Frank M. Kinard". The Clarion-Ledger. September 9, 1985. p. 2B – via Newspapers.com.
"Mildred (Midge) Kinard". The Clarion-Ledger. November 6, 2006 – via Newspapers.com.
"Bruiser Kinard Is Dead at 70; Headed Mississippi Sports". The New York Times. United Press International. September 9, 1985. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
Elroy Leon "Crazylegs" Hirsch was an American professional football player, sport executive and actor. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974. He was also named to the all-time All-Pro team selected in 1968 and to the National Football League 1950s All-Decade Team.
A native of Wausau, Wisconsin, Hirsch played college football as a halfback at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Michigan, helping to lead both the 1942 Badgers and the 1943 Wolverines to No. 3 rankings in the final AP Polls. He received the nickname "Crazylegs" (sometimes "Crazy Legs") for his unusual running style.
Hirsch served in the United States Marine Corps from 1944 to 1946 and then played professional football in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) for the Chicago Rockets from 1946 to 1948 and in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams from 1949 to 1957. During the 1951 season, Hirsch helped lead the Rams to the NFL championship and tied or broke multiple NFL records with 1,495 receiving yards, an average of 124.6 receiving yards per game (still the third-highest season average in NFL history), and 17 touchdown receptions.
Hirsch had a brief career as a motion picture actor in the 1950s and served as the general manager for the Rams from 1960 to 1969 and as the athletic director for the University of Wisconsin from 1969 to 1987.
Hirsch enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in the fall of 1941 and played on the school's freshman football team. As a sophomore, Hirsch starred as a halfback for the 1942 Wisconsin Badgers football team that compiled an 8–1–1 record, defeated reigning national champion Ohio State (17–7), lost only one game to Iowa (0–6), tied with Notre Dame (7–7), and was ranked No. 3 in the final AP Poll. At the end of the season, Hirsch was selected by the Associated Press (AP) as a first-team halfback on the 1942 All-Big Ten Conference football team. In the three years prior to 1942, Wisconsin's football team had gone 8–15–1, and the program had been in decline since 1932. During the 1942 season, Hirsch's only season with the Wisconsin football team, he was a triple-threat man who totaled 767 rushing yards on 141 carries, completed 18 passes for 226 yards, punted four times for an average of 48.8 yards, intercepted six passes, and returned 15 punts for 182 yards. He rushed for a high of 174 yards against Missouri.
Hirsch acquired the "Crazylegs" nickname because of his unusual running style in which his legs twisted as he ran. According to one version, after watching Hirsch play in an October 17, 1942, game against the Great Lakes Naval Station, sportswriter Francis J. Powers of Chicago Daily News wrote: "His crazy legs were gyrating in six different directions, all at the same time; he looked like a demented duck." According to another version, he acquired the nickname in high school when fans in Wausau watched "the tall, slim Hirsch" run as "his legs seemed to whirl in several directions."
Hirsch's father later recalled: "We lived two miles from school. Elroy ran to school and back, skipping and crisscrossing his legs in the cement blocks of the sidewalks. He said it would make him shiftier." Hirsch himself recalled: "I've always run kind of funny because my left foot points out to the side and I seem to wobble." He embraced his nickname, saying in interviews, "Anything's better than 'Elroy'."
In the 1970s, Hirsch filed a lawsuit asserting legal ownership of the "Crazylegs" name. He sued S. C. Johnson & Son for its marketing a shaving gel for women's legs under the brand name "Crazylegs". In a 1997 decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that Hirsch's complaint set forth a viable claim for invasion of Hirsch's common law right of privacy.
In January 1943, Hirsch enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was transferred to the University of Michigan as part of the V-12 Navy College Training Program. In early September 1943, he broke the record at Michigan's Marine Corps training center, completing a 344-yard obstacle course in one minute and 31 seconds. He was the starting left halfback in the first seven games of the season for Fritz Crisler's 1943 Michigan Wolverines football team that compiled an 8–1 record and was ranked No. 3 in the final AP Poll. After watching Hirsch in pre-season practice, Associated Press football writer Jerry Liska referred to "squirming Elroy Hirsch" as "Wisconsin's gold-plated wartime gift to Michigan." Hirsch and Bill Daley (a V-12 transfer from Minnesota) became Michigan's most powerful offensive weapons during the 1943 season and were dubbed Michigan's "lend-lease backs."
In his first game for Michigan, Hirsch returned the opening kickoff 50 yards, scored two touchdowns and intercepted a pass. He scored five touchdowns in Michigan's first three games and threw for a touchdown in the fourth game against Notre Dame. On October 11, 1943, Hirsch scored three touchdowns, including a 61-yard reverse around the right end, and intercepted a pass to help Michigan to its first victory over Minnesota since 1932. Due to a shoulder injury, he appeared only briefly as a backup to kick for extra points in the final two games of the season, but he still led the Wolverines in passing, punt returns, and scoring.
During the 1943–1944 academic year, Hirsch also won varsity letters in basketball (as a center), track (as a broad jumper), and baseball (as a pitcher), becoming the first Michigan athlete to letter in four sports in a single year. He averaged 7.3 points per game for the 1943–44 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team, compiled a 6–0 record as a pitcher for the Michigan baseball team, placed third in the long jump in the 1944 indoor championship, and led all three teams to Big Ten Conference championships. On May 13, 1944, Hirsch starred in two sports in the same day, winning the broad jump with a distance of 24 feet, 2-1/4 inches at a track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and then traveling to Columbus, Ohio, where he pitched a one-hitter to give Michigan's baseball team a 5–0 victory over Ohio State.
In June 1944, Hirsch and 23 other Michigan athletes were transferred to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island, South Carolina. In the fall of 1944, Hirsch was assigned to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune where he played for the base football team. In the spring of 1945, he was stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in May 1945.
Hirsch remained with the Marine Corps in the fall of 1945 and played for the Marine Corps football team at the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in California. In September 1945, he scored four touchdowns for the El Toro team in a game against the Los Angeles Bulldogs.
Hirsch was discharged from the military in May 1946. On August 23, 1946, he led the college all-star team to a 16–0 victory over the NFL champion Los Angeles Rams in the Chicago College All-Star Game. Hirsch was named the game's outstanding player, and the Los Angeles Times described his performance in the game as a "one-man show" after he scored the game's only touchdowns, including a 68-yard touchdown sprint, for the college squad. Hirsch later described the game as his greatest athletic thrill.
In January 1945, the Cleveland Rams selected Hirsch in the first round (fifth overall pick) of the 1945 NFL Draft. In May, he announced that he would not sign a contract with the Rams, stating that he intended to return to the University of Wisconsin after his discharge from the military.
He ultimately opted not to play in the NFL, instead playing for the Chicago Rockets of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). Hirsch chose the Rockets because they were coached by Dick Hanley, who had been Hirsch's coach with the El Toro Marines team. Hirsch played three seasons with the Rockets from 1946 to 1948. During those three years, the Rockets compiled a 7–32 record and won only one game in each of the 1947 and 1948 seasons. Hirsch later said the decision to sign with the Rockets was the worst decision he ever made.
In a remarkable display of versatility, Hirsch appeared in all 14 games for the Rockets in 1946, contributing 1,445 yards: 384 kickoff return yards and one touchdown; 347 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns; 235 punt return yards and one touchdown; 226 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown; 156 passing yards and one passing touchdown; and 97 return yards on six interceptions.
In September 1947, Hirsch caught a 76-yard touchdown pass for an AAFC record. However, injuries limited Hirsch to five games in 1947. He was described in December 1947 as probably "the highest paid waterboy in pro football."
