It began with such a bang and continued that way for quite some time, but it ended with only a whimper.
Friday marks the 61st anniversary of Paul Brown’s last game as head coach of the Browns.
It was Dec. 15, 1962 that the Browns edged the San Francisco 49ers 13-10 at Kezar Stadium in the regular-season finale. He would be fired three weeks later, on Jan. 9, 1963, by young owner Art Modell, with whom he did not get along at all almost from the outset when Modell purchased the team on Jan. 25, 1961 for $4 million, or $226 million less than what current owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam are paying quarterback Deshaun Watson.
The move, which came during a Cleveland newspaper strike, which, decades before the advent of the internet and satellite TV the way we know it today, effectively kept it from being reported much, was brought about by the fact Brown had run the team by himself since its inception in 1946 and he wanted to keep it that way. Modell, on the other hand, wanted to be actively involved in all facets of the operation. Their relationship, which was beset by communication issues, never had a chance. But that it got so bad that Modell felt it necessary to unceremoniously boot out the door the man for whom the team is named, is incredible. It would have been like firing Mr. Macy from
the department store chain. And no one saw it coming immediately after the 49ers loss, though the rift between the two men was no secret.
The loss to the 49ers, who were the Browns’ chief rivals back in the All-America Football Conference days and moved with the Browns, and the original Baltimore Colts, to the NFL in 1950 when the AAFC was dissolved, ended a 7-6-1 season for Cleveland, which represented Brown’s second-worst record in his 17 years there. It halted a two-game losing streak.
Frank Ryan, who shared the starting quarterback job with Jim
Ninowski in 1962 as Brown failed to settle on one man, looked nothing like the guy who would throw three touchdown passes to wide receiver Gary Collins, a rookie on the 1962 team, to lead the Browns to a 27-0 victory over the Baltimore Colts in the 1964 NFL Championship Game. He completed 5-of-10 passes for 82 yards and no TDs. Just one completion — for 16 yards — went to a wide receiver (Ray Renfro). Most — three for 56 yards, including a 31-yarder — went to running back Jim Brown, who added 135 yards rushing and two touchdowns of five and 12 yards in 22 carries.
This was not what you would have expected from an offense run by Paul Brown, who is viewed as “The Father of the Modern Passing Game” for the wide-open, sophisticated and productive aerial attack he orchestrated with his early teams.
Defensively, the Browns sacked 49ers quarterback John Brodie seven times for 52 yards in losses. San Francisco, a mediocre team since it entered the NFL, finished 6-8.
Brown would be out of football for five years before returning in 1968 to own, serve as general manager and coach the Cincinnati Bengals expansion team in the AFL. In their third season, the 1970 Bengals edged out Modell’s Browns to win the first title in the new AFC Central, delighting Brown and sickening his old boss.
Steve King
