The silver lining that was Ernie Davis

One of the worst tragedies in the history of the Browns is the death, due to leukemia, of running back Ernie Davis on May 17, 1963 before he ever played a down for the club.

The Browns had traded running back Bobby Mitchell to Washington to get the rights to Davis, who the No. 1 overall pick in the 1962 NFL Draft. Browns head coach Paul Brown liked the idea of two big backs in the backfield at the same time, which was being instituted by the Green Bay Packers in the person of Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung. Mitchell was not big and powerful like that, as he relied on speed and moves to get his yardage. Davis was that big back, though, so Paul Brown made the move to trade for him so he could pair Davis in the backfield with another big back in Jim Brown.

But when the 1962 training camp started and Davis was unavailable with what was then a still undiagnosed illness, the Browns were left with nobody to pair with Jim Brown. Paul Brown called his friend, Green Bay head coach Vince Lombardi, and asked him if he had any ideas about what he should do. Lombardi mentioned that the Packers had a rookie running back by the name of Ernie Green who was decent but, because of the presence of Taylor and Horning, would not make the team. Lombardi said he would be willing to trade Green to the Browns, and Paul Brown took him up on it.

Green was not a highly distinguished player coming out of Louisville, but he meshed perfectly with Jim Brown and then, after Brown’s retirement following the 1965 season, another Pro Football Hall of Fame back in Leroy Kelly. He was an outstanding runner and could also catch the ball out of the backfield. In fact, he become became one of the better backs in the NFL.

Green ended up playing seven years with Cleveland, retiring following the 1968 season and then staying on in ‘69 as the Browns’ first African American assistant coach when head coach Blanton Collier hired him to tutor the running backs. He is one of the top backs they have ever had.

So in essence, if there was one saving grace that came out of the horrible tragedy involving Ernie Davis, it was that the Browns got Ernie Green. And all this is why Green is being spotlighted in this, Part 6 of the Roy Hobbs series of Browns players who came out of nowhere to do big things.

NEXT: A gift from Pittsburgh.

Steve King