In memory of the late, great Tom DeLeone, the center on the Kardiac Kids Browns who passed away last Sunday of brain cancer at the age of 65, we present to you the club’s 11 best moments of that special season 36 years ago.
Why 11?
One for each win the Browns had in 1980 as they went 11-5 to win their first AFC Central championship in eight seasons, and make it to the playoffs for the first time in nine years.
So here they are those memories, in order of their coolness:
- DOOR PRIZE — The Houston Oilers had fallen to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game in both 1978 and ’79. Heading into the 1980 season, Oilers head coach Bum Phillips proclaimed, “We’ve got to beat Pittsburgh and kick in the door to the Super Bowl.” When his team hopped over both Houston and the Steelers to win the Central crown, Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano said in the jubilant locker room following the division-clinching 27-24 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, “Gentlemen, I’ve got my best line of the year: Bum Phillips kicked in the wrong door!”
2. FEACHERING SOME UNKNOWN DUDE – The Browns were beginning to run out of options, and time. Their offense had struggled mightily, and they trailed Cincinnati 17-10 early in the third quarter. On top of that, the offense was without one of its best players, wide receiver Dave Logan, who injured his knee in the first quarter after catching a 65-yard pass. Little-known Ricky Feacher stepped in for him. Feacher had played only sparingly, going into the game with just eight receptions, but with two of them going for touchdowns. Feacher, nicknamed “Hollywood Dude” for the flashy way in which he dressed, had been been in quarterback Brian Sipe’s ear from the moment he got into the huddle. “Throw me the bomb, I’m open,” Feacher kept telling Sipe. By the third quarter, Sipe was getting frustrated by the sputtering offense, and by Feacher saying the same thing to him and over and over and over again. With nothing else working, Sipe decided to call Dude’s number. After all, he had nothing to lose. “All right, I’m going to throw you the bomb, but you had better catch it,” Sipe said. “If you don’t, you had better just keep on running.” Dude assured him, “Just put the ball up there and I’ll run under it.” Sipe did, and Dude did, catching a 35-yard TD pass on a “go route” down the right sideline. When the Browns got the ball back a few minutes later, Sipe called the same route down the left sideline and Dude caught a 34-yard scoring pass. Just like that, the Browns went from seven points behind to seven points ahead, 24-17, and they never trailed again. When all of the Browns’ leading actors had played out their roles and the game’s – and the season’s — outcome was still in doubt, it took Dude, a bit actor, to come out of nowhere and steal the show. That’s how 1980 was. Every week, it was someone different stepping up.
3. A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH – Things were as quiet as a church mouse as the Browns, thinking about the fact that everything was on the line, boarded their bus at their Fountain Square hotel for the short ride down the hill to Riverfront Stadium to play the Bengals in the regular-season finale. Rutigliano sat right behind the driver in the seat that is normally reserved for the team owner. When owner Art Modell boarded the bus, he was startled to see Rutigliano in his seat, but then sat in the front seat across the aisle. After a few moments, Modell leaned over to Rutigliano and said, “Sam, the city is crazy about the Browns. Season-ticket sales are at an all-time high. I just wanted to let you know that no matter what happens today, it’s been a great, great season.” Rutigliano glared back at Modell incredulously. “You’re full of (crap)!” the coach said. The owner was shocked that Rutligliano had addressed him in such a bold manner. “Look,” Rutigliano said, “what’s the name of the guy who will be on the sideline coaching the Bengals today? That would be Forrest Gregg. You fired him, remember? And what’s the name of the guy who will be up in the owner’s box for the Bengals? That would be Paul Brown. You fired him, too, remember? Those two guys would like nothing better than to beat us today and ruin our – and your – season. Don’t tell me that the final score today doesn’t matter to you. You want to win this game more than you want to live life itself.” Wide-eyed, Modell nodded affirmatively and sat back into his seat.
4. REFUSING TO PACK IT IN – The Browns were just 3-3 and their high hopes for the season were on the verge of being dashed as they trailed the struggling Green Bay Packers 21-13. The Browns scored a TD to get to within 21-20, and then got a 46-yard Sipe-to-Logan scoring pass with 16 seconds left to win 26-21. That pulsating victory – and the play that made it all happen – provided the turning point of the season and got the Browns rolling.
