How old is the Cleveland Browns team now?
Cleveland Browns
The history of the Cleveland Browns American football team began in 1944 when taxi-cab magnate Arthur B. "Mickey" McBride secured a Cleveland franchise in the newly formed All-America Football Conference (AAFC). Paul Brown was the team's namesake and first coach. The Browns began play in 1946 in the AAFC. The Browns won each of the league's four championship games before the league dissolved in 1949. The team then moved to the more established National Football League (NFL), where it continued to dominate. Between 1950 and 1955, Cleveland reached the NFL championship game every year, winning three times.
Cleveland Stadium
The first Browns game at the stadium was also the first AAFC game, when the Browns hosted the Miami Seahawks on September 6, 1946. The Browns won the game 44–0 and drew 60,135 fans, what was then a record for a professional football crowd. During the 1980s, the center field bleachers at the east end of the stadium were home to many of the club's most avid fans and became known as the Dawg Pound after the barks that fans made to disrupt opposing teams' offensive plays. The fans were copying Browns players Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield, who frequently appeared to bark to each other and to the opposition. Some of the fans even wore dog masks and threw dog biscuits at opposing players. The Dawg Pound was included in the design of FirstEnergy Stadium, where the east end zone also has bleacher seating.
Jordan Brown (baseball)
Jordan Cassidy Brown (born December 18, 1983) is a former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians and Miami Marlins in 2010 and 2013.
Henry Hynoski Sr.
Henry Philip Hynoski Sr. (born May 30, 1953) is a former American football running back who played one season with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the sixth round of the 1975 NFL Draft. He played college football at Temple University and attended Mount Carmel High School in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania.
Hanford Dixon
Hanford Dixon (born December 25, 1958) is a former professional American football cornerback who played his entire career (1981–1989) for the Cleveland Browns of the NFL. Dixon made the Pro Bowl three times, in 1986, 1987 and 1988. He was drafted by the Browns out of the University of Southern Mississippi with the 22nd pick in the first round of the 1981 NFL Draft. He also is credited with naming the Cleveland Browns "Dawg Pound," the section of the stadium known for their antics during Browns home games at the old Municipal Stadium inspired by Dixon's "barking" to teammates, especially fellow cornerback Frank Minnifield.
2019 Cleveland Browns season
The 2019 season will be the Cleveland Browns' upcoming 71st as a professional sports franchise, their 67th as a member of the National Football League, the second full season under general manager John Dorsey and the first under new head coach Freddie Kitchens. The Browns will look to improve on their 7–8–1 record in 2018 and end their franchise-record and league-high 16-year playoff drought.
On October 29, 2018, after Week 8 of the 2018 season, the Browns fired head coach Hue Jackson. Jackson posted a record of record during his 2½-season tenure with the Browns. Jackson failed to win any away games during his tenure and lost every game in 2017. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams finished out the 2018 season with a record.
Cleveland Stadium
The Cleveland Browns, originally members of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), began playing at the facility in 1946, and played there through 1995. The stadium was the site of the AAFC Championship game in 1946, 1948 and 1949, all Browns wins. The Browns joined the NFL in 1950 and hosted the NFL Championship Game in 1950, 1952, 1954, 1964, and 1968, winning titles in 1950, 1954, and 1964.
George Cheroke
George "Chief" Cheroke (January 2, 1921 – October 19, 1986) was a professional American football guard who played one season for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). Cheroke grew up in Ohio and attended Ohio State University, where he was a standout player on the school's football team as a sophomore in 1941 under head coach Paul Brown. He left Ohio State after the season to join the military during World War II. When he was discharged in 1946, he joined the Browns, a new team in the AAFC coached by Brown. The Browns won the 1946 AAFC championship, but Cheroke was traded away at the end of the season. He cut his football career short to re-enlist in the Army, where he stayed for 20 years. He retired in 1965 and settled in California, working for Beckman Instrument Company in Los Angeles. Nephew George Cheroke born 8/25/43(named after uncle George) is a life long Cleveland Browns fan living in Post Falls, ID. with wife Kay.
Cleveland Browns
Created as a result of the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy, the rivalry between the Browns and Ravens was more directed at Art Modell than the team itself, and is simply considered a divisional game in Baltimore. Unlike the other two rivalries, this one is more lopsided: the Ravens lead 29–9. Additionally, this matchup is more bitter for Cleveland than the others due to the fact that the draft picks for 1995 to 1998 resulted in the rosters that won the Super Bowl for the Ravens in 2000. Had the Browns stayed in Cleveland, these teams (drafted by general manager Ozzie Newsome) might have given the Browns the title after a 35-year drought. This bitterness was compounded when the Ravens won their second Super Bowl in 2012.
2015 Cleveland Browns season
The 2015 Cleveland Browns season was the franchise's 67th season as a professional sports franchise and its 63rd as a member of the National Football League. The team failed to improve upon their 7–9 record from the previous season. It was the second and final season under the head coach/general manager tandem of Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer as both were fired January 3, 2016 following a 3–13 season, tied for the worst record in the league with the Tennessee Titans. The team finished in 4th place in the AFC North for a fifth consecutive season. The Browns introduced new uniforms prior to the start of the season, along with updating its orange color to a darker hue.
2015 Cleveland Browns season
This game would be the last away win for the Cleveland Browns until Week 12 of the 2018 season when they defeated the Bengals in Cincinnati (the Browns would lose 25 straight away games, one short of the NFL record). It would also be the last time the Browns would defeat an AFC North rival until Week 5 of the 2018 season, when they would defeat the Ravens.
History of the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland's first regular-season game took place September 6, 1946 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium against the Miami Seahawks before a then-record crowd of 60,135. That contest, which the Browns won 44–0, kicked off an era of dominance. With Brown at the helm, the team won all four of the AAFC's championships from 1946 until its dissolution in 1949, amassing a record of 52 wins, four losses and three ties. This included the 1948 season, in which the Browns became the first unbeaten and untied team in professional football history. The Browns had few worthy rivals among the AAFC's eight teams, but the New York Yankees and San Francisco 49ers were their closest competition.
History of the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland fans' hopes were high upon the arrival of the new team. However, as an expansion team the Browns were forced to build a new roster from scratch using rookies, free agents, and the players other teams chose not to protect in the expansion draft. With a new team composed of a mix of fresh faces and castoffs, the Browns floundered. The Steelers shut out the Browns 43–0 in the season opener at Cleveland Browns Stadium on September 12, 1999, the first of seven straight losses. A 2–14 season in 1999 was followed by a 3–13 record in 2000 after Couch suffered a season-ending thumb injury. Early in 2001, Policy and Lerner fired Palmer. The coach and the team, Policy said, were not headed in the right direction.
Cleveland Crunch
The Cleveland Crunch were a professional indoor soccer club based in Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in 1989 as an expansion team in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), the Crunch played a total of sixteen seasons in three separate leagues under two different names. The team played three seasons in the original MISL, later known as the Major Soccer League (MSL), before joining the rival National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1992. After nine seasons in the NPSL, the team joined a second incarnation of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) in 2001. In 2002, the team was rebranded the Cleveland Force in honor of the former team of the same name. After four seasons in the second MISL, the team folded in 2005.
