Cleveland Browns History

The Cleveland Browns were born in 1944 when Cleveland businessman, Arthur B. McBride, acquired a franchise in the new All-America Football Conference that would start play in1946. McBride hired Paul Brown as coach and general manager.

The teams in the AAFC were compared to those of the National Football League, but in the first 10 years of post-World War II professional football, the Cleveland Browns were the best team in either league.

Cleveland won all four AAFC championships behind all-time Hall of Fame greats like quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley and tackle Lou Groza.

When the AAFC folded after the 1949 season, the Browns joined the NFL. Many NFL fans were convinced that the Browns were not going to be able to compete against established NFL teams.

The Browns quickly proved their domination was no fluke by crushing the defending NFL champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, 35-10. Cleveland won the NFL Eastern Conference championship for six straight years from 1950 to 1955 and NFL titles in 1950, 1954, and 1955.

In 1957, the Browns drafted running back, Jim Brown, from Syracuse. Brown played for 9 seasons and rushed for 12,312 yards, a lifetime record that stood for more than 20 years. In 1971 Brown was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Coach Paul Brown retired after the 1962 season and he was replaced by former assistant, Blaton Collier. Collier was the last coach to lead the Browns to a NFL championship, in 1964, when they defeated the Baltimore Colts, 27-0.

The Browns started the seventies off with talented players like Hall of Fame running back, Leroy Kelly, who retired in 1973 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994. The Browns won the AFC Central Division championship in 1979.

The Cleveland Browns of the 1980′ were one of the AFC’s best teams. Starting in 1980, the Browns won the AFC Central Division championships in 1985, 1986, 1987, and in 1989.

With Hall of Fame wide receiver, Ozzie “Wizard of Oz” Newsome, quarterback Bernie Kosar, linebacker Clay Mathews, running back Earnest Byner, defensive tackle Bob Golic and Hall of Fame offensive guard, Joe Delamielleure, the Browns found themselves in the playoffs quite often in the 80′s and reached the AFC Conference championship in 1987.

In 1995, owner Art B. Modell shocked the pro football world by announcing that he was moving his Cleveland franchise to Baltimore to begin play in 1996. Cleveland fans, along with city officials, led a campaign to stop the move. The NFL reacted by working with Cleveland officials, developed a solution that would provide a new, state-of-the-art stadium, and a guarantee that pro football would return to the city of Cleveland by 1999.

In 1999, football was again the focus of Cleveland when the Browns returned to the AFC Conference.

In 2004, the Browns selected tight end, Kellen Winslow in the first round and he became an instant impact to the team. The Browns again selected another highly rated quarterback in the NFL Draft in 2007 by drafting Quinn Brady from Notre Dame.