Today, there’s no question about it: Being a Cleveland Browns fan is a tall order. In fact, most Cleveland teams have let us down for more than a generation. The only city championship since President Johnson left the Cavaliers in 2016. Grizzly grandpas, grandmas, aunts and uncles, however, can remember a time when Cleveland was a city of champions.
My hometown Browns haven’t won a world championship since 1964 when the Browns led by Jim Brown and Frank Ryan crushed John Unitas and the Baltimore Colts 27-0 at Municipal Stadium. That was almost 54 years ago and I barely remember that fateful day in ’64. Yet every year hope springs eternal in Cleveland. We pray that the draft is finally finished. Today, I live in Southern California, but I still passionately support the Browns, Cavaliers, and Indians 2,000 miles away.
Cleveland was “Browns Town” during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Play began for the Browns at the old stadium in ’46 in the newly formed All-America Football Conference, rivals to the NFL. Behind the rule of coach Paul Brown and spearheaded by the play of Graham, Groza, Lavelli, Motley and Speedie, the Browns created one of football’s great dynasties. The Browns completely dominated the AAFC by winning every title in the league’s existence between 1946 and 1949. Cleveland ruled alone. After the demise of the AAFC in ’49, the Browns and two other teams migrated to the NFL. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Browns played an incredible 10 NFL championship games. They won three titles between 1950 and 1955 and back-to-back crowns in ’54 and ’55. The 1950s were a glorious decade for Cleveland sports. The Browns rolled opponents. We were a city of champions. The team’s regular season winning percentage of .746 in the ’50s was commanding. Over the ensuing decades, no team has matched Cleveland’s winning percentage, not the Packers (.721) in the 1960s, not the Steelers (.692) or Cowboys (.729) in the 1970s, not the 49ers. in the ’70s. ’80s (.695) or ’90s (.706).
The Indians were great in the late ’40s and ’50s, too: they won the ’48 Series over the Boston Braves behind the Lou Boudreau-managed club, but fell short in the ’54 Series against Willie Mays and the New York Giants. York. Cleveland had a huge release in those days, starring Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Satchel Paige. Third baseman Al Rosen and shortstop Boudreau helped spark the offense. Rosen would win AL MVP in ’53 by hitting .336, smashing 43 home runs, and driving in 145 RBIs.
During the 1960s, my father collected some of my best memories after Sunday school at University Circle and I made my way to Municipal Stadium, in time for the 1:00 p.m. games. Walking into the old stadium you could feel electricity in the air; a sense the Browns wouldn’t want, couldn’t lose. And usually they didn’t. Even after their last NFL championship in ’64, the Browns played three more NFL title games in the ’60s, losing to the Packers in ’65, the Colts in ’68, and the Vikings in ’69. that period from 1965 to 1969, the Browns’ overall regular season record was 49-20-1; close to the best in the game.
Fast forward two decades and the Browns came within yards of making the Super Bowl by losing three AFC Championships to the Denver Broncos in the ’80s. “The Drive” and “The Fumble” still shake our souls.
Today, the Browns are belly-floppers. They live in NFL purgatory and seemingly have an endless rise. The team’s record over the past two seasons is 1-28 for an abysmal .034 winning percentage. Jokes about them are made weekly across the country. Browns ghosts of past legends are now taking antacids. Our prayers for a championship have been derailed and, frankly, haven’t been answered since ’64. I just hope the Browns can get out of their hellish mess so my contemporaries and I can enjoy at least one more Cleveland Browns championship in the next 54 years. After that, all bets are off.