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The Browns play their home games at FirstEnergy Stadium, which opened in 1999, with administrative offices and training facilities in Berea, Ohio. The Browns' official colors are brown, orange, and white. They are unique among the 32 member franchises of the NFL in that they do not have a logo on their helmets.
FirstEnergy Stadium
FirstEnergy Stadium is located on the site of Cleveland Stadium, commonly called Cleveland Municipal Stadium, a multipurpose facility built in 1931 that served as the Browns' home field from their inception in 1946 through the 1995 season. During the 1995 season, owner Art Modell announced his plans to move the team to Baltimore, which resulted in legal action from the city of Cleveland and Browns season ticket holders. The day after the announcement was made, voters in Cuyahoga County approved an extension of the original 1990 sin tax on alcohol and tobacco products to fund renovations to Cleveland Stadium. Eventually, as part of the agreement between Modell, the city of Cleveland, and the NFL, the city agreed to tear down Cleveland Stadium and build a new stadium on the same site using the sin tax funds. Modell agreed to leave the Browns name, colors, and history in Cleveland and create a new identity for his franchise, eventually becoming the Baltimore Ravens, while the NFL agreed to reactivate the Browns by 1999 through expansion or relocation of another team. Demolition on the old stadium began in November 1996 and was completed in early 1997. Debris from the former stadium was submerged in Lake Erie and now serves as an artificial reef.
Jabrill Peppers
Jabrill Ahmad Peppers (born October 4, 1995) is an American football strong safety and return specialist for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Michigan, and was drafted by the Browns in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft. A standout athlete early in high school, he was named the Air Force National Sophomore of the Year in 2011. "Sports Illustrated" named Peppers one of their "Future Game Changers," a group of 14 young athletes who are considered to be the brightest talents of their respective sports. Peppers was named the Thompson-Randle El Freshman of the Year, Freshman All-American, and a Second-Team All-American in 2015. Peppers was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Linebacker of the Year, Return Specialist of the Year, and an All-American in 2016.
Jim Brown
James Nathaniel Brown (born February 17, 1936) is a former professional American football player and actor. He was a running back for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 through 1965. Considered to be one of the greatest football players of all time, Brown was a Pro Bowl invitee every season he was in the league, was recognized as the AP NFL Most Valuable Player three times, and won an NFL championship with the Browns in 1964. He led the league in rushing yards in eight out of his nine seasons, and by the time he retired, he had shattered most major rushing records. In 2002, he was named by "The Sporting News" as the greatest professional football player ever.
Mike Brown (basketball, born 1970)
On May 13, 2010, Brown and the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the Conference Semifinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs. With this loss, the Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to accomplish back-to-back 60+ win seasons and not advance to the NBA Finals.
Cleveland Browns relocation controversy
Although Modell later retired and had relinquished control of the Ravens, he is still hated in Cleveland, not only for relocating the Browns, but also for his firing of legendary head coach Paul Brown in 1963. Some considered the Browns' relocation and subsequent lawsuits costing Modell a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which is located in Canton, Ohio, just 60 miles south of Cleveland and is both part of the Cleveland television market and part of the Browns' territorial rights. Modell died in 2012, never returning to Cleveland after the move. The Browns were the only home team that did not commemorate or even acknowledge Modell's death the following Sunday. The team opted not to do so at the request of David Modell, who feared that the announcement would be met with anger by Browns fans still upset about the move.
2006 Cleveland Browns season
The 2006 Cleveland Browns season was the team’s 58th season as a professional sports franchise and its 54th season as a member of the National Football League (NFL). It began with the team attempting to improve upon their win-loss record from 2005, where the team ended the year at 6–10. They were one of the most active teams during the free agency period, and looked to be one of the most improved teams of the season at the end of the NFL Draft. They experienced many setbacks during training camp, from which they never fully recovered. By the end of the season they had finished 4–12, losing two more games than the previous season.
Cincinnati Bengals (1937–41)
Professional football returned to Cincinnati 26 years after the original Cincinnati Bengals folded. It was in 1967 when Paul Brown headed an ownership group that landed an expansion franchise in the modern-era American Football League that merged with the NFL in 1969. Brown, a Pro Football Hall of Famer who founded and coached the Cleveland Browns from 1946 to 1962, picked the name Bengals for the new team "to give it a link with past professional football in Cincinnati."
History of the Cleveland Browns
McBride developed a passion for football attending games at Notre Dame, where his son went to college. In the early 1940s he tried to buy the NFL's Cleveland Rams, owned by millionaire supermarket heir Dan Reeves, but was rebuffed. Having been awarded the Cleveland franchise in the AAFC, McBride asked "Cleveland Plain Dealer" sportswriter John Dietrich for head coaching suggestions. Dietrich recommended Paul Brown, the 36-year-old Ohio State Buckeyes coach. After consulting with Ward, McBride followed Dietrich's advice in early 1945, naming Brown head coach and giving him an ownership stake in the team and full control over player personnel. Brown, who had built an impressive record as coach of a Massillon, Ohio high school team and brought the Buckeyes their first national championship, at the time was serving in the U.S. Navy and coached the football team at Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago.
1946 Cleveland Browns season
The Browns were founded by Arthur B. McBride, a Cleveland taxi-cab tycoon, as a charter franchise in the new AAFC. McBride in 1945 hired Brown, a successful coach at the high school and college levels. Brown, who was serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, began to assemble a roster as the team prepared to begin play in 1946. After beating the Brooklyn Dodgers in an exhibition game, Cleveland opened the regular season against the Miami Seahawks at Cleveland Stadium on September 6, winning 44–0. The Browns proceeded to win six more games before losing for the first time in October against the San Francisco 49ers at home by a score of 34–20. Cleveland lost a second game in a row against the Los Angeles Dons the following week, but rebounded to win the final five games of the season, including a 66–14 victory over the Dodgers. Cleveland finished with the league's best record and a spot in the championship game against the Yankees. The Browns won the game 14–9.
Ken Coleman
A native of Quincy, Massachusetts and a graduate of Curry College, Coleman broke into broadcasting with the NFL Cleveland Browns (1952–1965), calling play-by-play of every touchdown that Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown ever scored. He also began his MLB broadcasting career in Cleveland, calling Cleveland Indians games on television for ten seasons (1954–1963). In his first year with the Indians, Coleman called their record-setting 111-win season and their World Series loss to the New York Giants.
2016 Cleveland Browns season
With the loss, Cleveland became the eighth team since 1960 to start a season 0–13, and the first since the 2011 Indianapolis Colts. They became the first franchise to lose 16 in a row since the Oakland Raiders did it during the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
Kevin Brown (catcher)
Kevin Lee Brown (born April 21, 1973) is a former Major League Baseball catcher who spent parts of seven seasons ( to ) with four MLB teams but who never got into more than a handful of MLB games each season except for with the Toronto Blue Jays, for whom he played 52 games that season. He finished his career with a .254 batting average with a .311 on base average and .450 slugging percentage in 85 games.
