Where did the story of the Browns really begin? Monday is the 75th birthday of the Browns
By STEVE KING
Where did the story of the Browns really begin?
When were they actually born?
You’re seeing a lot of dates for this as the 75th anniversary of the team’s first season is being celebrated this fall, but the one I’m picking — and sticking with — happened exactly three-quarters of a century ago Monday.
It was on Aug. 30, 1946 that the Browns played their first game of any kind, a preseason — or as they called it then, an exhibition – contest against the Brooklyn Dodgers in Akron. It was, in fact, the only exhibition game the Browns played that year in the brand-new All-America Conference, and it turned out to be a smashing success as they raced to a 35-20 win before a full house of 35,964 at the Rubber Bowl.
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The Browns would go to play preseason games at the Rubber Bowl every year through 1973, the team being extremely cognizant of the need to promote itself in the next-biggest market in Northeast Ohio, and the contest 75 years ago is the one that drew the biggest crowd.
Indeed, people were curious to see what kind of team had been assembled by head coach/General Manager Paul Brown, already a legendary figure not just in Ohio but throughout the Midwest for the way he built the Massillon Tigers into a national high school power and then guided the Ohio State Buckeyes to their first national championship in 1942.
Related: Paul Brown started it all
And the Browns didn’t disappoint them, winning handily while playing a fast-paced style of offensive football and a quick, swarming defense. The Dodgers, owned by Walter O’Malley of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team and used as a way for him to make use of, and derive money from, his stadium, Ebbets Field, once the baseball season was over, were no match for the Browns.
The win was important in a variety of ways for the Browns. When you get a capacity crowd, you don’t want all those fans to go home unhappy. It would have gotten the Browns off on the wrong foot from both a football and an entertainment angle. After all, first impressions last, as they say.
In addition, Brown wanted to see what he had, and being that this was the first and only action against another team before the start of the regular season a week later, this was the one opportunity he had to find out. He thought the team would be good, and the win helped to reinforce that opinion.
What would have happened had the Browns lost the game? We’ll never know. As it turned out, the Browns hardly ever dropped a game during their four-year run in the AAFC through 1949, going a staggering 52-4-3 (.907) in the regular season and playoffs combined, and 5-1-1 in exhibition play, including 4-0 at the Rubber Bowl.
And it all started that night at the Rubber Bowl exactly 75 years ago.