In the fifth game of the 1948 season, Hirsch sustained a fracture on the right side of his skull after being kicked in the head during a game against the Cleveland Browns. Hirsch did not return to action during the 1948 season, totaling 101 receiving yards and 93 rushing yards in five games.
In June 1949, Hirsch alleged that the Hornets (the Chicago Rockets were renamed the Hornets in 1949) had breached a contractual obligation to pay him a bonus and sought a release to allow him to play for the Green Bay Packers. However, the Los Angeles Rams held Hirsch's NFL rights having selected him in the 1945 NFL Draft, and Hirsch was therefore unable to sign with the Packers. Instead, he signed with the Rams in July 1949. Hirsch earned $20,000 a year from the Rams, following a bidding war with the Hornets. However, after the 1949 season, the AAFC folded, and the Rams reduced his salary with the competition from the AAFC gone. During his career with the Rams, Hirsch never again attained the salary level he was paid as a rookie.
Rams head coach Clark Shaughnessy played Hirsch at the end position. In his first game for the Rams, a 27–24 victory over the Detroit Lions, Hirsch scored two touchdowns, including a 19-yard touchdown reception from Norm Van Brocklin. Over the course of the 1949 season, Hirsch tallied 326 receiving yards, 287 rushing yards, and 55 return yards on two interceptions. During the 1949 season, Hirsch also became one of the first NFL players to wear a plastic helmet. After Hirsch sustained a second head injury (having previously suffered a skull fracture in 1948), Rams coach Shaughnessy had a special, 11-ounce helmet designed for Hirsch, using a strong, light plastic that had been used previously in the construction of fighter planes.
In the opening game of the 1951 season, Norm Van Brocklin passed for an NFL record 554 yards, including 173 yards and four touchdown passes to Hirsch. During the season, Hirsch, Van Brocklin, Bob Waterfield, and Tom Fears (all four of whom have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame) led the Rams to an 8–4 record and a victory over the Cleveland Browns in the 1951 NFL Championship Game. Easily the best year of his career, Hirsch tied or broke multiple NFL receiving records in 1951. Hirsch set a new NFL record with 1,495 receiving yards. Despite the fact that the NFL season consisted of only 12 games in 1951, Hirsch's single-season receiving record stood for nearly 20 years, until the merger of the AFL and the NFL. Hirsch's average of 124.6 receiving yards per game also set a new NFL record. Through the end of the 2015 NFL season, only two players have exceeded this record. Hirsch also had 17 touchdown receptions in 1951, tying an NFL record set by Don Hutson in 1942. Despite the expansion of the NFL schedule to 16 games, the Hirsch/Hutson mark of 17 touchdown catches lasted until the 1980s, and only four players through the end of the 2015 NFL season have exceeded the mark. On his 17 touchdown catches, Hirsch averaged 51.2 yards, including a 91-yard reception that was the longest of the year in the NFL. For this reason, Bob Oates of the Los Angeles Times wrote that, even in the era of Jerry Rice, Hirsch "remains the greatest long-distance receiving threat of all time." Hirsch's 66 receptions also led the NFL in 1951 and was the fifth highest total in NFL history to that date.
After the 1951 season, Hirsch finished second behind Otto Graham in voting conducted by the United Press (UP) for the NFL Player of the Year award. He was also selected as a first-team All-Pro player by both the Associated Press (AP) and the UP. He was also selected to play in the Pro Bowl each year from 1951 to 1953. Hirsch had another strong season in 1953, leading the NFL with a career-high average of 23.6 yards per reception. He also finished second in the NFL with 941 receiving yards in 1953 and was selected as a first-team All-Pro by the AP and a second-team All-Pro by the UP.
Hirsch continued to play for the Rams through the 1957 season. He announced his retirement as a player at age 34 in January 1958. In nine years with the Rams, Hirsch totaled 343 receptions for 6,299 yards and 53 touchdowns. He also gained 317 rushing yards with the Rams.
After retiring from football, Hirsch accepted a job with Union Oil to replace Bob Richards as the sports director of Union Oil Co.'s 76 Sports Club and the host of its Thursday evening sports television show. He also hosted a daily sports commentary show on KNX radio from 1961 to 1967. During the 1950s, Hirsch also starred in several motion pictures.
In March 1960, Hirsch signed a three-year contract to serve as the general manager of the Los Angeles Rams; he replaced Pete Rozelle as the Rams' general manager after Rozelle was hired as NFL commissioner. The Rams began the 1960s in the lower tier of the NFL, compiling a losing record each year from 1959 to 1965. As general manager, he was in charge of scouting, the college draft, and negotiating player and coach contracts. During his tenure as general manager, the team drafted numerous talented players, including quarterback Roman Gabriel (first-round pick in 1961), Deacon Jones (14th-round pick in 1961), and Merlin Olsen (first-round pick in 1962), player who helped the Rams improve to 11–1–2 in 1967 and 10–3–1 in 1968. In 1963, after Dan Reeves acquired outright ownership of the Rams, Hirsch's title was changed to assistant to the president. He continued to serve as Reeves' assistant through the 1968 season.
In February 1969, Hirsch was hired away from the Rams to serve as the athletic director at the University of Wisconsin. Within four years, he had raised home attendance at football games from an average of 43,000 to 70,000 per game. During his tenure as athletic director, the number of sports offered by the UW athletics department doubled and the Badgers won national titles in ice hockey, men's and women's crew, and men's and women's cross country. However, the program also had problems with recruiting violations and a fundraising controversy. Hirsch announced his resignation as Wisconsin's athletic director in December 1986; the resignation became effective at the end of June 1987. In July 1987, he was hired to do color commentary on radio broadcasts of Wisconsin football games.
Hirsch died of natural causes at an assisted living home in Madison, Wisconsin in January 2004 at age 80.
"Elroy Hirsch". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
"Marathon County Historical Society: People of Marathon County". Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016. "Elroy was born in Wausau on June 17, 1923. His adoptive parents, Otto and Mayme Hirsch were German–Norwegians, his father a worker in a local iron works."
1930 Census entry for Otto Hirsch and family. Otto, age 42, born in Wisconsin, foreman in iron works. Son Elroy, age six, born in Wisconsin. Census Place: Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin; Roll: 2582; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 0066; Image: 959.0; FHL microfilm: 2342316. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.
"Wausau Ace Leads Scorers". The Rhinelander (Wis.) Daily News. October 4, 1939. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Hirsch Runs Wild; Cards Swamp Rapids". The Rhinelander (Wis.) Daily News. October 23, 1939. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
Shav Glick (January 29, 2004). "Elroy 'Crazy Legs' Hirsch, 80; Football Hall of Famer Was An L. A. Rams Star". Los Angeles Times. p. B12 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Bob-Tales". The Rhinelander (Wis.) Daily News. October 15, 1941. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"1942 Wisconsin Badgers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
Burton Benjamin (October 7, 1942). "Sophomore Elroy Hirsch Is Wisconsin's Frank Merriwell (NEA story)". Dixon (IL) Evening Telegraph. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
Tony Wirry (October 31, 1942). "Badgers Discover a Climax Runner; He's Elroy Hirsch". East Liverpool (OH) Review. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
Len Wagner (April 6, 1969). "He wasn't sure he really wanted the UW job". Green Bay Press-Gazette. pp. 2–4.
"Badgers Put Four On AP All-Big Ten Team". The Akron Beacon Journal (AP story). November 29, 1942. p. 4C – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
Patrick Dorn (May–June 1987). "Crazy Legs Heads Into the open". The Wisconsin Alumnus. pp. 4–5.