5. SIZING UP THE SITUATION – Logan was 6-foot-4 and had long arms. He had tremendous jumping ability and was a great all-around athlete. He had been drafted by the pros in three sports, by the Cincinnati Reds, the NBA’s Kansas City Kings (after an outstanding career at Colorado University) and the Browns. When Sipe came to the line of scrimmage for that scoring play against the Packers, he looked at Logan, who was lined up wide to the right, looked to the left and then looked back at Logan before nodding at him and taking the snap. Sipe saw the safeties creeping up into the box, ready to blitz, and noticed that it left Logan in one-on-one coverage against a 5-10 cornerback named Estus Hood. When Sipe nodded, it was a message to Logan that the ball was coming his way so the Browns could take advantage of the huge edge in size. Sipe retreated a few steps and quickly threw an alley-oop pass to Logan, who easily out-jumped Hood to snare the ball at the 25. Hood fell down, and Logan easily sprinted into the end zone with the game-winner.
6. JUMPING FOR JOY – There’s a great photo of Sipe and Logan, both wearing looks of unbridled happiness, jumping up and down as they embraced each other on the sideline after the TD. It epitomized the thrilling nature of that season.
7. WINNING WINK – Sipe was the coolest guy in Cleveland in more ways than one back then. Nothing fazed him. “The tighter the situation got, the more Brian liked it. He lived for those situations,” Rutigliano said. “Me? I hated them. They made me nervous.” There is a photo of a smiling Sipe looking right at the camera after the touchdown pass and giving a self-assured, “I had ’em all the way” wink. It was Sipe as every longtime Browns fan will remember him.
8. GREAT SCOTT – The Browns had lost to the Oilers at Cleveland in Week 2. Another loss in the rematch at Houston in Week 13 might have done them in. No question about it, they had to win. The Oilers, trailing 17-14, got the ball with 1:40 left and a 43-yard pass from Ken Stabler to tight end Dave Casper on the first play put the them at the Cleveland 35. After throwing incomplete to wide receiver Mike Renfro on the next play to try to take the focus off Casper, Stabler went back to Casper on the following play. But savvy veteran Clarence Scott wasn’t fooled. He read the play like a book and stepped in front of Casper to intercept the ball at the 33 to save the game. Everybody on the Browns was thrilled to get a win that put them back in control of the Central race, but they were even more thrilled that Scott, then in his 10th season, was the hero. He was a pro’s pro. Nobody had a bad word to say about him. One of the team’s best cornerbacks ever, Scott had been asked by Rutigliano to move to safety in 1979 as he began slowing down. He didn’t like it, but instead of complaining, Scott kept his mouth shut and tried to do his best. And he did, especially when it counted the most.
9. A HEROES’ WELCOME – Fans flocked to Hopkins Airport to welcome the Browns home after the win over Houston. There were so many of them, in fact, that they basically shut down the airport. The same thing happened after the win at Cincinnati. The Browns were ready this time, though. They bypassed getting off at the airport and instead taxied over to the nearby – and much more spacious — Tank Plant, now known as the I-X Center, to de-plane.
10. TOO LEGIT TO QUIT – To verify themselves as legitimate threats to win the division title, the Browns had to defeat the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Steelers, something they had not done since 1976. They got the job done in typical Kardiac Kids fashion, coming back from a 26-14 fourth-quarter deficit to triumph 27-26 at Cleveland.
11. TOO LEGIT TO QUIT II – The Browns, who had a lot of momentum heading into 1980 after finishing 9-7 in 1979 and just missing the playoffs, started off in nightmarish fashion, losing 34-17 at New England and then 16-7 to the Oilers at home to fall to 0-2. Instead of going into full-blown panic mode, Rutigliano calmly – and positively — asked his team in the locker room following the Houston loss, “How about we win the rest of our games and go 14-2?” The question drew a lot of unbelieving stares, but it took the pressure off the players and helped get the struggling Browns jump-started. And it almost came true. They didn’t go undefeated the rest of the way, but they lost only three times, by three points to the Denver Broncos, by four points to Pittsburgh in the waning seconds and by five points to the Minnesota on a TD on the final play of the game.
By Steve King
