Cleveland Browns Origin

The journey through the All-America Football Conference continues and this time we have the premier team from the League, the Cleveland Browns. Historian George Bozeka tells us about the origin of the Browns and their brilliant owner and his head coach in this episode.

The All-American Football Conference lasted only four seasons, but its impact on professional football was enormous. One big reason is the success of the league's top team, the Cleveland Browns. Pro football historian George Bozeka sat down with us in the Pigpen recently to tell us about the fascinating origin and history of the Browns in this era. George is the Executive Director of the Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA). If you want to join the PFRA, sign up online at ProFootballResearchers.org. We would love to have you!

Arch Ward, the Chicago Tribune editor and the mastermind behind the AAFC, spotted a golden opportunity in Cleveland for a professional football franchise. This opportunity arose after the Cleveland Rams, the NFL Title winners in 1945, shockingly departed for the West Coast. This move was not only historic but also controversial, as no other NFL franchise was within a couple of thousand miles at the time. The Rams also became the first American major league sports franchise on the Pacific Coast. George Bozeka enlightens us on the reasons behind Rams owner Dan Reeves' decision to move, which included football opportunities and other business ventures.  

Ward contacted Arthur "Mickey" McBride, an Eastern Ohio businessman with his hands in everything from real estate to a taxi company in Cleveland. McBride also ventured into a wire service that provided horse racing results to people who needed to know the results, such as bookies. McBride's involvement in this side hustle placed him in the public eye even before he bought the Cleveland franchise. This interest made a part of McBride's persona shady as it put him in the company of organized crime figures who did not continuously operate within the fine lines of the law. But despite this, McBride had a passion for North East Ohio, had the finances to cover the costs, and had a strong desire to win at football. He also knew he needed people with good football knowledge and organization to run his franchise. 

Mickey McBride officially joined the All-American Football Conference owners in 1944 by buying the rights to the new Cleveland franchise. Yes, he needed a coach to organize his team and wanted a good one to start things off right. Author Andy Piascik, in his book, The Best Show in Football: The 1946–1955 Cleveland Browns, says that McBride and Leahy even had a handshake deal made for the Fightling Irish coach to leave his very successful program to be the sideline boss of the Cleveland franchise. When Notre Dame officials got wind of the deal, they took action. They appealed to McBride and his loyalty to the school, as McBride's son was an alumnus. Soon, they persuaded Leahy to stay and McBride to make another choice as a coach for his new team.

The website BrownsNation.com says this:

"McBride originally tabbed then Notre Dame head coach Frank Leahy as his coach and general manager.

However, Notre Dame threw a fit at the idea and McBride backed away from the deal. Denied his plan A, McBride asked a local writer to suggest a new name.

The writer thought Brown, who was in the Navy at the time and coaching at Great Lakes Naval Station, (and who formerly coached at Ohio State) would be a good choice."

It is probably the best choice McBride could have ever made to hire the legendary Paul Brown as coach. 

Paul Brown first coached at the Naval Academy's preparatory school in Maryland. In 1932, he returned to Ohio, where he coached at his high school alma mater. In the Massillon vs. McKinley episode of the Pigskin Dispatch Podcast with George Bozeka , we learned that Brown led the Tigers during his nine-year tenure at Massillon, to a coaching record of 80-8-2. That first season provided half of his coaching losses and half of his tied games. He figured out how to win right after that inaugural year.

The great coach was so successful at Massillon that his peers urged him to receive the head coaching job at Ohio State University, and in fact he accepted the role just prior to World War II. Brown coached the Buckeyes from 1941 through the 1945 seasons and sported an OSU record of 18-8-1 and in 1942 led the Ohio State program to its first National Championship.

Brown brought all of his experience from the high school, college and miliatary levels to build not just a team and a football program but to give a great gridiron experience for the fans of Cleveland. He brought in marching bands and other things for build fanfare, says Bozeka. But the Coach also called upon his former players and opponents to assemble a star studded cast for the new Cleveland roster. Marion Motley was his uber talented running back that Brown coached back at Massillon. Quarterback Otto Graham, gave Brown's OSU teams fit from his halfback position at Northwestern. Lou Groza who played for the Buckeyes was an outstanding center and a kicker, and Dante Lavelli another former player in Columbus headlined a list of many Brown recruited. In fact the coach brought in so many good players his roster limits were over capacity. Not wanting to lose them, Paul Brown worked out a deal with Arthur McBride that these "extra" players could hang around town by getting paid to be cabbies at Mickey McBride's Yellow Cab company in Cleveland. Thus the name taxi squad was coined. A term still used to this day in football for players beyond the ones dressing for games.

The Browns dominated the AAFC, compiling a 47–4–3 record in the league's four seasons and winning its championship in each one. At one point they wone 29 straight games, had an undefeated championship season (move over 1972 Dolphins), and then moved in the NFL where they rung up more titles.  Yes spoiler, the Browns of course were one of three teams along with the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Colts to merge into the NFL in 1950. They appears in 7 championshiop games in their first ten seasons of existence in both the AAFC and NFL.

A Very Special thanks to George Bozeka for his knowledge shared ad from the websites we linked above in the article.