The Mount Rushmore of Browns cornerbacks

Mount Rushmore of Browns cornerbacks – Cornering the corner market with the ‘Corner Brothers’

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the eighth in a series of stories about the Mount Rushmore-worthy players – the best players – in Browns history. Today we look at cornerbacks.

By STEVE KING

Cornerback is the skill-position part of the secondary, if not the entire defense.

The cornerbacks are out on an island, in plain view. If they do well, then everyone sees it and they will get hailed. But if they struggle, then everyone will see that as well and they will get buried.

That’s how the legend of Browns cornerbacks Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield was built. They won those individual battles on the outside, and they told everybody about it. They were always talking, to each other, teammates, opponents and anyone else who would listen. And when the team won the games, it made it just much more special, because the media and fans talked about them.

Dixon (1981-89) and Minnifield (1984-92), “The Corner Brothers,” as they called themselves, are, not surprisingly, on the Mount Rushmore of Browns cornerbacks.

But who holds the other two spots?

That was hard to determine. There were four worthy candidates, all of whom are Cleveland Browns Legends, in Tommy James (1948-55), a product of Massillon High School and Ohio State and the older brother of outstanding former Kent State and University of Washington head coach Don James, Warren Lahr (1948-59), Bernie Parrish (1959-66) and Erich Barnes (1965-71), a former member of the then arch rival New York Giants who migrated to Cleveland for the last seven seasons of his career.

As hard as it is to leave two of those men out, the job here is picking the best of the best and in that regard, I’m going with Lahr and Parrish.

Let’s take a look at the Mount Rushmore of Browns cornerbacks:

WARREN LAHR

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He played at Case Western Reserve University and then remained in Cleveland to join the Browns for their perfect season of 1948. After sharing the starting left cornerback job as a rookie, he moved in as the starter in 1949 and remained there for the next decade. He had an incredible nose for the ball, finishing second on the club with 40 career interceptions. And, on top of that, he returned five of them for touchdowns, which is the most in Browns history. In both 1950 and ’51 as the Browns entered the NFL from the All-America Football Conference, he combined for 13 picks, including a career-high eight in that first season, and led the league both years with two interception returns for scores. A picture of consistency, he had five interceptions in each of five straight seasons. He recorded two interceptions in the Browns’ 30-28 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in the 1950 NFL Championship Game. After retiring, Lahr went on to serve as the bowtie-wearing color analyst on Browns telecasts for the final five years (1963-67) that the individual teams aired their own games before the networks took over.

BERNIE PARRISH

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As a rookie, he moved in as the starter at left cornerback in Lahr’s final season of 1959 and held it for the next six years, intercepting 29 passes, which ranks fifth in team history. He had 18 of those in his first three seasons, and his 238 interception return yards in 1960 led the league. A ninth-round pick in the 1958 NFL Draft out of Florida, he had his finest moment in the 27-0 victory over the Baltimore Colts in the 1964 league title game. The Browns decided that the best way to defend the great Colts wide receivers, including Pro Football Hall of Famer Raymond Berry, was to play them with a lot of physicality. It worked like a charm, as HOF quarterback John Unitas was held to 12 completions in 20 passing attempts for but 95 yards with two interceptions.

HANFORD DIXON AND FRANK MINNIFIELD

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They are a pair. They can’t be separated, so there’s no use even trying. Dixon was a first-round draft choice, at No. 22 overall, in 1981 out of Southern Mississippi, with his breakout game coming late the next season when he had three interceptions off Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, helping provide a 10-9 win that allowed the Browns to make the playoffs in the strike-shortened season. Minnifield, from Louisville, was part of the haul the Browns got from the USFL. Dixon had 26 career interceptions, putting him into a three-way tie for eighth place in team history, while Minnifield had 20. But those stats are deceiving. Teams were wary of going at either one of them. They were that good. In fact, for much of the 1980s when they played together, they were the best set or cornerbacks in the NFL. Had the Browns simply gotten to a Super Bowl instead of losing three times in four years to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, it’s possible that the national exposure would have allowed Dixon and/or Minnifield to get into the Hall of Fame. Interestingly enough, Dixon was born on Christmas Day in 1958, and Minnifield was born on New Year’s Day in 1960.

NEXT: Inside/middle linebackers.

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The Mount Rushmore of Browns cornerbacks