List of Cleveland Browns head coaches
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football franchise based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are a member of the North Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team began playing in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), and joined the NFL as part of the AAFC–NFL merger in 1950. The team played their home games at Cleveland Stadium from 1946 to 1995 before moving to FirstEnergy Stadium, where they have played since 1999. The Browns did not play from 1996 to 1998 when the team's owner, Art Modell, moved the team to Baltimore, Maryland and formed the Baltimore Ravens. The team was re-activated under new ownership in Cleveland in 1999. The team is currently owned by Jimmy Haslam III, and Joe Banner is their Chief Executive Officer. Tom Heckert was their general manager until the end of the 2012 season, when he was fired along with the team's incumbent head coach Pat Shurmur.
Cleveland Browns (baseball)
The Cleveland Browns were a baseball team in the Negro National League, based in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1924. In their only season, they finished with a 17-34 record in league play.
List of Major League Baseball managers
The team now known as the Cleveland Indians has played under several monikers since its inception in 1901, including the Cleveland Blues or Bluebirds, the Cleveland Bronchos, and the Cleveland Naps (so named because of popular player and manager Nap Lajoie). Forty-six managers have led the team, starting with Jimmy McAleer. Lajoie was the first manager in team history to finish his career with a winning record. Lou Boudreau leads all Indians managers with 728 wins and 649 losses. He and Tris Speaker are the only managers to win a championship with Cleveland: Speaker in 1920 and Boudreau in 1948, which was the last championship for the franchise. Other managers to appear in the postseason with Cleveland include Al López, Mike Hargrove (who leads the team in playoff wins and losses with a record of 27–24), Charlie Manuel, and Eric Wedge. The current and 46th manager is Terry Francona.
List of Cleveland Browns starting quarterbacks
Quarterbacks who have started for the Cleveland Browns from the team's first NFL season of 1950 to present. A player is credited with a win if he started the game and the team won that game, no matter if the player was injured or permanently removed after the first play from scrimmage. Only regular season games are included. The Browns' All-America Football Conference games from 1946 to 1949 are not included.
Cleveland Browns
Since resuming operations in 1999, the Browns have struggled to find success. They have had only two winning seasons (in 2002 and 2007), one playoff appearance (2002), and no playoff wins. The franchise has also been noted for a lack of stability with quarterbacks, having started 30 players in the position since 1999. Through the end of the 2018 season, the Browns' win–loss record since returning to the NFL in 1999 is 95–224–1. In 2017, the Browns became only the second team in league history to finish a season 0–16, joining the 2008 Detroit Lions. Through the 2018 season, the Browns hold the longest active playoff drought in the NFL, at 16 seasons.
2009 Cleveland Browns season
The 2009 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 61st season as a professional sports franchise and its 57th season as a member of the National Football League (NFL). The team placed fourth in the AFC North with a record of 5–11, improving upon its 2008 record of 4–12. This season marked George Kokinis and Eric Mangini's first seasons as the team's general manager and head coach, respectively; however, Kokinis was fired on November 2 during the team's Week 9 bye week. The Browns played all of their home games at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.
Crosley Field
Complicating matters was that legendary football coach Paul Brown, the founder of the Cleveland Browns, who had been deposed by new owner Art Modell in 1963, was wanting to get back into professional football. He was granted an American Football League franchise for Cincinnati, the Bengals. A contingency of that agreement was that an appropriate facility be ready by the time the 1970 National Football League season began, which would be the first season that the AFL was fully merged with the NFL.
An agreement was struck to build a multi-purpose facility on the dilapidated riverfront section of the city. Riverfront Stadium seated about 60,000 people and was deemed a logical solution to a myriad of problems. The Reds were part of that agreement, and Crosley Field's end was in sight.
2011 Cleveland Browns season
The 2011 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 63rd season as a professional sports franchise and its 59th season as a member of the National Football League (NFL). The team had hoped to improve on its 2010 season, where it finished with a record of 5–11 and placed third in the AFC North, however, the team was eliminated from playoff contention in Week 14. This season marked the second season under the leadership of team president Mike Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert, as well as the first season under head coach Pat Shurmur. The Browns played all of their home games at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns have the fourth largest number of players enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with a total of 16 enshrined players elected based on their performance with the Browns, and eight more players or coaches elected who spent at least one year with the Browns franchise. No Browns players were inducted in the inaugural induction class of 1963. Otto Graham was the first Browns player to be enshrined as a member of the class of 1965, and the most recent Browns player to be included in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is Gene Hickerson, who was a member of the class of 2007. All of the Browns' Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees thus far have been from the pre-1996 incarnation; no members of the Hall of Fame played for the Browns after 1999.
The Cleveland Browns legends program honors former Browns who made noteworthy contributions to the history of the franchise. In addition to all the Hall of Famers listed above, the Legends list includes:
Cleveland Browns
In 1995, owner Art Modell, who had purchased the Browns in 1961, announced plans to move the team to Baltimore. After threats of legal action from the city of Cleveland and fans, a compromise was reached in early 1996 that allowed Modell to establish the Baltimore Ravens as a new franchise while retaining the contracts of all Browns personnel. The Browns' intellectual property, including team name, logos, training facility, and history, were kept in trust and the franchise was regarded by the NFL as suspended, with a new team to be established by 1999 either by expansion or relocation. The Browns were announced as an expansion team in 1998 and resumed play in 1999.
1948 Cleveland Browns season
The Browns' perfect season and third championship victory came during a strong year for Cleveland sports teams. That April, the Cleveland Barons, the city's American Hockey League team, won the Calder Cup championship. The Cleveland Indians, the city's Major League Baseball club, set an all-time season attendance record and won the World Series. The Browns' success was also a major draw for fans: the team led professional football in attendance in 1948 with an average of 45,517 people per game, although that was still 10,000 lower than the year before. The distribution of talent and fortune among AAFC's teams was unbalanced, however, and while the Browns, the 49ers and the Dons were successes at the gate, teams including the Rockets and Colts languished financially. The NFL was also facing major financial trouble – nine of its ten teams lost money that year – and the two leagues' competition for talent led to talks about a merger. Discussions centered around how many AAFC teams the NFL would absorb; most owners favored four teams, but the talks broke down when powerful owners George Preston Marshall of the Washington Redskins and Tim Mara of the New York Giants intervened and suggested only Cleveland and San Francisco should be absorbed. The AAFC continued play in 1949, but was disbanded after that season. The Browns, 49ers and Colts were merged into the NFL starting in 1950.
Cleveland sports curse
On November 30, 2015, the Browns played the Baltimore Ravens in their first "Monday Night Football" game in six years. After trailing 17–3 in the second quarter, the Browns rallied behind quarterbacks Josh McCown and Austin Davis to tie the game at 27 with 1:47 left. Then Browns cornerback Tramon Williams intercepted a pass at mid-field with 50 seconds left. Cleveland attempted a 51-yard field goal with 3 seconds left to win the game, only to see the attempt blocked and returned by Ravens safety Will Hill for a touchdown, handing the Browns their most painful loss in recent history. The event was called "The Block" by some disgruntled fans on Twitter only moments after the end of the game.
