Expanding The Ring of Honor

By STEVE KING

Jimmy and Dee Haslam have really upped their games as owners of the Browns.
There’s no doubt that they’re doing much better jobs and in some ways outstanding jobs, mostly simply by saying nothing and staying out of the limelight, and in some cases also out of the way by letting their football people make all the decisions regarding football. It’s common-sense stuff.
With that having been said, there are still some issues, one of which with the Ring of Honor at FirstEnergy Stadium.
The Haslams opened a real can of worms when they put former linebacker Clay Matthews’ name on the Ring of Honor to appease him and rebuild a relationship with him after he became estranged from the team over a few issues. It was a good idea to mend fences with Matthews since he is still such a popular member of the Browns family. But it was not a good idea to do it that way.
When it was instituted, the Ring of Honor was supposed to include only those players, coaches and contributors who are inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Matthews, though he was an outstanding player during his16 seasons with the Browns from 1978-93, is the lone ROH inductee who is not also a HOF inductee.
That’s not right, that’s not fair and equitable and it’s putting the Browns between a rock and a hard place going forward.
For with the Browns having made an exception for Matthews to put him into a group that he really does belong, they also now have to consider waiving the HOF requirement and adding to the Ring of Honor any or all of the following former players, and former coaches in Blanton Collier, who guided the team to the 1964 NFL championship and three other title contest appearances, and Marty Schottenheimer, who guided the club to four straight playoff appearances, including two AFC Championship Game appearances, and to three AFC Central titles:
*Quarterbavk Brian Sipe,
*Quarterback Bernie Kosar.
Quarterback Frank Ryan.
Running back Earnest Byner.
Running back Kevin Mack.
Running back/returner Eric Metcalf.
Running back Greg Pruit.
Running back Mike Pruitt,
Running back Ernie Green.
Tight end Milt Morin.
Wide receiver/punter Gary Collins.
Wide receiver/running back Dub Jones.
Wide receiver Webster Slaughter.
Wide receiver Reggie Langhorne.
Wide receiver Brian Brennan.
Wide receiver Ray Renfro.
Wide receiver Reggie Rucker.
Wide receiver Dave Logan.
Wide receiver Kevin Johnson.
Wide receiver/returner Josh Cribbs.
Wide receiver/returner Dennis Northcutt.
Offensive tackle Joe Thomas.
Offensive tackle Dick Schafrath.
Offensive tackle Doug Dieken.
Offensive tackle Cody Risien.
Offensive tackle Monte Clark.
Center Tom DeLeone.
Center Mike Baab.
Center John Morrow.
Guard John Wooten.
Guard Jim Ray Smith
Guard Abe Gibron.
Giard Robert Jackson.
Defensive end Bill Blass.
Defensive end Paul Wiggin.
Defensive end Carl Hairston.
Defensive end Rob Burnett.
Defensive tackle Jerry Sherk.
Defensive tackle Walter Johnson.
Defensive tackle Michael Dean Perry.
Defensive tackle Bob Gain.
Defensive tackle Don Colo.
Defensive tackle Bob Golic.
Linebacker Jim Houston.
Linebacker Walt Michaels.
Linebacker Galen Fiss.
Linebacker Vince Costello.
Linebacker Chip Banks.
Linebacker Charlie Hall,
Linebacker Mike Johnson.
Linebacker Dick Ambrose,
Cornerback Tommy James.
Cornerback Frank Minnifield.
Cornerback Hanford Dixon.
Cornerback Clarence Scott.
Cornerback Bernie Parrish.
Cornerback Erich Barnes.
Safety Eric Turner.
Safety Thom Darden.
Safety Warren Lahr.
Safety Ken Konz.
Safety Felix Wright.
Safety Mike Howell.
Kicker/punter Don Cockroft.
Kicker Phil Dawson.
KIcker Matt Bahr.
Kicker Matt Stover.
Punter Horace Gillom.
They all belong, too.