The Cleveland Browns jumped to the National Football League in 1950. The Pittsburgh Steelers weren’t happy to see them.
Across six seasons, 1950-55, the Browns were 11-1 against Pittsburgh and pretty hard on everyone else, outscoring their foes 1,984-1,051. Really? The Steelers of those years got outscored 1,514-1,288. The latter-day Browns of 2016-20 were on the short end by a 2,066-1,600 margin.
Only three teams reached the NFL championship game from 1950-55, the Browns all six years, the Rams and Lions three apiece. Sure, the offense carried those Browns. So did the defense, which ranked No. 1 in least points allowed four times.
Dominating the NFL seemed like a slump compared to the previous four years, when the Browns went an astounding 52-4-3 and won four All-America Conference championships.
It’s dynasty time as we reach the last batch of “The 75 Greatest Browns Players, Plus One For The Toe,” coinciding with the team’s 75th anniversary.
Miss the first four stories in this five-part series? Here’s a look back at Part 1 with picks 62-76, Part 2 with picks 47-61, Part 3 with picks 32-46., and Part 4 with picks 17-31.
The team was picked in the form of a draft, conducted by long-time Browns writers Ray Yannucci, Mike McLain, Steve Doerschuk and Steve King.
Today’s sweet 16 includes a comment on each player by the panelist who drafted him.
16, Running back Bobby Mitchell
Browns career: A No. 84 overall draft pick in 1958 (Illinois), Mitchell ran for 2,297 yards (5.4 per carry) and scored 32 TDs (16 as a runner, 16 as a receiver) in 50 games for the Browns. He switched to wideout after a 1962 trade to Washington and led the NFL in receiving yards in ’62 and ’63 en route to the Hall of Fame.
Steve King: He could do it all: run, catch passes out of the backfield and return kicks. He was elusive, quick and fast. He and Jim Brown used to race after practice. Mitchell’s team-first attitude allowed him to be just fine playing behind Brown. If only he had not been sent to Washington in the ill-fated Ernie Davis trade. Even though Mitchell played more seasons in Washington and spent years in Washington’s front office, he always said he was a Brown first and foremost.
15, Offensive right tackle Mike McCormack
Browns career: A No. 34 overall draft pick by the NFL’s New York Yanks in 1951 (Kansas), he was in the Army during the Korean War and didn’t begin his nine-year Browns run until 1954. He played 111 games for Cleveland.
Steve Doerschuk: Paul Brown wrote in his 1979 autobiography, “I consider McCormack the finest offensive tackle who ever played pro football,” Without Big Mac, Coach Brown took Cleveland to NFL title games in 1951, ’52 and ’53 but lost each time. With McCormack, the Browns returned to the championship game in 1954 and ’55 and won both times. He got in the Hall of Fame in 1984 while he was in a long run as an NFL head coach and general manager.
14, Right guard Gene Hickerson
Browns career: A No. 78 overall draft pick in 1957 (Ole Miss), Hickerson was still wearing an orange helmet at age 38 in 1973. He gave the Browns 212 games.
Mike McLain: Wherever Jim Brown was in a photo, Gene wasn’t far behind … er … in front. He was a classic pulling guard who was somehow undervalued by Hall of Fame voters for too long. He spent his latter years in a wheelchair. One of the classic moments in the history of enshrinements was Hall of Fame backs Jim Brown, Bobby Mitchell and Leroy Kelly wheeling Hickerson onstage.
13, Running back Leroy Kelly
Browns career: A No. 110 overall draft choice in 1964 (Morgan State), Kelly led the NFL in touchdowns in 1966, ’67 and ’68. He gave the Browns 145 games from 1964-73. He backed up Jim Brown in 1964 and ’65, when he scored three times on punt returns. He ran for 3,585 yards at 5.3 per carry in his first three years after Brown retired. He averaged 12.0 yards on 190 career receptions.
Ray Yannucci: I remember going to Hiram College to watch Paul Warfield practice after being drafted by the Browns in ’64. I see this guy fielding punts and zigzagging all over the field. I turned to a friend and said, “That guy wearing No. 44 will be the next great Browns running back.” In addition to fantastic moves, Kelly was a tremendous muddy-field runner. In my opinion he was the third best RB in Browns history, although if Nick Chubb keeps to the path he’s on, he might very well leapfrog Kelly.
12, Wide receiver Mac Speedie
Browns career: A No. 135 overall draft choice by the Lions in 1942, he was 26 when he joined the Browns in 1946. In seven Cleveland seasons, he caught 349 passes for 5,602 yards and 33 TDs. He went in the Hall of Fame in 2020.