"Elroy Hirsch". University of Wisconsin Sports News Service. February 21, 1969. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
Anderson, Dave (2005). University of Wisconsin Football. Arcadia Publishing. p. 61.
Wallace, William N. (January 29, 2004). "Crazylegs Hirsch, 80, Rams' Big-Play Receiver, Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
College Football Hall of Fame profile
Hirsch v. S. C. Johnson & Son, 280 N.W.2d 129 (1979).
"Elroy Hirsch". University of Wisconsin. 1969.
"Hirsch Continues Record-Breaking In Marine Center". The News-Palladium. September 10, 1943. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"1943 Football Team". University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
Jerry Liska (September 1, 1943). "Hirsch, Wisconsin's Wartime Gift To Michigan, Living Up to Notices". The Owosso Argus-Press.
"Michigan Defeats Illinois, 42 to 6: Daley, in Last Game With the Wolverines, Scores Two Touchdowns; Hirsch Also a Factor". The New York Times (AP story). October 31, 1943.
"Hirsch Is Standout as Michigan Wins: Former Badger Back Scores Pair of Touchdowns in 26–0 Victory Over Camp Grant". The Milwaukee Journal (AP story). September 19, 1943.[permanent dead link]
John N. Sabo (October 24, 1943). "Dr. Elroy Hirsch Provides Medicine for What Has Been Ailing Michigan". Detroit Free Press. p. 19 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Elroy Hirsch Stars as Michigan Leads Minnesota, 28 to 6". The Milwaukee Journal. October 23, 1943.[permanent dead link]
Bruce Madej; Rob Toonkel; Mike Pearson; Greg Kinney (1997). Michigan: Champions of the West. Sports Publishing LLC. p. 99. ISBN 1-57167-115-3.
Len Wagner (April 6, 1969). "He wasn't sure he really wanted the UW job (part 2)". Green Bay Press-Gazette. pp. 2–4.
"We Give You Mr. Elroy Hirsch, Star of Two Sports in One Day". Detroit Free Press. May 14, 1944. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Elroy Hirsch Sent To Parris Island". The Daily Plainsman. June 9, 1944. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Marines Uncover A Star Player". The Morning Herald (Hagerstown, MD). November 10, 1944. p. 28 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Cleveland Picks Hirsch in Draft". The Rhinelander (Wis.) Daily News. April 7, 1945. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Highlights in Sports". Clarion-Ledger. May 28, 1945. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"El Toro Mops Up Bombers: Elroy Hirsch Sparks Marines to 20–9 Win as Sinkwich Injured". Los Angeles Times. October 15, 1945. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"El Toro Marines Swamp Bulldogs". Nevada State Journal. September 23, 1945. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Elroy Hirsch Will Not Play Baseball". The Daily Mail (Hagerstown, MD). May 18, 1946. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
Braven Dyer (August 24, 1946). "All-Stars Upset Rams, 16–0, To Stun 97,380: Hirsch Registers Two Touchdowns to Spill National Pro Champs". Los Angeles Times. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Elroy Hirsch Refuses To Sign Contract With Cleveland Club". Green Bay Press-Gazette. May 28, 1945. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Chicago Hornets/Rockets Franchise Encyclopedia". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
"Ratterman's Four Tosses Foil Rockets". The Des Moines Register. September 20, 1947. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Rockets' Elroy Hirsch Claims Highest-Paid Water Boy Title". The Daily Tar Heel. December 4, 1947. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Grid Ace Suffers Fractured Skull: Elroy Hirsch Injured Sunday May Be Out for Rest of Year". The Salt Lake Tribune. September 30, 1948. p. 20 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Packers Or Not at All: Hirsch Claims Hornets Broke His Contract; Approached Packers Because He Wasn't Paid Bonus". Green Bay Press-Gazette. June 3, 1949. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Los Angeles Rams Sign Halfback Elroy Hirsch". Wilmington (DE) Morning News. July 27, 1949. p. 30 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
Bob Oates (February 7, 1988). "Difference of Distance: Despite Jerry Rice's Big Season in '87, Crazylegs Hirsch, Now 64, Remains the King of the Successful Long Pass". Los Angeles Times. p. III-3.
Frank Finch (September 24, 1949). "Rams Capture 27–24 Thriller". Los Angeles Times. p. 33 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
John Grasso (2013). Historical Dictionary of Football. Scarecrow Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-8108-7857-0.
"Sports Hot Line". The Cincinnati Enquirer. January 23, 1975. p. 48 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Dutch Treat". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
"1951 Los Angeles Rams Statistics & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
"NFL Single-Season Receiving Yards Leaders". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 19, 2016.(At the time of the merger, no NFL player had matched Hirsch's single-season record. However, two AFL players [ Charlie Hennigan in 1961 and 1964 and Lance Alworth in 1965] had exceeded Hirsch's mark, and those totals were merged into the NFL record book at the time of the merger.)
"NFL Single-Season Receiving Yards per Game Leaders". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
"NFL Single-Season Receiving Touchdowns Leaders". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
Bob Oates (February 7, 1988). "Difference of Distance: Despite Jerry Rice's Big Season in '87, Crazylegs Hirsch, Now 64, Remains the King of the Successful Long Pass (part 2)". Los Angeles Times. p. III-13.
"NFL Year-by-Year Receptions Leaders". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
Earl Wright (December 21, 1951). "Otto Graham Is Selected by United Press as Pro Football Player of Year". The Berkshire (MA) Evening Eagle. p. 22 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Elroy Hirsch Calls It Career at 34 To Become Youth Program Director". Green Bay Press-Gazette. January 15, 1958. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
Dick Hyland (January 15, 1958). "Elroy Hirsch Quits Football for TV Position". Los Angeles Times. p. IV1–IV2 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Bob Kelly Says . . ". The Independent (Long Beach, CA). August 22, 1958. p. C3 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Press Release". University of Wisconsin News and Publication Service. March 15, 1972.
"'Crazylegs,' Story of Hirsch, Rivoli Theater Feature Film". The La Crosse (WI) Sunday Tribune. November 15, 1953. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Crazylegs". Hall Bartlett Productions, Inc. 1953. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016.
"Crazylegs: Hollywood cemented Elroy's fame". Wisconsin Week. July 29, 1987.
"Attempts Escape From Barless Prison". The Salina Journal. July 10, 1955. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
Gloria B. Anderson (January 29, 2004). "Wisconsin loses a legend: Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch, 1923–2004; 'He loved the Badgers'". Green Bay (WI) Press-Gazette. p. C1 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Out Of Context Cinema: Zero Hour!". WFMU. September 27, 2007.(includes 10 minutes of clips featuring Hirsch)
"Captain Midnight Ovaltine advertisement". Captain Midnight. 1956. Archived from the original on January 2, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
Nick at Nite's Classic TV Companion, edited by Tom Hill, copyright 1996 by Viacom International, p. 370
Stephen Cox; Yvonne DeCarlo; Butch Patrick (2006). The Munsters: A Trip Down Mockingbird Lane. Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 190. ISBN 0-8230-7894-9.
