It seemed so easy.
Really, how hard could it be to pick the top 30 Browns players overall – in three sets of 10 – for the three-decade period covering 1965-95? That amounted to an average of 10 players per decade, or one per year, which seemed like plenty of room to include all viable candidates.
No problem. After all, way back in the day, NFL teams had 33-player rosters, so, in essence, this was like selecting a team coming out of training camp. Those coaches could do it, so why couldn’t we, especially with the advantage of 20-20 hindsight, do it, too.
What was not taken into consideration, though, was the greatness of the Browns teams, and thus also their players, during that era.
In those 31 seasons, the Browns made the playoffs 14 times and got to within a victory of securing that elusive first Super Bowl berth on five of those occasions.
Seven of the Browns’ 16 Pro Football Hall of Famers played during that time.
So to say the field was crowded, was an understatement. What we were trying to do was pack a five-pound bag of sugar into a one-pound bag.
Indeed, you can have too much of a good thing, and that’s not a good thing.
There were so many good players, in fact, that it became a chess match in trying to single out the most deserving Browns to make sure they made the cut. To do that, we looked at the best of the best list and separated the players whose careers spanned “both” eras – that of 1965-95, and also of 1946-64, which will begin to be detailed starting tomorrow.
We moved one player to one era and another player to the other era, and then moved them back and forth like a pendulum for several days until it made sense, or at least some semblance of sense.
Really, as long as all the players who had to be on one of the two lists, were going to be able to make it in some way, shape or form, it was going to make all the sense it needed. It was the lesser of two evils, like Browns fans trying to decide if it’s more palatable to have to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers win, the Baltimore Ravens win, or to be administered the dreaded Chinese water torture.
Three quick questions before that decision is made: How much water? And for how long? Also, what’s the temperature of the water?
OK, here we go. Let the drips begin.
But even with doing all that, and finagling everything around, there were a lot of deserving players left off the 1965-95 top 30 list. And because they played only in that era and not also from 1946-64, or it’s not reasonable to consider them for inclusion in the 1946-64 top 30 list since that one is going to be even more difficult to pick, they will be completely excluded from any such recognition.
Saying yes to adding a player is easy. But it hurts – a lot – to say no. It’s tough. You’re slighting people.
But that’s the way it has to be.
Anyway, here’s a look, in alphabetical order, at the players who topped the list of those who fell just short of making the top 30 list for the period of 1965-95:
*Billy Andrews – middle/outside linebacker – played with the Browns from 1967-74 – His 25-yard interception return for a touchdown off Joe Namath sealed a 31-21 victory over the New York Jets in the first Monday Night Football game in 1970, made him the first of the series’ little-known heroes and jump-started his career.
*Dick Ambrose – middle/inside linebacker – played with the Browns from 1975-83 – This 12th-round draft choice from Virginia, now a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge in Cleveland, became known as “Bam-Bam” for good reason in that he hit like a sledgehammer.
*Mike Baab – center – played with the Browns from 1982-87 and 1990-91 – He was, just as his counterpart with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Webster, once said, “strong as a field of onions” and one of the better centers in the game during his era, so much so, in fact, that quarterback Bernie Kosar threw a fit when he was traded to the New England Patriots following the 1987 season.
*Matt Bahr – kicker – played with the Browns from 1981-89 – After being with two teams in his first 2½ seasons, the former Penn State soccer player found a decade-long home in Cleveland and continued the team’s legacy of great kickers.
*Al “Bubba” Baker – defensive end – played with the Browns in 1987 and from 1989-90 – After coming into the NFL as a sack machine with the Detroit Lions, he gave the Browns a real pass-rush presence.
*Erich Barnes – cornerback – played with the Browns from 1965-71 – Browns fans hated him when he played for the arch rival New York Giants, but then they loved him when he came to Cleveland and served as a hard-hitting playmaker for seven seasons.
*Walter Beach – cornerback – played with the Browns from 1963-66 – His physical play against the great Baltimore Colts receivers was a real key in the Browns’ 27-0 victory in the 1964 NFL Championship Game.
*Ron Bolton – cornerback – played with the Browns from 1976-82 – He was a ballhawk during his time in Cleveland with 17 interceptions, including a team-leading six in the Kardiac Kids season of 1980.
*Johnny Brewer – tight end/outside linebacker – played with the Browns from 1961-67 – The last of the Browns’ “two-way” players, he accepted a move to defense and played well after the team used its first-round draft pick in 1966 to take tight end Milt Morin.
*Rob Burnett – defensive end – played with the Browns from 1990-95 – He made the Pro Bowl in 1994 in helping lead the Browns to the AFC playoffs for the first time in five years.
