Though, because of the nature of to the position, they have never gotten their just due, the Browns have certainly had a great lineage of punters through the years.
It started at about the start of the franchise nearly 80 years ago, in 1946, with Horace Gillom, a Cleveland Browns Legend who first impressed the people at Massillon High School in the 1930s — “He would kick the ball so high that it would go above the stadium lights,” said Paul Brown, who was his head coach with both the Tigers and Browns — and then at Cleveland. His leg was like a cannon. The ball would soar off it.
When I was working for the Browns and had a vote, I pushed hard for him to become a Legend. He was so worthy.
There was also Gary Collins, who, in addition to being the team’s career catcher leader, one of the biggest heroes of the 1964 NFL Championship Game victory over the Baltimore Colts with three touchdown receptions from the late, great Frank Ryan, and a guy who should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, doubled as the punter and was very good.
He was followed by Don Cockcroft, who doubled as the team’s iconic placekicker. He was, like Collins, in two great lineages.
The new Browns struggled when they returned in 1999, but they had an outstanding punter in Chris Gardocki, who may have been the best holder in team history, putting him, then, also in two lineages.
After him was Cleveland area native Dave Zastudil, who set some team records.
Finally there’s current punter Corey Bojorquez. In the long history of the Browns and their punters, he might be the only one who has been the MVP of a game. He was clearly that — and then some — in the Browns’ 18–13 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
With the Browns clinging to a 16–13 lead late in the game and needing to back up the Jaguars into their own end of the field, they turned to Bojorquez, who put a punt down at the 2-yard line that was truly a work of art. It couldn’t have been any better if he had walked down and placed it there himself.
The two announcers calling the game on the Jaguars Radio Network went on and on raving about the kick.
“That’s the greatest punt I’ve ever seen in terms of pinning a team down near its own goal line,” said color analyst Tony Boselli, the former Jags left tackle who is the franchise’s lone HOF inductee. “That was incredible.”
It became even moreso on the Jags’ first play from scrimmage. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence retreated into the end zone to pass and got pressure from defensive end Myles Garrett. As he stepped up to avoid it, he ran right into the arms of the other end, Anthony Wright, who sacked him for a safety to give the Browns an 18-13 lead and some much-needed breathing room. The Jags could no longer tie the game with a field goal. That they had to go for the game-winning touchdown changed the whole dynamics of the final minutes.
So, then, yeah, a punter, for the first time in team history, all but sealed the deal in a Browns win. Not even the great Gillom, Collins, Cockcroft, Gardocki and Zastudil ever did that with their punting.
How cool is that, huh? Talk about a team victory!
And talk about Corey Bojorquez, who now is part of that great punting lineage covering eight decades.
Steve King
