Thursday, 21 November 2024

Paul Brown

Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Coaches 2024
Embed from Getty Images
Sport(s): Football
Statistics: 3 NFL Championships (1950, 1954 & 1955)
4 AAFC Championships (1946, 1947, 1948 & 1949)
1 NCAA Championship (1942)
1 AP Coach of the Year Award (1970)
213-104-0 NFL Record
9-8 NFL Postseason Record
33-14-3 NCAA Record
Named to the NFL 100th Anniversary Team
Member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Member of the Cleveland Browns Ring of Honor
Paul Brown was an undersized player even by the standards of the 1920s, but through determination, he became a starting quarterback at the University of Miami of Ohio. Brown would become a high school football coach and arguably the most successful one in Ohio history, winning four National Championships and six State Championships.

Brown would get a shot to run Ohio State, and he took the Buckeyes to A National Championship in 1942. A few years later, Brown was offered the ultimate challenge, coaching in the pros.

It was not the NFL; it was the All-American Football Conference, a new league with designs to challenge the NFL. Brown assembled a team full of players that he previously coached, and the Browns (named after him despite his objections) would win all four titles in the league's existence.

Brown was a master strategist and innovator, creating the draw play and complicated routes for receivers. It was also from Brown's mind where the "pocket" derived, by which a quarterback is protected by his offensive line added precious seconds, allowing for greater protection and more high-potent offenses. A consummate professional, Brown was the first to have full-time assistants, and he developed his own scouting system.

The Browns and other AAFC teams were absorbed into the NFL in 1950, and the newer teams were not expected to challenge immediately for the NFL Championship. Brown did just that, winning in Cleveland's first year in the NFL and collecting two more titles in the 50s (1953 & 1954). As innovative and as brilliant as he was, some flaws would come to light by the early 60s.

Brown was considered cold and downright unfeeling by many of his players, and he did have a controlling nature. That would lead to his downfall and an acrimonious split between him and owner Art Modell. Brown was fired in 1962.

Six years later, Brown was a co-investor for a new NFL team, the Cincinnati Bengals, where he was their first head coach and general manager. Brown took the Bengals to the playoffs three times but never got a playoff win in Cincinnati. He retired after the 1975 season at age 67.

Love him or hate him, the game of football became exponentially better because Paul Brown was part of it.

We are proud to nominate Paul Brown for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.

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