*Reggie Camp – defensive end – played with the Browns from 1983-87 – He owns two Browns records garnered in 1984, most sack yards in a season (125.5) 1984) and most sack yards in a game (39 against the Houston Oilers), and his 14 sacks that season are tied for second-most in team history.
*Sam Clancy – defensive end – played with the Browns from 1985-88 – The former Pitt basketball player came within an inch of knocking down a John Elway pass that might have halted “The Drive” and sealed a victory over the Denver Broncos in the 1986 AFC Championship Game.
*Monte Clark – right tackle – played with the Browns from 1963-69 – Fellow linemen Gene Hickerson, Dick Schafrath and John Wooten got a lot of hype – and rightfully so – on those great teams, but this guy was pretty good, too.
*Ben Davis – cornerback – played with the Browns from 1967-68 and 1970-73 – The brother of well-known activist Angela Davis and a 17th-round draft choice from tiny Defiance (Ohio) in 1967, he had 17 interceptions in his Cleveland career, including a team-leading eight in 1968 when he led the NFL with 162 interception return yards, and also topped the league with a 12.7 yards-per-punt average in 1967.
*John Demarie – guard – played with the Browns from 1967-75 – He was a solid and versatile player for nine seasons.
*Paul Farren – left tackle – played with the Browns from 1983-91 – For much of his career, he protected the blind side of quarterback Bernie Kosar, and did it well.
*Ricky Feacher – wide receiver – played with the Browns from 1976-84 – Who can ever forget “The Hollywood Dude,” after begging and begging for quarterback Brian Sipe to “throw me the bomb,” coming out of nowhere when the ball finally came his way with 33- and 35-yard touchdown catches within minutes of each other to save the Browns in their 27-24 AFC Central title-clinching victory at Cincinnati in 1980?
*Ross Fichtner –safety – played with the Browns from 1960-67 – He’s tied for sixth on the Browns with 27 career interceptions, which made it particularly hard to leave him off the top 30 list.
*Dan Fike – guard/tackle – played with the Browns from 1985-92 – Whatever he was asked to do, and wherever he was asked to play, he did so at a high level.
*John Garlington – linebacker – played with the Browns from 1968-77 – He was as solid of a linebacker as the Browns had during a time when they went to playoffs four times in five years.
*Boyce Green – running back – played with the Browns from 1983-85 – He came on during the end of Mike Pruitt’s career and rushed for over 1,100 in two seasons before the Browns brought in two guys named Mack and Byner.
*Jack Gregory – defensive end – played with the Browns from 1967-71 and 1979 – He was a very good player for the Browns and then, after leaving the club following a contract disagreement with owner Art Modell over the princely sum of $1,500, he went to the New York Giants and became one of the best pass rushers in the NFL.
*Carl “Big Daddy” Hairston – played with the Browns from 1984-89 – When you look up the term professionalism in the football dictionary, there’s a photo of Big Daddy, who stood out both on the field and in the locker room.
*Charlie Hall – outside linebacker – played with the Browns from 1971-80 – Never saying much of anything or ever drawing attention to himself, he simply went out and gave the Browns 10 years of very good play.
*Dino Hall – running back/returner – played with the Browns from 1979-83 – At just 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds – maybe – he came out of tiny Glassboro State (now Rowan) and became one of the top returners in team history.
*Calvin Hill – running back – played with the Browns from 1978-81 – In that 1980 season, he caught 27 passes, six of which went for touchdowns, which tells you all you need to know about how valuable he was as a third-down receiver out of the backfield.
*Fred Hoaglin – center – played with the Browns from 1966-72 – He made it to one Pro Bowl and anchored the middle of some very good lines on some very good teams.
*Leroy Hoard – running back – played with the Browns from 1990-95 – Nobody ran harder than he did, and the one-time Pro Bowler, while rushing for 2,203 yards as a Brown, was also outstanding as a pass receiver, as evidenced by his 177 receptions, 14 of which went for touchdowns.
*Mike Howell – cornerback – played with the Browns from 1965-72 – The Grambling product had 27 interceptions, tying him with his one-time teammate, Ross Fichtner, for sixth place in team history.
*Robert Jackson – guard – played with the Browns from 1975-85 – Despite coming to the Browns as an obscure rookie free agent from a non-football school, Duke, he survived the bludgeoning of veteran defensive tackle Walter Johnson in a training camp drill as a rookie to prove he could play, and then set out to play well for a long time.
*Eddie Johnson – inside linebacker – played with the Browns from 1981-90 – Nobody in Browns history was tougher, hit harder or played with more heart than “The Assassin.”
*Mike Johnson – inside/middle linebacker – played with the Browns from 1986-93 – Cleveland picked up a lot of great players through the NFL Supplemental Draft after the USFL went bell-up, and this tackling machine was one of them.