"Crazy Legs Hirsch On The Munsters". BringBackTheLARams. April 26, 2012. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
Mal Florence (March 23, 1960). "Hirsch Named Ram General Manager". Los Angeles Times. p. IV1 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Cleveland/St. Louis/LA Rams Franchise Encyclopedia". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
"Elroy Hirsch Takes Job As U. of Wisconsin AD". The Sun-Telegram (San Bernardino). March 1, 1969. p. A8 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
Ross, J. R. (January 31, 2004). "Elroy 'Crazy Legs' Hirsch; Rams player had running style". The Boston Globe. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
"Crazylegs: End of Hirsch reign shows need for more than cheerleading". Green Bay Press-Gazette. June 29, 1987. p. A8 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Crazy Legs Hirsch to step down". The New Mexican (Santa Fe). December 27, 1986. p. B2 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Hirsch will do UW football color". Green Bay Press-Gazette. July 8, 1997. p. C6 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"#87: Elroy "Crazy legs" Hirsch: The Top 100 NFL's Greatest Players". NFL Films. 2010. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
"Elroy Hirsch Named to NFL Hall of Fame". Los Angeles Times. February 20, 1968. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Elroy Hirsch Piked To Grid Hall of Fame". La Crosse (WI) Tribune. April 12, 1974. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Night Train Lane Picked On Pros' All-Time Team". Detroit Free Press. September 7, 1969. p. 3E – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Graham, Huff on All-1950s Pro Football Selections". Racine Sunday Bulletin. August 31, 1969. p. 6C – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Elroy Hirsch Gains State Hall of Fame". The Daily Telegram (Eau-Claire, WI). November 28, 1964. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Lists". Democrat and Chronicle. January 24, 1992. p. 2D – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor". University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
"Rams' All-Time Team". Los Angeles Times. September 17, 1986. p. IIID – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"The Street of Broken Tackles". Chicago Tribune. September 11, 1987.
"Press Release: Hirsch's No. 40 Retired". University of Wisconsin Sports News Service. November 21, 1987.
"Football dominates Hall of Fame pick". Battle Creek (MI) Enquirer. July 9, 1988. p. 3C – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"untitled". Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY). August 15, 1999. p. 3D – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"A Great Player, but a Better Nickname". Los Angeles Times. May 20, 2005. p. D2 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
Kravitz, Bob (July 11, 2021). "NFL 100: At No. 94, Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch was 'the embodiment of swivel-hipness'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
"Race Information". Crazylegs Classic. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
"North Side Relatives ... Where's Bliss ..." Green Bay Press-Gazette. June 28, 1946. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
"Ruth Hirsch Obituary". Wausau Daily Herald. August 6, 2011.
Karen Walsh (July 29, 1987). "Ruth and Elroy: A good 41 year". Wisconsin Week.
"Badgers have faithful fan in Mrs. Elroy Hirsch". The Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids (AP story). August 26, 1969. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
Paul Eugene Brown was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League. Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Cleveland Browns, a team named after him, and later played a role in founding the Cincinnati Bengals. His teams won seven league championships in a professional coaching career spanning 25 seasons.
Brown began his coaching career at Severn School in 1931 before becoming the head football coach at Massillon Washington High School in Massillon, Ohio, where he grew up. His high school teams lost only 10 games in 11 seasons. He was then hired at Ohio State University and coached the school to its first national football championship in 1942. After World War II, he became head coach of the Browns, who won all four AAFC championships before joining the NFL in 1950. Brown coached the Browns to three NFL championships – in 1950, 1954 and 1955 – but was fired in January 1963 amid a power struggle with team owner Art Modell. In 1968, Brown co-founded and was the first coach of the Bengals. He retired from coaching in 1975 but remained the Bengals' team president until his death in 1991. The Bengals named their home stadium Paul Brown Stadium in honor of Brown. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967.
Brown is credited with a number of American football innovations. He was the first coach to use game film to scout opponents, hire a full-time staff of assistants, and test players on their knowledge of a playbook. He invented the modern face mask, the practice squad and the draw play. He also played a role in breaking professional football's color barrier, bringing the first African-Americans to play pro football in the modern era onto his teams. Despite these accomplishments, Brown was not universally liked. He was strict and controlling, which often brought him into conflict with players who wanted a greater say in play-calling. These disputes, combined with Brown's failure to consult Modell on major personnel decisions, led to his firing as the Browns' coach in 1963.
Brown grew up in Massillon, Ohio, where he moved with his family from Norwalk when he was nine years of age. His father, Lester, was a dispatcher for the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad. Massillon was a shipping and steel town obsessed with its high school and professional football teams, both called the Tigers. Massillon's main rival at both levels was nearby Canton, a bigger and richer city. When the professional teams folded in the 1920s, the rivalry between the high school teams took center stage.
Brown entered Massillon Washington High School in 1922. Although he played football as a child, Brown was undersized for the game at less than 150 pounds and at first focused his athletic energies on the pole vault. Harry Stuhldreher, who went on to be one of Notre Dame's legendary Four Horsemen, was then the high school quarterback. But Massillon coach Dave Stewart saw Brown's determination to be a good vaulter despite his small size and brought him onto the football team; as a junior in 1924, he took over as the starting quarterback. Massillon posted a win–loss record of 15–3 in Brown's junior and senior years as the starter.
Brown graduated in 1925 and enrolled at Ohio State University the following year, hoping to make the Buckeyes team. He never got past the tryout phase. After his freshman year, he transferred to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he followed Weeb Ewbank as the school's starting quarterback. Under Coach Chester Pittser, Brown was named to the All-Ohio small-college second team by the Associated Press at the end of 1928. In two seasons at Miami, Brown guided the team to a 14–3 record. He was a member of the Kappa chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon. He married his high school sweetheart Katie Kester the following year. Brown had taken pre-law at Miami and considered studying history on a Rhodes Scholarship, but after college he instead took his first job as a coach. On Stewart's recommendation, Severn School, a private prep school in Maryland, hired him in 1930.
Brown spent two very successful years at Severn. The team was undefeated in his first season and won the Maryland state championship. In 1931, the team's win-loss-tie record was 5–2–1. Brown's overall record was 12–2–1. After his second year, Massillon's head coaching job became available, and Brown took the position.
Brown returned to Massillon in 1932, when he was 24 years old and barely two years out of college. His assignment was to turn around a Tigers team that had fallen into mediocrity over the six seasons since the departure of Stewart, Brown's old coach. In 1931, the year before Brown arrived, the Tigers finished with a 2–6–2 record. Brown's strategy was to build up a disciplined, hard-working team. He fired an assistant early on for arriving at a practice late because he had to work on his farm. No Tigers player was allowed to sit on the bench during a game; Brown made them stand. At Massillon, Brown put in an offense and blocking scheme he learned from Duke's Jimmy DeHart and Purdue's Noble Kizer. He emphasized quickness over strength.
In his first season at Massillon, Brown's team posted a 5–4–1 record, better than the previous year but far from Brown's exacting standards. The Tigers improved again in 1933, ending with an 8–2 record but losing to their chief rivals, the Canton McKinley High School Bulldogs. In 1934, Massillon won all of its games until a 21–6 defeat to Canton in the final game of the season. As the pressure on Brown grew to turn the tables on Canton, Massillon finally accomplished the feat the following year in an undefeated season, the first of several with Brown at the helm.
By then, Brown had put his system into place: a strict, systematic approach to coaching combined with a well-organized recruitment network that drew promising young players from Massillon's junior high school football program. He paid no attention to race, and brought several African-American players onto the team at a time when many northern schools excluded them.
In the ensuing five seasons, Massillon lost only one game, a 7–0 defeat at New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1937 after several players came down with the flu. As the Tigers' prestige grew, Brown in 1936 convinced the school to build a new stadium almost triple the size of the existing 7,000-seat facility. The stadium was finished in 1939, and is now named after Brown. The pinnacle of Brown's career at Massillon was a victory in the 1940 season against Toledo's Waite High School. The Tigers and Waite both went undefeated in the 1939 season, and both claimed the state championship. The teams decided to settle the score the following year, and Brown's team won 28–0. The Massillon 1940 squad is still regarded by historians as one of the best in the history of state high school football. In a pre-season scrimmage, the Massillon Tigers played the Kent State University Golden Flashes, and defeated the older college team 47–0.