Steve King: Although Dante Lavelli had more big-game production when they played together for the first seven years of the Browns’ existence, it was Speedie — what a great name — who had better overall numbers. In 1952, his final season before he bolted to the CFL, a move that cast him into the NFL shadows and kept him out of the Hall of Fame for an egregiously long time, he led the NFL with 67 catches in a 12-game season. That stood as a Browns record until Ozzie Newsome made 69 receptions 29 years later — in a 16-game schedule.
11, Center Frank “Gunner” Gatski
Browns career: Gatski fought for the Army in World War II and was 25 when he joined the new Cleveland Browns team in 1946. He played in 144 games from 1946-56.
Steve Doerschuk: He snapped the ball to Otto Graham throughout the Browns’ run to 10 championship games in their first 10 years. Gatski was Hall of Fame linebacker Sam Huff’s hero — both hail from Farmington, W. Va. … Huff once told the Charleston Gazzette. “I was getting ready to reach for the ballcarrier and make the tackle when somebody grabbed me by the ankle and pulled me down. It was Gunner Gatski. He had the most enormous hands. And I said, ‘Gunner, you’re holding me.’ He said, ‘I had to do something, Sam.’ And I said, ‘OK, since it’s you.'”
10, Left tackle Joe Thomas
Browns career: A No. 3 overall draft pick in 2007 (Wisconsin), Thomas played 10,363 consecutive offensive downs starting with his first game as a rookie until the play on which he suffered a career-ending injury in 2017.
Mike McLain: He has to be in the top 10. He easily could have been higher. He was the best offensive lineman in team history who didn’t double as a kicker (Lou Groza). His career at Wisconsin landed him in the College Football Hall of Fame. His next stop is the one in Canton.
9, Tight end Ozzie Newsome
Browns career: A No. 23 overall draft pick in 1978 (Alabama), Newsome spent his 13-year playing career in Cleveland, covering 208 games, 662 catches, 7,980 yards and 47 touchdowns. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1999.
Ray Yannucci: “The Wiz” was a prototype of the modern era tight end — a big target able to vertically stretch the field. He was big, fast, durable and had great hands. At one time he was the all-time leading tight end in receptions. He was too fast for linebackers to cover, too big and strong for defensive backs to handle. Sam Rutigliano thought Newsome would be a good NFL wide receiver but a great tight end. Sam’s scouting report concluded the size of Ozzie’s butt suggested a switch from Alabama wideout to Browns tight end.
8, Receiver Dante Lavelli
Browns career: After a quick stop at Ohio State followed by Army duty in the invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, Lavelli joined the Browns in their inaugural year of 1946. In 11 seasons, he caught 386 passes for 6,488 yards and 62 touchdowns. When the Browns jumped to the NFL in 1950, he made 11 catches for 128 yards and two TDs in the championship game.
Steve King: Lavelli was the finest big-game receiver the Browns ever had and one of the best in pro football history. The Hudson High School grad always delivered when the Browns needed him the most, beginning with the 1946 championship game against the New York Yankees when he caught the winning TD pass to give Cleveland a 14-9 win. When Otto Graham needed to make a big play, he looked to “Glue Fingers.”
7, Defensive end Len Ford
Browns career: The 6-foot-4 Ford was a huge receiver for that era when he made big catches for the AAFC’s Los Angeles Dons in 1948 and ’49. He landed with the Browns in 1950 and became a defensive force on teams that won NFL championships in 1950, 1954 and ’55. He played eight of his 11 pro seasons for Cleveland.
Steve Doerschuk: Pete Elliott and Ford were 1947 college teammates on perhaps the greatest Michigan team. Ford was 46 when he died in 1972, four years before his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and seven years before Elliott became the Hall’s executive director. Elliott marveled at Ford’s power and all-around ability. Even after the great Bill Willis retired, the Browns allowed the fewest points in the NFL in each of the next four years, with Ford as an anchor man. Ford played in all seven of the Browns’ NFL championship games in the 1950s.
![All-American lineman Bill Willis helped deliver Ohio State's 1942 national championship team under coach Paul Brown and later starred for his college coach with the Cleveland Browns. [Associated Press file photo]](https://fanstreamsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/browns-75th-anniversary-all-time-team-pro-football-hall-of-famers-abound-but-who-is-no-1-jim-brown-or-otto-graham-12.jpg)
6, Middle guard Bill Willis
Browns career: He was 25 in his first year of pro ball, years after spending time with Coach Paul Brown at Ohio State, where his No. 99 is retired. He played his entire pro career (1946-53) for the Browns, covering 109 games.
