Kevin Byrne Retires – Took Heat, ‘Bullets’ For Art Modell

Kevin Byrne retiresCredit SI.com

Posted By: County Sports Network April 20, 2020

Kevin Byrne retires – took heat, ‘Bullets’ for Art Modell

By STEVE KING

New 2020 Cleveland Browns Jerseys

The man who had to “take bullets” for his good friend, former Browns owner Art Modell, for the last half of that horrible 1995 season, has retired.

Kevin Byrne retires after serving as vice president of media relations director for the last 15 years of the original Browns who then served in the same basic, though much-elevated, role for the transplanted franchise, the Baltimore Ravens, for their first 24 years, quietly called it a career recently.

Advertisement: For a free insurance review visit Allstate Agent Clint Stott

Good for him. The Cleveland native and Lakewood St. Edward High School graduate turned 70 years old just before last season started. He has earned the right – and privilege – of going off and doing something else with the rest of his life, whatever that is.

Byrne was one of the best media relations persons – actually, THE best – in the NFL in his time with both the Browns and Ravens. He knew the game, the league and the people in and around the league, including media members, better than anyone. He was a good guy, too, in that he built bridges, not walls. He treated everybody well. I liked him a lot. I would do just about anything for him.

Advertisement: Buying or selling a home? Visit the Jacob Coker Group with Keller Williams Chervenic Realty

Modell took advantage of Byrne’s ability to handle people when, after announcing halfway through the 1995 season that he was taking the Browns to Baltimore at the end of the year, he left for there immediately for his own safety. He lived in posh Waite Hill in the far eastern Cleveland suburbs, just outside Kirtland, about a mile from where Sam Rutigliano has lived since being hired as head coach of the Browns in 1978.

Anyway, I was serving as the Browns beat writer for the Medina Gazette and Elyria Chronicle-Telegram at the time. About two weeks after the announcement, I sat with Byrne in his second-story office overlooking the practice fields at Browns Headquarters in Berea. He looked beaten and worn, because he was. Normally someone who liked to laugh and joke, he never smiled and spoke softly, barely above a whisper. I think he just needed to vent to someone he knew would listen, and that was me.

“Art’s off in Baltimore and I’m back here taking bullets for him day after day, Byrne said. “I hope there’s some reward for me for doing this when we go to Baltimore.”

There was. Byrne received a big promotion in title, power and salary, becoming even moreso Modell’s most trusted advisor during that volatile and difficult time as the owner was being vilified everywhere in the country except Baltimore. It was wise for Modell to do that. If Byrne could navigate – and survive — The Move, he could navigate — and survive – anything. And Modell knew it.

Advertisment: Rough hair days ahead with closed salons and barbershops?

Canton Clothing Co. has you covered. Literally.

Cleveland Browns News

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
SHARE TWEET PIN SHARE