During his nine years at Massillon, Brown invented the playbook, a detailed listing of formations and set plays, and tested his players on their knowledge of it. He also originated the practice of sending in plays to his quarterback from the sideline using hand signals. His overall record at the school was 80–8–2, including a 35-game winning streak. Between 1935 and 1940, the team won the state football championship five times and won the High School Football National Championship four times, outscoring opponents by 2,393 points to 168 over that span. After the early losses to Canton, the Tigers beat the Bulldogs six straight times.
Brown's success at Massillon raised his profile in Ohio considerably; people started calling him the "Miracle Man of Massillon." When Ohio State was looking for a new coach in 1940 – Francis Schmidt left after losing to the rival Michigan Wolverines three times in a row – Brown was a candidate for the job. Ohio State officials were skeptical about the 33-year-old making the transition to college football but were worried that they might lose talented high school recruits loyal to Brown if they did not sign him.
Ohio State offered Brown a $6,500 salary ($120,000 in 2021 dollars), about $1,500 above his Massillon pay. He accepted in January 1941 and immediately began to institute his rigorous system. Players were drilled and quizzed, and Brown focused on preparing the freshmen to take starting roles as graduating seniors left. He conditioned his players to emphasize quickness, adopting the 40-yard dash as a measure of speed because that was the distance players needed to run to cover a punt.
Brown's first year at Ohio State was a success. The Buckeyes won six of eight games in 1941; the only loss was to Northwestern University and its star tailback, Otto Graham. The final game of the season was a 20–20 tie with Michigan, which the school's supporters saw as a good outcome given that Ohio State was a heavy underdog. The Buckeyes tied for second place in the Western Conference, a grouping of college teams from the Midwestern United States (now known as the Big Ten), and finished 13th in the AP Poll. Brown was fourth in balloting for national Coach of the Year.
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, threatened to derail the 1942 season, but most college teams played on, adjusting schedules to include military teams composed of players serving in the military. The Buckeyes opened the season by beating a Fort Knox team 59–0, followed by two more wins against Southern California and Indiana University. In the first AP Poll of the season, Ohio State was ranked best in the nation, the first time the school had achieved that mark. The 1942 team was the first composed mainly of players hand-picked by Brown, including Bill Willis, Dante Lavelli and star halfback Les Horvath. In the middle of the season, the Buckeyes lost to the University of Wisconsin after numerous players drank bad water and got sick. That was the team's only loss of the season, which culminated with a 21–7 victory over Michigan. The Buckeyes won the Western Conference and claimed their first-ever national title after finishing the season at the top of the AP Poll.
The 1943 season was a disaster for Brown and the Buckeyes. Depleted by the military draft and facing tough competition from teams on Army and Navy bases, Brown was forced to play 17-year-old recruits who had not yet enlisted. Ohio State had affiliated itself with the Army Specialized Training Program, which did not allow its trainees to participate in varsity sports, while schools such as Michigan and Purdue became part of the Navy's V-12 training program, which did. The Buckeyes ended with a 3–6 record. In three seasons at Ohio State, Brown amassed an 18–8–1 record.
Brown was classified 1-A in 1944 and commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He served at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station outside Chicago as head coach of its Bluejacket football team, which competed against other service teams and college programs. The station was a waypoint for Navy recruits between training and active service in World War II, but its commanders took athletics seriously and saw winning as a morale-booster and a point of personal pride. Brown could have been called up for active duty – Tony Hinkle, his predecessor, was already serving in the Pacific – but the war began to wind down as Brown arrived. Brown had little time to institute his system, and instead adopted Hinkle's offensive scheme, borrowed from the Chicago Bears. He had a smattering of talented players, including defensive end George Young and halfback Ara Parseghian. In 1944, the team lost to Ohio State and Notre Dame, but finished with a 9–2–1 record and was among the top 20 teams in the AP Poll.
In September 1944, Arch Ward, the influential sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, proposed a new eight-team professional football league called the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) to compete against the more established National Football League once the war was over. Ward lined up wealthy owners for the new league, which included teams in Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco and Cleveland. Arthur B. "Mickey" McBride, a taxi-cab magnate who made a fortune in the newspaper business, was the owner of the Cleveland franchise. As Brown was preparing for the 1945 Bluejackets season, Ward came on McBride's behalf to ask Brown if he wanted to coach the new team. McBride offered $17,500 a year ($260,000 in today's dollars) – more than any coach at any level - and full authority over football matters. He also received a stake in the team and a stipend while he was still in the military.
On February 8, 1945, Brown accepted the job, saying he was sad to leave Ohio State, but he "couldn't turn down this deal in fairness to my family." Brown was still Ohio State's head coach in absentia, and the decision surprised and outraged school officials who expected him to return after the war. The AAFC did not start play until after the war, however, and Brown continued to get ready for the 1945 season at Great Lakes. That year, many of his best players were transferred to bases on the West Coast as the focus of the war shifted to the Pacific. The team started with a 0–4–1 record, but rattled off six straight wins after the war ended and players returned from service overseas. Within weeks of Brown's final Bluejackets game, a 39–7 victory over Notre Dame, he set off for his new job in Cleveland.
By the time Brown arrived in Cleveland, the team had signed a number of players to its roster, including quarterback Otto Graham, whose Northwestern squad had beaten the Buckeyes in 1941. Many of the players came from Ohio State, Great Lakes and Massillon teams that Brown coached. Lou Groza, a placekicker and tackle, played for Brown at Ohio State before the war intervened. Receiver Dante Lavelli was a sophomore on Ohio State's championship-winning team in 1942. Bill Willis, a defensive lineman whom Brown coached at Ohio State, and Marion Motley, a running back who grew up in Canton and played for Brown at Great Lakes, became two of the first black athletes to play professional football when they joined the team in 1946. Other signings included receiver Mac Speedie, center Frank Gatski and back Edgar "Special Delivery" Jones. Brown brought in assistants including Blanton Collier, who had been stationed at Great Lakes and met Brown at Bluejackets practices.
The name of the team was at first left up to Brown, who rejected calls for it to be christened the Browns in his honor. McBride then held a contest to name the team in May 1945, which yielded the name "Panthers," which had previously been used by an earlier team that had played in Cleveland in the 1920s. However, the nickname was scrapped soon afterward. Depending on the source, Brown rejected it after learning that the Panthers had failed (according to this version, Brown said, "That old Panthers team failed. I want no part of that name."), or McBride balked at paying the owner of the original Panthers for the rights to use the name. Whatever the case, in August, McBride gave in to popular demand and christened the team the Browns, despite Paul Brown's objections.
For years, however, Brown claimed that the second name-the-team contest yielded the name "Brown Bombers," after then-world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, whose nickname was "The Brown Bomber." According to this version, when Brown rejected the nickname "Panthers," he decided that the team needed a nickname befitting a champion, and felt the nickname "Brown Bombers" was appropriate. The name was reportedly shortened to simply "Browns." This alternate history of the name was even supported by the team as being factual as recently as the mid-1990s, and it continues as an urban legend to this day. However, Paul Brown never held fast to the Joe Louis story, and later in his life admitted that it was false, invented to deflect unwanted attention arising from the team being named after him. The Browns and the NFL now both support the position that the team was indeed named after Paul Brown.