2012 Cleveland Browns season
The 2012 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 64th season as a professional sports franchise and its 60th season as a member of the National Football League (NFL). Although the team improved on its record to 5–11 this 2012 season from its 4–12 finish in 2011, the team still placed fourth in the AFC North. The team also failed to break its 9-year playoff drought, the longest in franchise history. The 2012 season was the third season under the leadership of team president Mike Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert and the second season under head coach Pat Shurmur. The Browns also had Jimmy Haslam as their new owner, after buying the team from Randy Lerner. The Browns played all of their home games at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.
2007 Cleveland Browns season
The 2007 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 59th season as a professional sports franchise and its 55th season as a member of the National Football League (NFL). The season began with the Browns attempting to improve upon their 4–12 record from the 2006 season, in which the team finished in fourth place in the AFC North. The Browns also attempted to overcome the many injuries that plagued the team throughout the 2006 season. The Browns remained under the supervision of head coach Romeo Crennel and they played all of their home games in Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.
Cleveland Browns
The team has had various promotional logos throughout the years, such as the "Brownie Elf" mascot or a Brown "B" in a white football. While Art Modell did away with the Brownie Elf in the mid-1960s, believing it to be too childish, its use has been revived under the current ownership. The popularity of the Dawg Pound section at First Energy Stadium has led to a brown and orange dog being used for various Browns functions. But overall, the orange, logo-less helmet continues as the primary trademark of the Cleveland Browns.
History of the Cleveland Browns
Fred "Curly" Morrison, a former Browns running back who worked as an advertising executive for CBS television, learned in 1960 that Dave Jones was looking to sell the Browns and told the story to Art Modell, a 35-year-old advertising and television executive from Brooklyn. Modell was intrigued, partly because of the potentially lucrative television rights that one of the NFL's most successful franchises could bring as football began to challenge baseball as America's biggest sport. Having borrowed as much money as he could, Modell completed the purchase in March 1961 for $3.925 million. Bob Gries, who had a share in the Browns from the beginning, agreed to buy in again at the new valuation and take a stake of almost 40%, defraying Modell's costs substantially. As the previous owners did when they took over, Modell quickly assured Cleveland fans that Brown would "have a free hand" in running the organization and awarded him a new eight-year contract. "As far as I'm concerned Paul Brown can send [plays] in by carrier pigeon", Modell said. "In my opinion he has no peer as a football coach. His record speaks for itself. I view our relationship as a working partnership."
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Indians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona. Since their establishment as a major league franchise in 1901, the Indians have won two World Series championships: in 1920 and 1948, along with 10 Central Division titles and six American League pennants. The Indians' current World Series championship drought is the longest active drought.
Otto Graham
By the time Graham was discharged from the Navy late in the summer of 1946, training camp for Brown's new team, the Cleveland Browns, had already begun. Concerned that Graham was not ready to start, Brown put in Cliff Lewis at quarterback in the first game of the season. Graham, however, soon replaced Lewis in Brown's T formation offense. Handing the ball to fullback Marion Motley and throwing to ends Dante Lavelli and Mac Speedie, Graham led the team to a 12–2 regular-season record and a spot in the championship game against the AAFC's New York Yankees. The Browns won that game, touching off a period of dominance. The team won each of the AAFC's four championships between 1946 and 1949, and had professional football's second perfect season in 1948 by finishing undefeated and untied.
Blanton Collier
Blanton Long Collier (July 2, 1906 – March 22, 1983) was an American football head coach who coached at the University of Kentucky between 1954 and 1961 and for the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League (NFL) between 1963 and 1970. His 1964 Browns team won the NFL championship and remains the second most recent Cleveland professional sports team to win a title.
Sports in Cleveland
Cleveland's professional sports teams include the Cleveland Indians (Major League Baseball), Cleveland Browns (National Football League), Cleveland Cavaliers (National Basketball Association), Cleveland Monsters (American Hockey League), and the Cleveland Gladiators (Arena Football League). Local sporting facilities include Progressive Field, FirstEnergy Stadium, Quicken Loans Arena and the Wolstein Center.
Historically, the city's failure to win a trophy in any major professional sport from 1964-2016 earned a reputation of being a cursed sports city, which ESPN validated by proclaiming Cleveland as its "most tortured sports city" in 2004. In addition, changes in the Cleveland sports landscape have led to further heartbreak and resentment among local fans, the most notable instances being Art Modell's relocation of the Browns to Baltimore after the 1995 season (that franchise became the Ravens, with the current Browns team starting play in 1999), and Akron native LeBron James' decision to leave the Cavaliers in 2010 for the Miami Heat. (James later returned to the Cavaliers in 2014.) The curse is seen as having ended in June 2016, when the Cavaliers won the NBA Championship against the defending champion Golden State Warriors. Shortly before the Cavaliers' victory, the Monsters also defeated the Hershey Bears to become AHL champions, the first time a Cleveland hockey team had won the Calder Cup since 1964.
Sashi Brown
Sashi Brown (born May 15, 1976) is an American attorney and former executive for the Cleveland Browns. He was the Executive Vice President of football operations for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League from January 3, 2016, until his firing on December 7, 2017. He was the Browns' executive vice president/general counsel from January 2013 to January 2016.
Brown was an attorney with Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr, a private law firm based in Washington, D.C. As a member of the firm’s corporate law practice group, Brown advised companies in a variety of business transactions. He earned an undergraduate degree from Hampton University in 1998 and a juris doctorate degree from Harvard Law School in 2002. Brown is a member of the New York, District of Columbia and Florida bars.
History of the Cleveland Browns
The AAFC proposed match-ups with NFL teams numerous times during its four-year existence, but no inter-league game ever materialized. That made Cleveland's entry into the NFL in the 1950 season the first test of whether its early supremacy could continue into a more established league. The proof came quickly: Cleveland's NFL regular-season opener was against the two-time defending champion Philadelphia Eagles on September 16 in Philadelphia. The Browns lit up the Eagles' vaunted defense for 487 total yards—including 246 passing yards from Graham and his receivers—in a 35–10 win before a crowd of 71,237. This decisive win quashed any doubts about the Browns' prowess. Behind an offense that featured Graham, Groza, Motley, Lavelli and running back Dub Jones, Cleveland finished the 1950 season with a 10–2 record, tied for first place in the Eastern Conference. After winning a playoff game against the New York Giants, the Browns advanced to the NFL championship match against the Los Angeles Rams in Cleveland. The Browns won 30–28 on a last-minute Groza field goal. Fans stormed the field after the victory, carting off the goalposts, ripping off one player's jersey and setting a bonfire in the bleachers. "It was the greatest game I ever saw", Brown later said.
History of the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland regressed in the ensuing season, finishing with a 4–12 record. Edwards and tight end Kellen Winslow Jr., who the Browns had drafted in 2004, put up respectable numbers, but the Browns were close to the bottom of the league in points scored and offensive yards gained. Frye injured his wrist toward the end of the season and shared starts with quarterback Derek Anderson, who showed promise in the five games he played in. During the season, the team produced a series of articles on its website called "60th Moments". The series commemorated the establishment of the Browns 60 years before in 1946, recapturing the 60 greatest moments in franchise history. Beginning on September 6, 2006, the Browns' site ran articles covering those 60 moments; the final article ran on December 31, 2006.
