Here’s a sad note.

A good Browns offensive lineman from a half-century ago has died.

 Bob McKay, who was selected in the first round of the 1970 NFL Draft out of Texas and played six seasons for the Browns at right tackle, passed away recently. He was 78.

In the third game of his last season with the team, on Oct. 5, 1975, he unwittingly became part of the lore of the intense Browns-Pittsburgh rivalry. Steelers defensive tackle “Mean” Joe Greene, upset because he thought that McKay was holding him and it wasn’t being called, lived up to his nickname and did what any level-headed, mature and decent adult male would do in that situation by reaching into his large, chock-full bag of cheap shots and kickjng McKay in the . . . well, uh groin.

Not surprisingly, that went over like a lead balloon with the Browns. Backup center Tom DeLeone, a Kent Rosevekt High School and Ohio State product who had just been signed by the Browns after being let go by the Cincinnati Bengals, wanted to make a positive impression on his new teammates, so he darted from the sideline onto the field and into the middle of the fray and hit Greene with a roundhouse punch.

Browns left tackle Doug Dieken, as he has done so often over the years, put the situation into perfect perspective from Cleveland’s standpoint when he quipped years later, “I didn’t know much about Tommy. I remembered him from when we (his Illinois team) played Ohio State, but that was about it. When I saw what he did that day, though, I said to myself, ‘Hey, I think I like this DeLeone guy.’ “

Dieken liked that Bob McKay guy, too, as did a lot of longtime Browns fans.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

 Steve King