With the roster fixed and the team's name chosen, Brown set out to build a dynasty. "I want to be what the New York Yankees are in baseball or Ben Hogan is in golf", he said.
After a training camp at Bowling Green State University, the Browns played their first game in September 1946 at Cleveland Stadium. A crowd of 60,135 people showed up to see the Browns beat the Miami Seahawks 44–0, then a record attendance mark for professional football. That touched off a string of wins; the team ended the season with a 12–2 record and the top spot in the AAFC's western division. The Browns then beat the AAFC's New York Yankees in the championship.
Cleveland won the AAFC championship again in 1947 behind an offensive attack that employed the forward pass more frequently and effectively than was typical at the time. The Browns' offensive success was driven by Brown's version of the T formation, which was gradually replacing the single-wing formation as football's most popular and effective scheme.
The Browns won every game in the 1948 season, a feat that went unmatched until the Miami Dolphins (coached by Brown disciple Don Shula) did it in 1972. Cleveland then won the AAFC championship for the fourth time in a row in 1949. By then, however, the league was struggling for survival, due in part to the Browns' dominance. Attendance at games dwindled in 1948 and 1949 as fans lost interest in lopsided victories, and at the end of the 1949 season the AAFC dissolved. Three of its teams, the San Francisco 49ers, the Baltimore Colts and the Browns, merged into the NFL. The Browns picked up a few good former AAFC players from other teams, including offensive guard Abe Gibron and defensive end Len Ford, but some observers saw Brown's team as the lone standout in an otherwise minor league.
The Browns' first game in the NFL in 1950 was against the two-time defending champion Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia. They won the game 35–10, the first of 10 victories that year. After beating the New York Giants in a playoff game, the Browns went on to win the championship game against the Los Angeles Rams on a last-minute field goal by Groza. "The flag of the late lamented AAFC flies high, and Paul Brown has the last laugh", the Plain Dealer's editorial page proclaimed. Brown said his was "the greatest football team a coach ever had, and there was never a game like this one." In 16 seasons, Brown had led his teams to 12 championships. He was the first head coach to win both a college and NFL championship, a feat not repeated until Jimmy Johnson and later Barry Switzer did it with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s, and Pete Carroll who accomplished the feat with USC in 2004 and the Seattle Seahawks in 2013.
As the Browns climbed to the top of the NFL, speculation began to mount that Brown might return to the Buckeyes. Wes Felser had resigned as the team's coach, and Brown was seen as a possible replacement. But Brown had also alienated many Ohio State alumni by failing to return to the school after World War II and for signing away players including Groza before their college eligibility expired. He interviewed with the university's athletic board on January 27, 1951, but the board unanimously rejected Brown in favor of Woody Hayes, who was unanimously endorsed by the board of trustees.
The Browns reached the championship each of the next three years, but lost all of those games. In both 1952 and 1953, Cleveland lost championships to the Detroit Lions, who were then on the rise after decades of mediocrity. Before the 1953 season, McBride sold the team to a group of local businessmen led by David Jones for $600,000 ($6.1 million in 2021 dollars). While Brown was upset that McBride did not consult him about the deal, the new owners said they would stay out of the picture and let Brown run the team. Brown saw this as a crucial issue: he felt he needed full control over personnel decisions and coaching to make his system work.
Graham announced in 1953 that the following season would be his last. But the team won the championship in 1954 in a rematch against the Lions, and Brown convinced Graham to come back. Cleveland finished 1955 with a 9–2–1 record, reaching the championship game again. The Browns beat the Rams for their second straight championship, and Graham retired after the season.
As Jim Brown's star rose, players began to question Paul Brown's leadership and play-calling in the late 1950s. The skepticism came to a head in a game against the Giants at the end of the 1958 season in which a win or tie would have given the Browns a spot in the championship game against Ewbank's Colts. In the third quarter, the Browns drove to New York's 16-yard line with a 10–3 lead and lined up for a field goal. But Coach Brown called a timeout before Groza could make the try, which alerted the Giants to a possible fake kick. Brown indeed called a fake, and the holder stumbled as he got up to throw, ruining the play. The Giants came back to win the game by a field goal, defeated the Browns 10–0 in a playoff for the Eastern Conference title and reached the championship, while the Browns went home without a spot in the title game for the second year in a row.
Paul Brown blamed the struggles on quarterback Milt Plum, whom the team had drafted in 1957, saying the Browns had "lost faith in Plum's ability to play under stress." But the players were instead losing faith in Coach Brown and his autocratic style. Jim Brown started a weekly radio show, which Paul Brown did not like; it undercut his control over the team and its message. But the coach found it hard to question Jim Brown given his feats on the field, and the tension between the two men grew. The team finished second in its division in 1959 and 1960, even as Jim Brown racked up league-leading seasons in rushing.
Art Modell, a New York advertising executive, bought the team in 1961 for $4.1 million ($37 million today). Modell, who was 35 years old at the time, bought out Brown's 15% stake in the team for $500,000 and gave Brown a new eight-year contract. He said he and Brown would have a "working partnership", and began to play a more direct role than previous owners in the team's operation. This angered Brown, who was used to having a free hand in football matters. Modell, who was single and only a few years older than most players, started to listen to their concerns about the coach. He became particularly close to Jim Brown, calling him "my senior partner". Modell sat in the press box during games and could be overheard second-guessing Paul Brown's play-calling, which drove a deeper wedge between the two men. At that time, Brown was the only coach who insisted on calling every offensive play, making use of rotating guards to ferry coaching instructions. Quarterback audibles to change the play at the line of scrimmage in response to defensive positioning were not permitted. When Plum openly questioned Paul Brown's absolute control over play-calling, he was traded to Detroit.
The conflict between Brown and Modell reached a breaking point when Brown traded star halfback Bobby Mitchell for the rights to Ernie Davis, a Heisman Trophy-winning running back who broke all of Jim Brown's rushing records at Syracuse. Paul Brown did not inform Modell of the move, and Modell only heard about it after getting a call from Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall. Davis, however, was diagnosed with leukemia before the 1962 season. He came to Cleveland to train after the cancer went into remission, but Brown would not allow him to play. Modell, however, wanted to give Davis a chance to play before he succumbed to the disease. Ultimately, the relationship between coach and owner was never repaired, and Ernie Davis never played in a professional game, dying on May 18, 1963.
As the rift between the players and Brown and between Modell and Brown grew, Modell fired Brown on January 7, 1963. A controversy developed over the timing of the decision amid a local newspaper strike, which limited discussion of the move. A printing company executive, however, got together a group of sportswriters and published a 32-page magazine fielding players' views on the firing. Opinions were mixed; Modell came in for his share of criticism, but tackle and team captain Mike McCormack said he did not think the team could win under Brown. Blanton Collier, Brown's longtime assistant, was named the team's new head coach. Brown remained with the team as vice president and continued to receive an $82,500 salary under his eight-year contract, though the position had no true power in what he told The New York Times was a "vice president in charge of I-don't-know-what."
Brown reportedly wished to purchase the Eagles, who were put on sale by the Happy Hundred on April 19, and he led a group of investors that offered $4.5 million. Modell supported his effort regardless of their dispute, telling the Associated Press that he would "not stand in [Brown's] way if he wants to buy the Eagles." Despite his success in Cleveland, the news drew mixed reaction from Philadelphians as opponents saw little reason to replace the current front office or were hesitant to see an "outsider" owning their team. By May, however, Brown had lost interest in the bid, and an article from The Plain Dealer claimed it "remains doubtful whether Brown ever seriously considered purchasing the Eagles" and that "no attempt was made to put together a group and he hasn't visited Philadelphia since the Browns took a licking there last fall."