Cleveland Browns Radio Network
The Cleveland Browns Radio Network is an American radio network composed of 22 radio stations which carry English-language coverage of the Cleveland Browns, a professional football team in the National Football League (NFL). Cleveland market stations WKNR (850 AM), WKRK-FM (92.3 FM), and WNCX (98.5 FM) serve as the network's three flagships. The network also includes 19 affiliates in the U.S. states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Oklahoma: 10 AM stations, five of which supplement their signals with a low-power FM translator; and 9 full-power FM stations, one of which supplements its signal with a low-power FM translator. Jim Donovan is the current play-by-play announcer, while Doug Dieken serves as color commentator. In addition to traditional over-the-air AM and FM broadcasts, network programming airs on SiriusXM satellite radio; and streams online via SiriusXM Internet Radio, TuneIn Premium, and NFL Game Pass.
Cleveland sports curse
By the end of the 2017 season, the Browns had started 28 different quarterbacks since their 1999 return to the NFL, a league-high in that period. The Browns have not won a playoff game since the , and have posted a losing record every season from 2008 to the present.
2010 Cleveland Browns season
The 2010 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 62nd season as a professional sports franchise and its 58th season as a member of the National Football League (NFL). The team failed to break the longest playoff appearance drought in franchise history, a current streak of eight seasons without reaching the playoffs. The team finished 5–11, matching its win total from the 2009 season and placed third in the AFC North. This season marked the first season under the leadership of team president Mike Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert. It also marked the second season under head coach Eric Mangini. The Browns played all of their home games at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.
Cleveland sports curse
The Cleveland sports curse was a sports superstition involving the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and its major league professional sports teams, centered on the failure to win a championship in any major league sport for a period of 52 years, from 1964 to 2016. Three major league teams based in Cleveland contributed to belief in the curse: the Browns of the National Football League (NFL); the Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA); and the Indians of Major League Baseball (MLB). Combined with the short-lived Barons franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL), Cleveland teams endured an unprecedented 147-season championship drought, having not won a title since the Browns defeated the Baltimore Colts in the 1964 NFL Championship Game two seasons prior to the first Super Bowl.
Mike Brown (basketball, born 1970)
In June 2005, Brown replaced Brendan Malone for his first head coaching job with the Cleveland Cavaliers, becoming the second-youngest coach in the league behind only Lawrence Frank of the New Jersey Nets. He was often referred to as "Potato Head" by fans, in reference to the popular toy.
History of the Cleveland Browns
As the war began to wind down with Germany's surrender in May 1945, the team parlayed Brown's ties to college football and the military to build its roster. The first signing was Otto Graham, a former star quarterback at Northwestern University who was then serving in the Navy. The Browns later signed kicker and offensive tackle Lou Groza and wide receivers Dante Lavelli and Mac Speedie. Fullback Marion Motley and nose tackle Bill Willis, two of the earliest African-Americans to play professional football, also joined the team in 1946. Cleveland's first training camp took place at Bowling Green University in northwestern Ohio. Brown's reputation for winning notwithstanding, joining the team was a risk; the Browns and the AAFC were nascent entities and faced tough competition from the NFL. "I just went up there to see what would happen", center Frank Gatski said many years later.
Freddie Kitchens
Freddie Kitchens (born November 29, 1974) is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He has previously been a coach for the Arizona Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, Mississippi State Bulldogs, North Texas Mean Green, and LSU Tigers.
Throwback uniform
The Cleveland Browns throwbacks are based on a uniform/helmet combination that first appeared in 1957 when Jim Brown was drafted. (Player numbers appeared on the side of the helmet that year.) The Browns began wearing their throwbacks in 2006 as part of the team's 60th Anniversary. They only wear them once per season.
Issac Booth
Issac Ramoun Booth (born May 23, 1971) is a former American professional football player who played three seasons in the National Football League with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. Booth was drafted by the Browns in the fifth round of the 1994 NFL Draft and played cornerback for the Browns for the 1994 and 1995 seasons, earning one start in each of his first two seasons. After the 1995 season the original Cleveland Browns relocated to Baltimore, Maryland and became the Baltimore Ravens. Booth played his final season with the Ravens playing in 11 games and earning a career high three starts. Booth retired from football after the 1996 season. During his brief career, Booth played in 36 games, earning five starts, 55 tackles, two interceptions and one forced fumble.
2017 Cleveland Browns season
The Browns failed to improve upon their 1–15 record from the previous season, losing all sixteen games in 2017 and continuing a losing streak dating to the final game of the previous season. They became the second team in NFL history to go 0–16 after the 2008 Detroit Lions. The Browns became the twelfth NFL team to have gone winless playing eight games or more and the fourth since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
Clay Matthews Jr.
Matthews was drafted by the Browns out of the University of Southern California with the 12th pick in the first round of the 1978 NFL Draft. Clay was a four-time Pro Bowler for Cleveland and was a cornerstone of the defense for well over a decade. In 1984, Clay recorded 12.0 sacks. He was present at the infamous Browns playoff losses known as Red Right 88, The Drive, and The Fumble, that kept some very good teams from appearing in a Super Bowl. One of his most memorable moments as a Brown was in a playoff game against the Bills on January 6, 1990. Jim Kelly and the high flying Bills offense came to Cleveland for a memorable shootout. With only seconds left in the 4th quarter and clinging to a 34-30 lead, Matthews intercepted a Kelly pass on the Browns' two-yard line to seal a Cleveland victory. After the 1993 season, Clay became an Atlanta Falcon. In 1995 at the age of 39, Matthews started all 16 games for the Falcons. He was also the oldest player to record a sack at 40 years, 282 days. Matthews was one of the first players to negotiate a large contract going into the NFL.
2017 Cleveland Browns season
With the loss, the Browns became the second team in NFL history to finish 0-16 after the 2008 Detroit Lions. Hue Jackson's career record with the Browns fell to 1-31, the worst 32-game record since the league adapted a 16-game schedule in 1978. The Browns tied their franchise record of 17 straight losses. It also was their 21st consecutive road loss, 17th consecutive loss against a divisional opponent, and 14th consecutive loss in Pittsburgh. The Browns lost 50 of 55 games between Week 10 of the 2014 season and the end of the 2017 season.
Warren Lahr
Warren Emmett Lahr (September 5, 1923 – January 19, 1969) was a professional American football defensive back who played for the Cleveland Browns for 11 seasons, mainly in the 1950s. He has the second-most career interceptions in Browns team history, with 44.
Cleveland
The Cleveland Indians won the World Series in 1920 and 1948. They also won the American League pennant, making the World Series in the 1954, 1995, 1997, and 2016 seasons. Between 1995 and 2001, Progressive Field (then known as Jacobs Field) sold out 455 consecutive games, a Major League Baseball record until it was broken in 2008.
Historically, the Browns have been among the winningest franchises in American football history winning eight titles during a short period of time—1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1954, 1955, and 1964. The Browns have never played in a Super Bowl, getting close five times by making it to the NFL/AFC Championship Game in 1968, 1969, 1986, , and . 
