It was football like I had never seen it played

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Posted By: County Sports Network September 7, 2021

‘IT WAS FOOTBALL LIKE I HAD NEVER SEEN IT PLAYED’

By STEVE KING

Media members still call Dino Lucarelli “the nicest man in pro sports.”

That’s because he may well be. He always had a smile on his face for the many, many years he was working for the Browns in public relations and media relations. The media room at Browns Headquarters in Berea is named for him. That tells you all you need to know.

But his eyes would tinkle a little more and his face would light up even brighter when he talked about attending the Browns’ first regular-season 75 years ago Monday, on Sept. 6, 1946 — Friday night of Labor Day weekend — against the Miami Seahawks at Cleveland Stadium as the All-America Football Conference also made its debut.

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“It was football like I had never seen it played,” Lucarelli, now 87 and retired and living with his wife in Independence, just south of Cleveland, would tell me. “It was so fast and the players were so well-schooled in the fundamentals of the game. They moved in synchronized fashion on the field. They looked so much better than Miami.”

As good as the Browns had been the week before in rolling past the Brooklyn Dodgers 35-20 at the Rubber Bowl in Akron in their first, and only, preseason game — and they were very, very good, to be sure — it was nothing compared to the way they performed in routing the Seahawks 44-0 in front of 60,135, which set a record as the largest crowd ever to see a pro football game to that point. They were a machine, doing pretty much everything they wanted to do, when and how and why they wanted to do it. They blew out to a 27-0 halftime lead and never looked back, outgaining the Seahawks 345 to 27 in total yards.

“It was so exciting. For a young kid like me, it really made such an impression. I became a big fan instantly,” Lucarelli said.

Lucarelli, then 12 and growing up in the southeast Cleveland suburb of Garfield Heights, went to the game with his older sister and her fiancé.

“I sat in the bleachers — it cost only a quarter to get in — and they sat in the grandstand near that end of the stadium,” he said. “I had to wear a bright red shirt so they could keep an eye on me. I wasn’t allowed to go to the restroom or the concession stand. I had to stay right there in my seat so they knew I was safe. It wasn’t easy to do that — little boys need to use the restroom a lot and they are also always hungry — but this time, it was OK because the game was so much fun. I didn’t want to leave and miss something.”

That includes the halftime show, which was a performance of the Browns’ all-female marching band, the Musical Majorettes.

“All and all, it was just such a great time,” Lucarelli said.

For him and a lot of other people as well.

Berea, Ohio – The Cleveland Browns announced they have signed DE Ifeadi Odenigbo (pronounced if-AH-dee o-DEN-uh-bo) to their practice squad. The team has now filled all 16 of its practice squad openings.

Odenigbo (6-3, 258) was originally a 2017 seventh-round (220th overall) pick by the Minnesota Vikings out of Northwestern. The fourth-year player has logged 15 starts (all in 2020) in 32 regular season games played. His career totals include 59 tackles, 10.5 sacks, 10 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries. Odenigbo also had stints with the Cleveland Browns (inactive first three games in 2018) and Arizona Cardinals (2018) before playing the last two seasons on the Vikings’ active roster (2019-20) and spending this past offseason with the New York Giants. Odenigbo is a native of Centerville, Ohio. 

Key dates ahead Sept. 12: Week 1 at Kansas City, 4:25 p.m.Sept. 19: Week 2 vs. Houston, 1 p.m.Sept. 26: Week 3 vs. Chicago, 1 p.m.Nov. 2: NFL trade deadline, 4 p.m.

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