Out of football for the first time since 1930, Brown spent the next five years away from the sidelines, never once attending a Browns contest. As the team's vice president, he spoke little to Modell, only briefly doing so in 1963 to discuss scouting; Modell explained in 1964 that he did not order Brown to carry out any major responsibilities as it "would have been ludicrous to give a man of his stature piddling assignments." While he was secure financially, Brown's frustration grew with each passing year. "It was terrible", he later recalled. "I had everything a man could want: leisure, enough money, a wonderful family. Yet with all that, I was eating my heart out." Because Brown was still receiving his annual salary and liked to play golf, it was said that the only two people who made more money playing golf were Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.
Brown explored coaching possibilities, but he was mindful not to put himself in a position where his control might be challenged as it had been in Cleveland. In 1963, the New York Titans of the American Football League (AFL) offered him the head coach job for $50,000 but failed. Four years later, the AFL, which had formed to compete against the NFL, put a new franchise in Cincinnati. Brown had the third-largest stake in the team, and was the front man for the ownership group. He became general manager and head coach, and was also given the right to represent the team in all league matters, a key element of control for him.
Brown called his new franchise the Bengals because Cincinnati had a team of that name in the 1930s and he thought it would provide a link to the past. Brown's son Mike joined the front office and became his father's top assistant and right-hand man. Brown brought in other assistants including Bill Johnson, Rick Forzano and Bill Walsh. In their first two seasons in 1968 and 1969, the Bengals fared poorly, but the team appeared to be on the upswing as Brown built up a core group of players through the draft, including quarterback Greg Cook.
The Bengals entered the NFL in 1970 as a result of the AFL–NFL merger and were placed in the newly formed American Football Conference alongside the Browns. A career-ending injury to Cook before the 1970 season forced the Bengals to rely on Virgil Carter, an emergency backup who could make accurate short passes but could not throw the ball deep like Cook once could. Brown and Walsh went to work designing an offense around Carter's limitations, a scheme that was the genesis of the West Coast offense Walsh later used to great effect when he became coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
The Bengals lost their first meeting with the Browns 30–27 in 1970, and Brown was booed when he did not come on the field to shake Collier's hand after the game. "I haven't shaken the other coach's hands after a game for years", Brown explained. "... I went up to him before the game, and we did our socializing then." The Bengals beat the Browns later in the season. Brown called it "my greatest victory."
As the Bengals' head coach, Brown took the team to the playoffs three times including 1970. Despite finding a franchise quarterback in Ken Anderson, Brown's team never got past the first round of the postseason tournament. Four days after the Bengals were eliminated from the playoffs in 1975, Brown announced he was retiring after 45 years of coaching. The game had changed dramatically during his time in the NFL, growing from America's second sport to the country's biggest and most lucrative pastime. Brown was 67 years old.
Bill Walsh was passed over in favor of Bill "Tiger" Johnson for the head coaching job when Brown retired. In a 2006 interview, Walsh said Brown worked against his candidacy to be a head coach anywhere in the league. "All the way through I had opportunities, and I never knew about them", Walsh said. "And then when I left him, he called whoever he thought was necessary to keep me out of the NFL." Brown stayed on as team president after stepping down as head coach, and the Bengals later made two trips to the Super Bowl, losing both games to Walsh and the 49ers. He rarely appeared in public, however. He died on August 5, 1991, at home of complications from pneumonia.
Brown and Katie had three sons: Robin, Mike and Pete. Following Katie's death of a heart attack in 1969, he married his former secretary Mary Rightsell in 1973. His son Robin died of cancer in 1978. Brown is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Massillon.
Brown was succeeded by his son Mike as Bengals' team president. Subsequently, in 2000, Cincinnati opened a new football facility on the Ohio River, naming it Paul Brown Stadium, a name it would keep until 2022. Brown was elected in 1967 to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. "I feel he's as fine a coach as the game ever has had", Otto Graham said at the induction ceremony. "I used to cuss him out and complain but now I'm happy that I played under him." In 2009, Sporting News named Brown as the 12th greatest coach of all time; only two other NFL coaches were listed above him.
Rhoden, William C. (September 25, 1997). "ON PRO FOOTBALL; When Paul Brown Smashed the Color Barrier". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
Maule, Tex. "A MAN FOR THIS SEASON". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
Marc Bona, cleveland com (February 9, 2016). "Paul Brown and racial integration: Museum's latest exhibit". cleveland. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
Shuck, Barry (July 17, 2021). "Changing pro football's color barrier: Paul Brown hires Bill Willis and Marion Motley". Dawgs By Nature. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
"Brown, Paul E." Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
Cantor 2008, pp. 16–17.
Cantor 2008, p. 17.
Cantor 2008, p. 18.
Cantor 2008, p. 20.
Cantor 2008, p. 21.
Cantor 2008, p. 22.
Cantor 2008, p. 25.
Cantor 2008, p. 27.
Cantor 2008, p. 29.
Cantor 2008, p. 30.
Cantor 2008, pp. 32–33.
Cantor 2008, pp. 34–36.
Cantor 2008, p. 36.
"1940 Season".
Cantor 2008, p. 31.
Park 2003, p. 183.
Keim 1999, p. 19.
Cantor 2008, p. 41.
Cantor 2008, pp. 41–42.
Cantor 2008, p. 43.
Cantor 2008, pp. 43–44.
Cantor 2008, p. 45.
Cantor 2008, p. 47.
Cantor 2008, p. 50.
Park 2003, p. 192.
Cantor 2008, p. 51.
Cantor 2008, p. 52.
Cantor 2008, pp. 51–52.
Cantor 2008, p. 53.
Cantor 2008, pp. 55–58.
Cantor 2008, p. 59.
Park 2003, p. 217.
"Deferment Asked For Paul Brown". The Pittsburgh Press. Columbus. United Press International. February 12, 1944. p. 8. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
"Paul Brown Looms As Great Lakes Coach". Eugene Register-Guard. Columbus. United Press International. April 14, 1944. p. 6. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
Park 2003, p. 222.
Cantor 2008, p. 63.
Cantor 2008, p. 64.
Cantor 2008, pp. 64–65.
Cantor 2008, p. 65.
Cantor 2008, pp. 66–67.
Cantor 2008, p. 67.
Cantor 2008, p. 68.
"SWere the Cleveland Browns named after boxer Joe Louis?". latimesblogs.latimes.com. December 7, 2011. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
Cantor 2008, p. 69.
Cantor 2008, pp. 69, 80.
Cantor 2008, p. 70.
Cantor 2008, pp. 71–72.
Cantor 2008, pp. 72–73.
Piascik 2007, pp. 19–20.
Piascik 2007, p. 21.
Piascik 2007, pp. 36–43.
Piascik 2007, pp. 21–25.
Cantor 2008, p. 81.
Piascik 2007, p. 17.
Henkel 2005, p. 10.
Cantor 2008, p. 77.
Cantor 2008, p. 76.
Donovan, Michael Leo (1997). The Name Game: Football, Baseball, Hockey & Basketball How Your Favorite Sports Teams Were Named. Toronto: Warwick Publishing. ISBN 1-895629-74-8.
"Franchise nicknames". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 8, 2016. The Cleveland All-America Football Conference franchise conducted a fan contest in 1945 to name the team. The most popular submission was "Browns" in recognition of the team's first coach and general manager Paul Brown, who was already a popular figure in Ohio sports. Brown at first vetoed the choice and the team selected from the contest entries the name "Panthers." However, after an area businessman informed the team that he owned the rights to the name Cleveland Panthers, from an earlier failed football team, Brown rescinded his objection and agreed to the use of his name.
