History
The Cleveland Browns were created in 1944 when Cleveland businessman Arthur B. McBride acquired a franchise in the new All-America Football Conference that would begin play in 1946. McBride's first choice as head coach and general manager was Frank Leahy, who had guided Notre Dame to a 24-3-3 record in three seasons before entering the Navy. But the president of Notre Dame talked him out of it, so McBride hired Paul Brown instead.
Brown would have been a good first choice. He was not only an outstanding coach, he was very popular in Ohio because he had coached Ohio State to the national championship in 1942, only his second season at the school after a dozen years as a high school coach. In a contest to name the team, "Browns" was by far the most popular entry, but Brown wasn't comfortable with having his name attached to the franchise. "Panthers" was chosen instead. But the owner of a former team known as the Cleveland Panthers claimed that he still held the rights to the name and threatened to sue.
So McBride went back to "Browns" again, but explained that the team was named for heavyweight champion Joe Louis, who was known as the "Brown Bomber." No one really believed that, but it made Paul Brown feel better.
Brown may have been the ideal person to build a team from scratch. In his three years at Ohio State, he had seen a lot of college players. He'd then spent two years coaching the Great Lakes Naval Training Station team, which gave him a chance to see many more players who were in the service.
As soon as he was discharged after the war ended in 1945, Brown began signing players to keep them away from the NFL.
One of his first signees was Otto Graham, who had been an All-American as a single-wing tailback at Northwestern in 1943. Brown planned to use the T formation with his new team and he thought Graham would be the ideal quarterback.
Brown signed several players from his Ohio State teams, including guard Bill Willis, tackle Chet Adams (who had been All-NFL with the Green Bay Packers in 1943, before entering the service), tackle-placekicker Lou Groza, and end Dante Lavelli. Willis was the first black player signed by a professional team since 1933.
Among those who'd impressed Brown while playing in the service were center Frank Gatski, end Mac Speedie, tackle Lou Rymkus, and fullback Marion Motley. Although it seems that Brown signed Motley mainly because he wanted a black roommate for Willis, he had played for Brown at Great Lakes and against him for Canton McKinley High School when Brown was coaching arch-rival Massillon High.
It was a pretty good nucleus. Graham, Motley, Gatski, Willis, Groza, and Lavelli are all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Since the AAFC didn't use the free substitution rule, all were two-way players, so it was almost like having 12 Hall of Famers on the roster. For example, Motley was not only the league's best running back, he may well have been its best linebacker. Speedie was an outstanding receiver, but he had originally caught Brown's eye with his play as a defensive end.
So many good players tried out for the team that it wasn't easy for Brown to make his final cuts. McBride agreed to hire a half-dozen players as drivers for his taxicab company to keep them around in case they were needed during the season. That was the original taxi squad.
The Browns went 12-2 in 1946 and beat the New York Yanks, 14-9, for the AAFC championship. Over the next three seasons, they lost only two more games and won the title each year. In 1948, they went 14-0 during the regular season and blew out the Buffalo Bills, 49-7, in the championship game.
Attendance was very good in Cleveland, but it was a problem in most of the league's other cities, and the Browns' dominance was a big factor. The AAFC folded after the 1949 season, with three of its teams joining the NFL: The Browns, San Francisco 49ers, and Baltimore Colts. There were many skeptics who thought the Browns would flop in the NFL. That idea was tested almost immediately. Cleveland's first regular season game was against the the defending NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles, who were known for their defense. But Otto Graham passed for 346 yards and three touchdowns as the Browns won easily, 35-10.
In their first six years in the league, Cleveland won six conference titles and three NFL championships. Then Graham retired and two of his replacements were injured during the 1956 season, when the Browns had a losing record for the first time in history. Brown hoped to get Purdue quarterback Len Dawson in the 1957 college draft, but the Pittsburgh Steelers chose Dawson, so the Browns picked Syracuse fullback Jim Brown.
With the offense restructured to focus on the run, Brown won the first of his eight rushing titles and the Browns climbed back to first place in the conference, but they were blown out, 59-14, by the Detroit Lions in the championship game.
Jim Brown kept leading the league in rushing and the Browns continued to have winning records, but they couldn't win another conference title over the next five years. Art Modell, who took control of the team in 1961, shocked the entire state of Ohio by firing Paul Brown after a 7-6-1 record and a third-place finish in 1962. Brown's replacement was Blanton Collier.
Collier's quiet, low-key approach was a distinct contrast to Brown's, and the players responded to it. The Browns improved to 10-4 in 1963, though they still finished second in the conference, and then they took two conference titles in a row. They beat the Baltimore Colts, 27-0. to win the 1964 NFL championship but lost to the Green Bay Packers, 23-12, in 1965.
After the league restructured, Cleveland won three straight NFL Century Division titles, 1967 through 1969, and they got to the championship game in 1968 and 1969, but lost both times.
Collier retired after a 7-7 record in 1970 and Nick Skorich took over. He brought them into first place in the AFC Central in 1971, but they lost their divisional playoff game and they lost again as a second-place finisher and a wildcard team the following year. After the Browns dropped into third and then fourth place, Skorich was replaced by Forrest Gregg, who was in turn fired with a 6-7 record and a game to play in 1977.
Sam Rutigliano became the Browns' head coach in 1978. In six full seasons, he guided them to one first-place finish and two playoff appearances, but failed to win a playoff game. After the team lost seven of its first eight games in 1984, he was replaced by Marty Schottenheimer, who had a 4-4 record for the second half of the season.
Schottenheimer had a very successful run, winning division titles in his first three full seasons and taking the Browns to the AFC championship game in 1986 and 1987, though they lost both times to the Denver Broncos. Despite injuries to starter Bernie Kozar and three other quarterbacks, Cleveland had a 10-6 record to win a wildcard spot in 1988, but the Browns were edged by the Houston Oilers, 24-23, in the first playoff round. Schottenheimer then resigned because of a dispute with Modell and defensive coordinator Bud Carson was promoted to head coach.
In Carson's first year, the Browns won the division and, for the third time in four years, lost to Denver in the AFC championship game. But they went only 2-7 to open the 1990 season and Carson was fired. Interim head coach Jim Shofner did no better as Cleveland finished at 3-13, its worst record ever.
Modell then brought in Bill Belichick, who had been defensive coordinator for the New York Giant teams that won two Super Bowls. After three losing seasons, Belichick's focus on defense paid off in 1994, when the Browns gave up just 204 points and compiled an 11-5 record. That was good enough only for second place in the AFC Central, though. After beating the New England Patriots in a wild card game, Cleveland lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Browns slumped to 5-11 in 1995. In the meantime, Modell had been trying to get the City of Cleveland to renovate Cleveland Stadium and wasn't happy with the progress of negotiations, or lack of progress. In November, he announced that he was moving the franchise to Baltimore. Under an agreement between the city and the NFL, the team's colors, name, and records remained in the city and the league promised to give Cleveland a new franchise as soon in 1999.
The new franchise was awarded on Sept. 8, 1998, to Alfred Lerner, with Carmen Policy as president and CEO. The new edition of the Cleveland Browns began play in 1999, with Chris Palmer as head coach. Palmer lasted just two seasons, during which the Browns won a total of only five games. He was replaced in 2001 by Butch Davis, who has had one winning season, a 9-7 record in 2002 that got the Browns into the playoffs as a wildcard team. They lost their one playoff game, 36-33, to the Pittsburgh Steelers.