Former owner Art Modell's relocation of the Browns after the 1995 season (to Baltimore creating the Ravens), caused tremendous heartbreak and resentment among local fans. Cleveland mayor, Michael R. White, worked with the NFL and Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to bring back the Browns beginning in 1999 season, retaining all team history. In earlier NFL history, the Cleveland Bulldogs won the NFL Championship in 1924, and the Cleveland Rams won the NFL Championship in 1945 before relocating to Los Angeles.
2008 Cleveland Browns season
The 2008 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 60th season as a professional sports franchise and its 56th season as a member of the National Football League (NFL). The Browns finished with a 4–12 record and failed to qualify for the playoffs. The season marked Romeo Crennel's fourth (and what would be final) year as head coach of the Browns. Cleveland played all of their home games at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. In the 2008 season, the Browns failed to score a touchdown for 24 consecutive quarters. Also from 2008 to present, the Browns have failed to obtain a winning record, thus they failed to make the playoffs for the seventh straight season.
Buffalo Bills
Though the two teams are in different divisions and did not start playing each other until after 1972, match-ups between the Bills and the Cleveland Browns occasionally get heated up due to the proximity and similarity between the cities of Buffalo and Cleveland. Like the Bills-Jets rivalry, the Bills and Browns often share bad luck and have had their share of ugly games, including a 6-3 Browns win in which the winning quarterback only completed 2 of 17 passes. However, there have been other occasions when both teams have been competitive such as in the 1980s and most recently in 2007 and 2014. The rivalry also gained heat when former Bills safety Donte Whitner was with the Browns. The Browns currently lead the series 12-9, including a playoff win in 1990, though the Bills have outscored the Browns in the series.
2014 Cleveland Browns season
The 2014 Cleveland Browns season was the franchise's 66th season as a professional sports franchise and its 62nd as a member of the National Football League. It was the first under new head coach Mike Pettine, as former head coach Rob Chudzinski was fired after a 4–12 campaign, as well as the first under new general manager Ray Farmer. The Browns improved upon their overall record, going 7–9 and securing their first season without double digit losses since 2007. However, they failed to make the playoffs for the twelfth consecutive year, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.
History of the Cleveland Browns
On January 9, 1963, Art Modell sent a statement to the newswires: "Paul E. Brown, head coach and general manager, will no longer serve the team in those capacities", it said. Immediate reaction to the decision was muted due to a newspaper strike that kept the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Cleveland Press off the newsstands until April. 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. Nonetheless, it was a shocking end to the 17-year Cleveland career of a coach who was already a seminal figure in the city's sports history. Among many innovations, Brown was the first coach to call plays for his quarterback, give players IQ and personality tests and use game film to evaluate opponents. Even Jim Brown lauded his pioneering role in integrating the game:
Dick Ambrose
Richard John Ambrose (born January 17, 1953) is a former American football linebacker who played nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Cleveland Browns, from 1975 to 1983. During his playing days he was nicknamed "Bam-Bam," after the eponymous character from "The Flintstones", for his tackling and physicality.
History of the Cleveland Browns
The strategy paid off, and in the wind-whipped Cleveland Municipal Stadium two days after Christmas, the Browns beat the Colts 27–0. Neither team scored in the first half, prompting "New York Times" columnist Red Smith to quip, "Never have so many paid so dearly – $10, $8, and $6 – and suffered so sorely to see so little." In the second half, the Browns' defense held on and the offense kicked into gear. Baltimore's cornerbacks were double-teaming Warfield, which Ryan exploited by throwing three touchdowns to his second wideout, Gary Collins. The Browns scored 10 points in the third quarter and a further 17 in the fourth, clinching the first title since Otto Graham's departure after the 1955 season. Collins was named the game's MVP. This would be the last time that any professional sports team from Cleveland would win a league title until 2016, when the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA Finals.
To date, this remains the last time that the Browns have won the NFL title.
History of the Cleveland Browns
With Otto Graham and most of the other original Browns in retirement, by 1957 the team was struggling to replenish its ranks. In the first round of that year's draft, Cleveland took fullback Jim Brown out of Syracuse University. In his first season, Brown led the NFL with 942 yards of rushing and was voted rookie of the year in a United Press poll. Cleveland finished 9–2–1 and again advanced to the championship game against Detroit. The Lions dominated the game, forcing six turnovers and allowing only 112 yards passing in a 59–14 rout.
2017 Cleveland Browns season
In going 0–16, the Browns became the first franchise in NFL history to have multiple seasons with 15 or more losses and the first to start consecutive seasons with at least 14 losses. They were mathematically eliminated from the AFC North title contention in Week 11, extending an active NFL record drought of 25 consecutive seasons without a division title. They were then eliminated from playoff contention in Week 12, extending their franchise record playoff drought to 15 consecutive seasons. With the Buffalo Bills qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 1999, the Browns now have the longest postseason drought in the NFL and the second longest in the four major American sports leagues, only behind the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball.
Steve Wilks
Steven Bernard Wilks (born August 8, 1969) is an American football coach who is the current defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He previously was the head coach for the Arizona Cardinals for one season and was fired after a 3-13 record. He also spent time as defensive backs coach for the Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers, and as defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers.
Paul Brown
In his years as the Bengals' head coach, Brown took the team to the playoffs three times, including in 1970. Yet 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.
List of Cleveland Browns starting quarterbacks
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team in Cleveland, Ohio. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division.
Otto Graham
Otto Everett Graham Jr. ("GRAY-ham," December 6, 1921 – December 17, 2003) was an American football quarterback who played for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Graham is regarded by critics as one of the most dominant players of his era, having taken the Browns to league championship games every year between 1946 and 1955, winning seven of them. With Graham at quarterback, the Browns posted a record of 114 wins, 20 losses, and four ties, including a 9–3 win–loss record in the playoffs. While most of Graham's statistical records have been surpassed in the modern era, he still holds the NFL record for career average yards gained per pass attempt, with 8.98. He also holds the record for the highest career winning percentage for an NFL starting quarterback, at 0.826. Long-time New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, a friend of Graham's, once called him "as great of a quarterback as there ever was."
Cleveland Browns
After three years of suspension while Cleveland Stadium was demolished and FirstEnergy Stadium built on its site, the Browns started play again in 1999 under new owner Al Lerner. The Browns struggled throughout the 2000s and 2010s, posting a record of 88–216 () since their 1999 return. The Browns have only posted two winning seasons and one playoff appearance (2002) since returning to the NFL. The team's struggles have been magnified since 2012, when the Lerner family sold the team to businessman Jimmy Haslam. In six seasons under the Haslam ownership, the Browns went through four head coaches and four general managers, none of whom had found success. In 2016 and 2017 under head coach Hue Jackson, the Browns went 1–31 () (including a winless 0-16 season in 2017), the worst two-year stretch in NFL history, and received the number one overall draft pick in both of those years.