Cantor 2008, p. 78.
Cantor 2008, p. 87.
Cantor 2008, pp. 87–88.
Cantor 2008, p. 88.
Cantor 2008, p. 90.
Cantor 2008, p. 93.
Cantor 2008, p. 79.
Cantor 2008, pp. 100–101.
Cantor 2008, pp. 102–103.
Cantor 2008, p. 103.
Cantor 2008, pp. 105, 110.
Cantor 2008, pp. 115, 121.
Cantor 2008, p. 121.
Cantor 2008, p. 113.
Levy 1965, p. 106.
Vare 1973, pp. 73–76.
Cantor 2008, pp. 124, 132, 137.
Cantor 2008, pp. 128, 132, 137.
Cantor 2008, p. 133.
Cantor 2008, p. 137.
Cantor 2008, pp. 143, 145–146.
Cantor 2008, p. 147.
Cantor 2008, p. 148.
Cantor 2008, p. 150.
Cantor 2008, p. 153.
Cantor 2008, pp. 154–155.
Cantor 2008, p. 158.
Cantor 2008, p. 160.
Cantor 2008, p. 161.
Cantor 2008, pp. 161–162.
Cantor 2008, p. 162.
Cantor 2008, p. 165.
Cantor 2008, p. 164.
MacCambridge 2005, p. 167.
Cantor 2008, p. 166.
Cantor 2008, p. 167.
Cantor 2008, p. 168.
Cantor 2008, p. 170.
"The Man Who Isn't Paul Brown," Sports All Stars 1963 Pro Football, pg. 41.
Cantor 2008, p. 169.
Cantor 2008, pp. 169–170.
Cantor 2008, p. 172.
Cantor 2008, p. 173.
Cantor 2008, p. 175.
Lebovitz 2006, p. 13–14.
Cantor 2008, pp. 178–179.
"Paul Brown: 'I'm Vice President In Charge of Don't-Know-What'; Brown Is Interviewed A Coach For 33 Years". The New York Times. AP. January 10, 1963. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
"Memory of Paul Brown Still Clings to Modell". Miami Herald. December 18, 1964. Retrieved April 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
Bernstein, Ralph (April 6, 1963). "Eagles Sale Seen Soon To Paul Brown Syndicate". The Morning Call. AP. Retrieved April 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
Green, Russ (April 20, 1963). "Paul Brown Makes Bid For Philadelphia Eagles". The Hartford Sentinel. UPI. Retrieved April 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
Dell, John (April 14, 1963). "Majority in Fan Poll Opposes Eagles' Sale to Brown". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved April 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
Merchant, Larry (April 19, 1963). "A Solid Vote for Paul Brown". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved April 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
"Paul Brown Doesn't Want To Buy Eagles, Paper Says". The Lexington Herald. AP. May 4, 1963. Retrieved April 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
Crittenden, John (January 19, 1964). "Fired Paul Brown, Modell Really Continents Apart". The Miami News. Retrieved April 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
Cantor 2008, p. 181.
Levy 1965, p. 188.
"Titans Are Trying To Sign Paul Brown". Record-Journal. AP. April 6, 1963. Retrieved April 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
Cantor 2008, p. 182.
Cantor 2008, p. 183.
Cantor 2008, p. 185.
Cantor 2008, p. 186.
Cantor 2008, p. 187.
Cantor 2008, p. 188.
Cantor 2008, p. 191.
Cantor 2008, pp. 194–198.
Cantor 2008, p. 199.
Cantor 2008, p. 193.
Farmer, Sam (December 22, 2006). "Living Legend". Los Angeles Times. p. D1. Archived from the original on June 19, 2013. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
Cantor 2008, pp. 200–202.
Cantor 2008, pp. 202–203.
"Robin Brown dies, son of Bengals GM". The Day. Wilmington, Ohio. Associated Press. July 25, 1978. p. 28. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
Cantor 2008, p. 203.
Heaton, Chuck (August 6, 1967). "Paul Brown Has 'Red Letter' Day". Cleveland Plain Dealer. p. 7–C.
D'Alessio, Jeff (August 29, 2009). "Sporting News' 50 greatest coaches of all time". SportingNews.com. Archived from the original on June 9, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
Keim 1999, pp. 19–20.
Keim 1999, p. 20.
Keim 1999, p. 23.
Piascik 2007, p. 268.
Keim 1999, p. 53.
Coughlin 2011, pp. 59–60.
Keim 1999, p. 17.
Pluto 1997, pp. 44–47.
Pluto 1997, pp. 43–44.
Pluto 1997, p. 57.
Pluto 1997, p. 294.
Peterson 1997, p. 157.
Heaton 2007, pp. 34–35.
Pluto 1997, p. 21.
Pluto 1997, p. 20.
Pluto 1997, p. 123.
Cantor 2008, p. 198.
Oremland, Brad. "The NFL Coaching Tree 2008". Sports Central. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
Cantor 2008, p. 95.
Cantor 2008, p. 94.
Cantor 2008, pp. 94–95.
Cantor 2008, pp. 3–4, 112, 134.
Pluto 1997, p. 49.
"Paul Brown Stadium". Archived from the original on March 14, 2023. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
Hobson, Geoff (April 8, 2021). "Bengals Ring Of Honor Anchored By Hall-of-Famers Paul Brown And Munoz". Cincinnati Bengals. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
"Ohio State In the Polls". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
Cantor, George (2008). Paul Brown: The Man Who Invented Modern Football. Chicago: Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-57243-725-8.
Coughlin, Dan (2011). Pass the Nuts: More Stories About the Most Unusual People and Remarkable Events from My Four Decades As a Sports Journalist. Gray & Company, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59851-073-7.
Heaton, Chuck (2007). Browns Scrapbook: A Fond Look Back at Five Decades of Football, from a Legendary Cleveland Sportswriter. Cleveland: Gray & Company. ISBN 978-1-59851-043-0.
Henkel, Frank M. (2005). Cleveland Browns History. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-3428-2.
Keim, John (1999). Legends by the Lake: The Cleveland Browns at Municipal Stadium. Akron, Ohio: University of Akron Press. ISBN 978-1-884836-47-3.
Lebovitz, Hal (2006). The Best of Hal Lebovitz: Great Sportswriting from Six Decades in Cleveland. Cleveland: Gray & Company. ISBN 978-1-59851-023-2.
Levy, William (1965). Return to Glory: The Story of the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland: The World Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-97604-472-7.
MacCambridge, Michael (2005). America's Game. New York: Anchor. ISBN 978-0-375-72506-7.
Park, Jack (2003). The Official Ohio State Football Encyclopedia. Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 978-1-58261-695-7.
Peterson, Robert W. (1997). Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-511913-8.
Piascik, Andy (2007). The Best Show in Football: The 1946–1955 Cleveland Browns. Lanham, Maryland: Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58979-571-6.
Pluto, Terry (1997). Browns Town 1964: Cleveland Browns and the 1964 Championship. Cleveland: Gray & Company. ISBN 978-1-886228-72-6.
Vare, Robert (1973). Buckeye: A Study of Coach Woody Hayes and the Ohio State Football Machine. New York: Popular Library. ASIN B00394GOEK.
The Play He Didn't Call (Booklet). Cleveland: The Cleveland Press-News; The Plain Dealer. 1963. As quoted in
Schudel, Jeff (April 11, 2020). "What if Paul Brown had blocked Modell from buying Browns? He had that power". The News Herald. Willoughby, Ohio. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
