Art Modell and Blanton Collier have some strong common threads, but they are drastically different in other ways.
And Wednesday is the anniversary of a day that is significant in both men’s lives.
It was 56 years ago, on March 22, 1961, that Modell, then a 36-year-old advertising and television executive from New York, purchased the Browns from a group headed by David Jones that had owned the club since 1953. That group also included head coach Paul Brown, Homer Marshman and Ellis Ryan. Modell was the third owner of the club since it began play in 1946 with Mickey McBride in charge.
A little less than two years after Modell bought the Browns, in January 1963, he unceremoniously fired the legendary Brown, with whom he was never really on the same page. He then hired Collier, Brown’s close friend and a man who was an assistant on his staff for nine seasons, 1946-53 and 1962.
Modell was a great admirer of Collier and heaped much praise onto him after he took a team that had finished just 7-6-1 in Brown’s final season in 1962, and guided it to the NFL championship in 1964. Collier coached the Browns for six more years, giving him eight seasons overall on the job. He took them to the league title game three more times and to the playoffs on other occasion, retiring following the 1970 season because of a hearing problem.
Collier actually did three stints with the Browns, returning as quarterbacks coach in 1975 and ’76 and helping to jump-start the rise to prominence of an obscure young passer by the name of Brian Sipe.
Ironically, Wednesday is also the 37th anniversary of Collier’s passing, on March 22, 1983, in Houston because of cancer. He was 76.
Collier was not just a football genius, but someone who was loved and respected by everybody whose paths he crossed because of his tremendous kindness. As such, he remains one of the most popular figures in Browns history.
In stark contrast, Modell, of course, is the most despised figure the Browns have ever had because of his moving the original franchise to Baltimore following the 1995 season.