*Joe “Turkey” Jones – defensive end – played with the Browns from 1970-71, 1973 and 1975-78 – For nothing more than the simple fact he tried to plant Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, head-first, like a tree in a 1976 game at Cleveland, he deserves strong consideration for inclusion on the top 30 list.
*Tony “T-Bone” Jones – tackle/guard – played with the Browns from 1988-95 – He has never gotten the credit for just how good of a player he really was.
*Jim Kanicki – defensive tackle – played with the Browns from 1963-69 – His ability to use his size to stalemate legendary guard Jim Parker took the Baltimore Colts out of much of what they wanted to do offensively in that 1964 title game loss at Cleveland.
*Ernie Kellermann – safety – played with the Browns from 1966-71 – After failing to stick with the Dallas Cowboys, his head coach at Miami of Ohio, somebody named Bo Schembechler, called Browns head coach Blanton Collier and, thankfully so, convinced him that the Bedford (Ohio) Chanel High School product was worth a look-see.
*Reggie Langhorne – wide receiver – played with the Browns from 1985-91 – How did a seventh-round draft pick from tiny Elizabeth City State become such a great player for the Browns?
*Dale Lindsey – linebacker – played with the Browns from 1965-72 – His 27-yard interception return for a touchdown off Don Meredith on the first play of the second half turned the 1968 Eastern Conference Championship Game around and set the stage for a big 31-20 win over the Dallas Cowboys.
*Dave Logan – wide receiver/tight end – played with the Browns from 1976-83 – Drafted in three pro sports coming out of high school, he found his niche in football, and then at wide receiver with the Browns, after Sam Rutigliano was hired as head coach in 1978 and moved him to the outside to make way for a first-round draft pick by the name of Ozzie Newsome.
*Bob McKay – right tackle/guard – played with the Browns from 1970-75 – This first-round draft pick was big, strong, versatile and talented.
*Gerald “Ice Cube” McNeil – wide receiver/returner – played with the Browns from 1986-89 – His 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the final play of the first half was instrumental in the Browns winning 27-24 at Pittsburgh in 1986 and finally breaking “The Three Rivers Jinx,” which was quite a feat for a guy who was 5-foot-7 and 125 pounds soaking wet.
*Cleo Miller – running back – played with the Browns from 1975-82 – He’s the 10th-leading rusher in Browns history with 2,286 yards, and his play in at Houston in 1980 was pivotal in a big 17-14 win over the Oilers on Cleveland’s march to the Central Division title.
*Milt Morin – tight end – played with the Browns from 1966-75 – With 271 receptions for 4,208 yards and 16 touchdowns, he’s the second-best tight end in club history.
*Bill Nelsen – quarterback – played with the Browns from 1968-72 – When Frank Ryan’s body finally gave out on him early in 1968, he came on and directed the Browns to back-to-back trips to the NFL (NFC) Championship Game.
*Frank Pitts – wide receiver – played with the Browns from 1971-73 – His 36-yard touchdown catch from Mike Phipps with seconds left in a Monday Night Football game at San Diego in 1972 sparked an important 21-17 win over the Chargers on the Browns’ drive to the playoffs, and had everybody back home in Cleveland mimicking radio play-by-play announcer Gib Shanley’s animated call of “Phipps to Pitts!” all through the night and into the next day.
*Walter “The Flea” Roberts – played with the Browns from 1964-66 – Aptly named for his diminutive size, the 5-foot-9, 163-pounder averaged a robust 27.5 yards on kickoff returns and 13.2 yards on punt returns in that 1964 NFL championship season.
*Ron Snidow – defensive end – played with the Browns from 1968-72 – He was a good line anchor who stepped in after Paul Wiggin retired.
*Matt Stover – kicker – played with the Browns from 1991-95 – A Plan B free agent from the New York Giants, he duplicated Matt Bahr’s feat of continuing the tradition of great Cleveland kickers.
*Walt Sumner – safety – played with the Browns from 1969-74 – His 88-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter gave the Browns a resounding 38-7 lead on the way to an eventual 38-14 drubbing of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1969 Eastern Conference Championship Game at a rain-soaked Cotton Bowl.
*Eric Turner – safety – played with the Browns from 1991-95 – The first draft pick of Bill Belichick when he took over as head coach, he got steadily better, just like the team overall, and capped it off with his Pro Bowl selection following the 1994 playoff season.
*Clarence Weathers – wide receiver/returner — played with the Browns from 1985-88 – Another tiny player who did big things, the 5-foot-9, 170-pounder had a penchant for making long-gainers in the passing game.
*Keith Wright – wide receiver/returner – played with the Browns from 1978-80 – Until a severe knee injury on a bad surface at the Astrodome derailed his career, he was becoming one of the league’s better returners.
Next: Best Browns from 1946-64, Part I.