History of the Cleveland Browns
After five straight championship wins in the AAFC and NFL, the Browns appeared poised to bring another trophy home in 1951. The team finished the regular season with 11 wins and a single loss in the first game of the season. Cleveland faced the Rams on December 23 in a rematch of the previous year's title game. The score was deadlocked 17–17 in the final period, but a 73-yard touchdown pass by Rams quarterback Norm van Brocklin to wide receiver Tom Fears broke the tie and gave Los Angeles the lead for good. The 24–17 loss was the Browns' first in a championship game.
List of NFL franchise post-season droughts
Note that for continuity purposes, the Cleveland Browns are officially considered to have suspended operations for the 1996, 1997 and 1998 seasons, Since returning 19 years ago, they have only made the playoffs once, while the Baltimore Ravens are considered to be a separate team that began play in 1996. The Ravens, as a result of the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy, absorbed the Browns' personnel upon their suspension, but not their history.
History of the Cleveland Browns
The 2016 season began with the Browns losing their first 14 games, which combined with losing their last three games in 2015, gave the team a franchise record 17 game losing streak. On December 24, in a game that has since been dubbed "The Christmas Miracle", the Browns defeated the San Diego Chargers 20-17. The Browns then lost their last game of the season to finish 1-15 - then the worst record in team history. With that final game loss, the Browns clinched the #1 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, with which the Browns selected Myles Garrett, a defensive end from Texas A&M.
James Campen
James Frederick Campen (born June 11, 1964) is a former American football center in the NFL for the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers. Currently, he is the associate head coach and offensive line coach for the Cleveland Browns. Campen graduated from Ponderosa High School and lives with his family in Suamico, Wisconsin. He previously spent 11 seasons as the offensive line coach for the Packers.
History of the Cleveland Browns
Belichick, who came to the Browns after 12 years mostly with the Giants under Bill Parcells, quickly made his mark by restricting media access to the team. He acted gruff or bored at press conferences, shrugging, rolling his eyes and often giving short answers to long questions. This bred the perception that the new coach was not a good communicator and lacked a vision for the team. Behind the scenes, however, he was trying to remake the Browns. He reformed Cleveland's scouting methods and, in conjunction with player personnel director Mike Lombardi, tried to form a coherent identity: a big and strong cold-weather team. Belichick's new way forward, however, did not immediately translate to on-field success. Cleveland's record only improved slightly in 1991 to 6–10 as the offense struggled to produce scoring drives and the defense was plagued by injuries. Kosar was a rare bright spot, passing for almost 3,500 yards and 18 touchdowns. Bridging the end of the 1990 season and the beginning of 1991, the quarterback threw a then-record 307 straight passes without an interception. Kosar broke his ankle twice and sat out for most of the 1992 season, leaving quarterback Mike Tomczak under center. The team finished with a 7–9 record and did not make the playoffs.
1964 Cleveland Browns season
This was the last major sports championship won by a Cleveland-based team until 2016, when the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team that was formed in 1970, defeated the defending champion Golden State Warriors in a seven-game NBA Finals. Not only is it remembered in Cleveland but ESPN ranks the '64 title game as the second-greatest NFL postseason upset, behind only Joe Namath's guaranteed win over the Colts in Super Bowl III four seasons later.
Cleveland Browns relocation controversy
The Cleveland Browns relocation controversy, sometimes referred to by fans as "The Move", was the decision by then-Browns owner Art Modell to relocate the National Football League (NFL)'s Cleveland Browns from its long-time home of Cleveland to Baltimore during the 1995 NFL season. Subsequent legal actions by the city of Cleveland and Browns season ticket holders led the NFL to broker a compromise that saw the Browns history, records, and intellectual property remain in Cleveland. In return, Modell was permitted to move his football organization to Baltimore where he established the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens are officially regarded by the NFL as an expansion team that began play in . The city of Cleveland agreed to demolish Cleveland Stadium and build a new stadium on the same site, and the NFL agreed to reactivate the Browns by the 1999 season through either an expansion draft or a relocated franchise. The Browns were officially reactivated in 1998 through the expansion process and resumed play in 1999.
History of the Cleveland Browns
The name of the team was at first left up to Brown, who rejected calls for it to be christened the Browns. McBride then held a contest to name the team in May 1945; "Cleveland Panthers" was the most popular choice, but Brown rejected it because it was the name of an earlier failed football team. "That old Panthers team failed", Brown said. "I want no part of that name." In August, McBride gave in to popular demand and named the team the Browns, despite Paul Brown's objections.
Brandon Weeden
Weeden set numerous records for passing, and offensive performance at Oklahoma State University, many of which surpassed records set by his college coach, Mike Gundy, when Gundy was a player.
Weeden was drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the 22nd pick in the 2012 NFL Draft; he became the oldest player ever taken in the first round, at 28 years old.
Cleveland Browns
Retired cornerback Hanford Dixon, who played his entire career for the Browns (1981–1989), is credited with naming the Cleveland Browns defense 'The Dawgs' in the mid-1980s. Dixon and teammates Frank Minnifield and Eddie Johnson would bark at each other and to the fans in the bleachers at the Cleveland Stadium to fire them up. It was from Dixon's naming that the "Dawg Pound" subsequently took its title. The fans adopted that name in the years after. Due to this nickname, since the team's revival the Browns have used a bulldog as an alternate logo.
History of the Cleveland Browns
Further playoff defeats followed. In 1968, as a 32-year-old Ryan was benched in favor of Bill Nelsen, the Browns finished with a 10–4 record but lost to the Colts in the playoffs. Another playoff loss ended the Browns' season in 1969, this time to the Minnesota Vikings. After the American Football League's merger with the NFL was finalized in early 1970, the Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Colts moved to the new American Football Conference along with the 10 teams of the former AFL. The Browns were slotted in the AFC Central in the 26-team league, alongside the Steelers, the Houston Oilers and the Cincinnati Bengals, a team Paul Brown founded in 1968 in the AFL. Cleveland's first big move under the new league structure was to trade star receiver Paul Warfield in January 1970 to the Miami Dolphins for the rights to draft Purdue University quarterback Mike Phipps as a replacement for Bill Nelsen, who had a pair of bad knees.
The Browns opened the 1970 season by beating Joe Namath and the New York Jets in the first-ever broadcast of Monday Night Football on September 21. The following month, Cleveland faced Paul Brown's Bengals for the first time in a regular-season game, winning 30–27. That game was a highlight in an otherwise unsuccessful season. The Browns lost their second match against the Bengals 14–10 in November, when Phipps made his first start — Brown called it "my greatest victory" — and finished 7–7.
History of the Cleveland Browns
A month later, Cleveland brought in Romeo Crennel as the head coach, signing him to a five-year deal worth $11 million. Crennel was the defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots, who had just won the Super Bowl. His style was described as "quiet, reserved and gentlemanly", but he said he wanted to stock the team with tough, physical players. Before the start of training camp, the Browns acquired veteran quarterback Trent Dilfer from the Seattle Seahawks. In the draft that year the Browns took wide receiver Braylon Edwards with the third pick in the first round.
History of the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland's success continued in 1955 after Brown convinced Graham to come back, arguing that the team lacked a solid alternative. Cleveland finished the regular season 9–2–1 and went on to win its third NFL championship, beating the Los Angeles Rams 38–14. It was Graham's last game; the win capped a 10-year run in which he led his team to the league championship every year, winning four in the AAFC and three in the NFL. Rams fans gave Graham a standing ovation when Brown pulled him from the game in the final minutes.
