THE DAY IN BROWNS HISTORY THAT STILL STANDS OUT
EDITOR’S NOTE: Leading into Sunday’s game between the Browns and Miami Dolphins at Huntington Bank Field, this is the first of a four-part series on Friday being the 60th anniversary of the Browns winning the 1964 NFL championship.
By STEVE KING
This year, Dec. 27 is just another post-Christmas day, standing out only for the fact that it, by virtue of being a Friday, leads into the fun and relaxation of a weekend, holiday style.
But that was hardly the case six decades ago. It was a day that, despite all the time that has passed since then, still stands out. Indeed, for those who witnessed the historic magic that happened that day, either in person as one of the 79,544 in attendance, or as one of the people who watched it on TV in grainy, black-and-white images transmitted from out-of-town stations, or those who listened to it on the radio from play-by-play announcer Gib Shanley and color analyst Jim Graner, it is a memory baked into heads and, much more importantly, their hearts.
It was exactly 60 years ago, on Dec. 27, 1964, that the Browns won the last of the their eight league championships overall, including the last four of which in the NFL, with a stunning — but oh so convincing — 27-0 shutout victory over the mighty Baltimore Colts at Cleveland Stadium.
The Colts had the most star-studded roster in pro football at the time, including the top quarterback in John Unitas, the top guard in Jim Parker of Toledo Scott High School and Ohio State, the top tight end in John Mackey, the top wide receiver in Raymond Berry, who went to become receivers coach of the Browns, and the top defense. They led the league in most points scored in 1964 and fewest points allowed in finishing a league-best 12-2. In terms of numbers, it doesn’t get much better than that.
And since they won the title in the Western Conference, considered to be the strongest of the two conferences by far, rolling over the Eastern champion Browns seemed to be a foregone conclusion. It is why Baltimore was established by oddsmakers as an eight-point favorite, and it seemed it could have been even more. The Browns had a great offense, just like the Colts, with the most productive quarterback in the game in Frank Ryan, a formidable line with a Pro Football Hall of Fame guard of their own in guard Gene Hickerson (whose best friend growing up in Tennessee was some guy named Elvis Presley) and a left tackle who should be in the Hall as well in Dick Schafrath of Wooster High School and Ohio State, and the best set of wide receivers in Gary Collins and rookie Paul Warfield of Warren Harding High School and Ohio Stste, but they also had what was considered to be a rubber-band defense, one that would bend but not break, which was in stark contrast to the dominating Colts unit, which yielded nothing, stonewalling opponents.
The Browns were certainly respectful of who the Colts were, what they had accomplished on the deacon and what they were capable of in a winner-take-all game, but they were not daunted, or fearful or lacking in confidence.
Actually, a couple of them were downright outspoken on the subject.
Collins, who caught three touchdown passes from Ryan, turning in what remains one of the greatest performances in NFL title game history en route to being named the game’s Most Valuable Player, told reporters in the week leading up to the game that the Browns were definitely going to beat the Colts. It was not that far off from what New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath did before Super Bowl 3 seasons later in 1968 when he guaranteed an upset victory over those same Colts.
“Blanton Collier (Browns head coach) came up to me afterward and asked me, ‘Why did you go and do that?!’ He didn’t want the Colts to read that and get all riled up,” Collins said. “I looked at him and said, ‘Why shouldn’t I say it? We are going to win.’ That’s what I believed, and I wasn’t bashful about telling anyone.”
On the defensive side, there was middle linebacker Vince Costello, who had been the quarterback on a six-man football team at tiny Magnolia High School south of Canton (now part of the Sandy Valley Local School District) and was in the face of Unitas all day, helping Cleveland limit him to just 95 yards passing.
He maintained until the day he died in 2019 that he, too, had no doubts the Browns would win.
“We had the better team. Why wouldn’t we win?,” he said. “We kicked their butts.”
Yes, they did.
NEXT: How it all happened, how the Browns did become the better team that day.
Steve King
