Dante Lavelli, just before he passed away, got all upset — and rightfully so — during an interview in a national NFL game telecast in 2007, just as the New England Patriots were chasing a perfect season.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver was being asked about the 1948 Browns that went 15-0 and won their third straight All-America Football Conference championship. The Hudson High School and Ohio State product said that long-ago Browns team deserved to be mentioned in discussions about perfect seasons with the Patriots, who ended up losing in the Super Bowl, and the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who finished 17-0 and won the Super Bowl.
Lavelli had a great point, with which I did, and still do, agree wholeheartedly. And the seminal moment of that journey to greatness 73 years ago occurred during Thanksgiving week when head coach Paul Brown’s team won — get this — three games in an eight-day span, and on opposite coasts. It had never been done before, it has never been done since and it will never, ever be done.
The teams that are playing Thursday on Thanksgiving are having a hard time doing so after having played last weekend. Just think about playing again this weekend. That’s what the 1948 Browns did.
It began on Sunday, Nov. 21 when the Browns won 34-21 at Yankee Stadium over the New York Yankees, the team they had beaten in the previous two league title games. They then played the host Los Angeles Dons on Thanksgiving Day. Nov. 25 and won 31-14. The Dons had been the last team to defeat the Browns, in Week 6 of the 1947 season. The Browns were in the midst of a 29-game unbeaten string that ran from that loss until a defeat at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers midway through 1949.
To complete that historic 1948 week, the Browns went to Kezar Stadium and defeated their archrivals 14-7 to improve to 13-0.
Indeed, Dante Lavelli was right as rain.
And, if memory serves me well, it was raining on the day of that interview.
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By Steve King