Cleveland sports curse
Prior to Art Modell becoming majority owner of the team, the Browns had dominated the NFL and the earlier All-America Football Conference (AAFC), winning seven championships in 17 years. After three non-playoff seasons, the 1964 Browns' team finished 10–3–1 and appeared in the 1964 NFL Championship Game against a heavily favored Baltimore Colts team coached by Don Shula with Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas as its signal caller. The Browns beat the Colts 27–0 at Cleveland Stadium. This particular Browns team consisted of many players initially drafted and acquired by Paul Brown, the Browns' former long-time head coach and architect of the team's earlier successes, who had been fired by Modell early in 1963. During the next 30 years in Cleveland, not a single Modell team won the league or conference title, although they did appear in a total of seven NFL/American Football Conference (AFC) championship title games during the period.
1980 Cleveland Browns season
The 1980 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 35th overall, and 31st season in the National Football League. The Browns finished the regular season with eleven wins and five losses, and their first division title in since 1971, winning a tiebreaker with the Houston Oilers.
The 1980 Cleveland Browns were known as the Kardiac Kids for having several games decided in the final moments. The 1980 season was the first time that Cleveland had qualified for the postseason since 1972. Also, for the second straight year, Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano was named NFL Coach of the Year, and quarterback Brian Sipe was named the league's Most Valuable Player.
Dwight Clark
After nine seasons with the 49ers, Clark retired following the 1987 season. He was a member of two Super Bowl-winning teams (XVI and XIX). To honor his contribution to 49ers, the club retired his #87 in 1988. He served as a team executive for the 49ers until 1998, when he resigned to become the first General Manager in the expansion era of the Cleveland Browns, after following Carmen Policy who would run the team under the ownership of Al Lerner. He was Executive Vice President and Director of Football Operations from On May 14, 2002, he resigned from his position with the Browns after new head coach Butch Davis requested the right to make personnel decisions. In the 2018 NFL Films' "Dwight Clark: A Football Life", he was quoted as saying that it was probably a mistake to have accepted the position. He would later return to North Carolina to run his real estate business.
Browns–Ravens rivalry
After extensive talks between the NFL, the Browns, and officials of the two cities, Cleveland accepted a legal settlement that would keep the Browns' legacy in Cleveland. On February 9, 1996, the NFL announced that the Browns would be 'deactivated' for three years, and that a new stadium would be built for a new Browns team, as either an expansion team or a team moved from another city, that would begin play in 1999. Modell would in turn then be granted a new franchise (the 31st NFL franchise), for Baltimore, retaining the current contracts of players and personnel. There would be a reactivated team for Cleveland, where the Browns' name, colors, history, records, awards, and archives would remain in Cleveland.
Cleveland Browns
The team's biggest rival in the AAFC was the San Francisco 49ers, though this has cooled and in some cases turned into a friendly relationship, as the Browns now play in AFC and the 49ers play in the NFC. Additionally, many 49ers personnel helped the Browns relaunch in 1999 as well as former team President Mike Holmgren having started his NFL career in San Francisco. Also, 49ers owners John York and Denise DeBartolo York reside in Youngstown, 60 miles southeast of Cleveland. Former long-time veteran placekicker and fan favorite, Phil Dawson, signed with the 49ers in 2014, along with backup quarterback Colt McCoy.
2018 Cleveland Browns season
With the win, the Browns improved to 4–6–1. The Browns won consecutive games for the first time since 2014, snapped a 7-game losing streak to the Bengals, and ended their 25-game losing streak in away games, one short of tying the 2007–10 Detroit Lions record of 26 straight away losses. This win also assured the Browns will not be swept by any of their division opponents in a season for the first time since returning to the NFL in 1999. Mayfield was named the NFL Rookie of the Week for the fourth time this season. Mayfield was also named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month for November
History of the Cleveland Browns
The Browns began the 2012 season by losing their first five games. Having lost their last six games to end the 2011 season, this marked an 11-game losing streak, tied for the longest in team history with the 1974–1975 teams. On October 12, the Browns defeated the Bengals 34–24 in Cleveland, behind two touchdown passes from rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden (on his 29th birthday) to end the streak. On December 31, 2012, head coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert were fired. Shurmur went 9–23 in his two seasons as head coach.
History of the Cleveland Browns
After two losing seasons, the Browns made it back to contention in 2007. After opening with a 34–7 loss to the Steelers, the Browns traded Frye to the Seahawks and put Anderson in as the starter. In his first start, Anderson led the Browns to a surprise 51–45 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, throwing five touchdown passes and tying the franchise record. More success followed, and the Browns finished the regular season with a 10–6 record, the team's best mark since finishing 11–5 in 1994. While the Browns tied with the Steelers for first place in the AFC North, the team missed the playoffs because of two tie-breaking losses to Pittsburgh earlier in the season. Still, six players were selected for the Pro Bowl, including Anderson, Winslow, Edwards, kick returner Josh Cribbs and rookie left tackle Joe Thomas. Crennel agreed to a two-year contract extension until 2011, and the team hired Mike Keenan as team president, filling a position left vacant upon the departure of Collins two years before.
History of the Cleveland Browns
With Brown gone, halfback Leroy Kelly became the team's primary rusher in 1966. Kelly, an eighth-round draft choice who saw limited playing time in two years as a backup, ably filled his predecessor's shoes. Cleveland missed the playoffs in 1966, but made it to the postseason the following year after a realignment of the NFL's divisions that placed the Browns in the new Century Division. The Browns, however, lost the 1967 eastern conference championship to the Dallas Cowboys. After a year in which he made just 11 of 23 field goal attempts, placekicker Lou Groza, the last remaining player from the inaugural 1946 Browns team, retired before the start of the 1968 season. Groza, who had been on the roster for 21 seasons and was 44 years old when he hung up his spikes, said in his memoir that retiring was "the saddest day of my football life."
Josh Cribbs
Joshua Cribbs (born June 9, 1983) is a former American football return specialist and wide receiver. He played college football for Kent State University, and was signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He has tied the NFL career record with eight kickoff returns for touchdowns, and also the NFL record with two kickoffs of 100 yards or more returned for touchdowns in a single game. He has also played for the New York Jets, Oakland Raiders and Indianapolis Colts. He was most recently a special teams coaching intern for the Cleveland Browns.
History of the Cleveland Browns
During the summer before the 1953 season, the Browns' original owners sold the team for a then-unheard-of $600,000. The buyers were a group of prominent Cleveland men: Dave R. Jones, a businessman and former Cleveland Indians director, Ellis Ryan, a former Indians president, Homer Marshman, an attorney, and Saul Silberman, owner of the Randall Park race track. McBride had been called in 1950 to testify before the Kefauver Committee, a congressional body investigating organized crime, which partly exposed his ties to mafia figures but did not result in any charges. While McBride never said so, the Kefauver hearings and the growing public association between him and the mafia may have played a role in his decision to get out of football.