Mike McLain: Willis was among the handful of players who changed the way defenses were played. They don’t come along very often. Paul Brown once said, “Bill had the quickest defensive charge after the ball was snapped of any defensive lineman I ever saw.” The disciplined Willis almost never was offsides. It just looked like he was. Pioneers Willis and Marion Motley were the only Black players in the All-America Football Conference in 1946, when two others broke the color barrier in the NFL. Willis was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977.
5, Wide receiver Paul Warfield
Browns career: A No. 11 overall draft pick in 1964 (Ohio State), Warfield played for the Browns in two shifts, 1964-69 and 1976-77, interrupted by a trade to Miami. He starred for Dolphins teams that won Super Bowls in the 1972 and 1973 seasons.
Ray Yannucci: I wouldn’t be able to look in the mirror if I didn’t select my former Warren G. Harding teammate and close friend. Warfield had world-class speed with extraordinary route running, super-fluid moves and great jumping ability. He was a ballet dancer in cleats, a nightmare for defensive coordinators. He also was a superb blocker. He averaged 20.1 yards per reception and scored every five times he touched the ball. Gary Collins had a big day in the 1964 NFL title game against the Colts because of all the attention Warfield received.
4, Left tackle-kicker Lou “The Toe” Groza
Browns career: He was an Army man in Okinawa, a Pacific Theater hot spot during World War II. He was still in the service when he received a Browns contract. He wound up with the Browns from 1946-59, when he played left tackle and kicked, and from 1961-67, when he was a kicker.
Steve King: “Lou the Toe” was a Hall of Famer at two positions, kicker and left tackle. The college top kicker award is named after him. He started the tradition of iconic Browns left tackles AND kickers. He was the NFL’s career scoring leader with 1,608 points when he retired. He kicked the last-second field goal that gave the Browns a win in the championship game the year they joined the NFL in 1950. The Martins Ferry native played for Ohio State before going to war and is a slam-dunk legend.
3, Fullback-linebacker Marion Motley
Browns career: Motley was 26, working in a Canton steel mill, when Paul Brown invited him to try out for Cleveland’s new football team. Motley played for the Browns from 1946-53. He was 30 years old when the Browns joined the NFL and he led the league in rushing.
Steve Doerschuk: Imagine trying to tackle a truck going twice the speed limit. That was Marion coming at you. Sports Illustrated’s “Dr. Z,” Paul Zimmerman, wrote that Motley was the best all-around player in the game’s history. Paul Brown said Motley was his greatest fullback, better than Jim Brown. Coach Brown also noted Motley played linebacker at a Hall of Fame level. One of my humbling privileges in the businesses was getting to know Marion. I recall attending his funeral in 1999, regretting that his life story never got turned into a book.
2, Quarterback Otto Graham
Browns career: He was discharged from the Navy in 1946 and in short order was the new Cleveland team’s field general. He led the Browns to All-America Football Conference championships in 1946, ’47, ’48 and ’49, then helped them to NFL Championship Games in 1950, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54 and ’55. He wasn’t far from going undefeated in the AAFC. He was NFL MVP in 1951, ’53 and ’55.
Mike McLain: Graham was the Tom Brady of his time. No Browns player had more input into the greatest run in team history. Marion Motley added the power punch to the finesse of Graham’s passing. In his 1979 book, “The Paul Brown Story,” Coach Brown wrote, “As far as I am concerned, Otto Graham was the greatest player in the game’s history.” When the Browns reached the NFL title game in their first year in the league, “Ottomatic” passed for 298 yards and four TDs and ran 12 times for 99 yards. The Browns beat the L.A. Rams 30-28.
1, Fullback Jim Brown
Browns career: A No. 6 overall draft pick in 1957 (Syracuse), he led the NFL in rushing yards in eight of his nine pro seasons, all with the Browns. When he retired at age 30, he was the NFL’s all-time leader in rushing yards (12,312) and touchdowns (126).
Ray Yannucci: In my opinion he is the NFL’s all-time best player, slightly ahead of 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice. Brown simply dominated his era with size, power and speed the likes of which the NFL hadn’t seen since Marion Motley. Plus, Brown was a fierce competitor, fueled by his immense pride and self-confidence. He made many highlight-reel plays and could grind. He ran 27 times for 114 yards in the 1964 NFL Championship Game, a 27-0 win over the Baltimore Colts. The only other player I would have considered as the No. 1 overall pick is Otto Graham.
Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Jim Brown, Otto Graham top Browns 75th anniversary all-time team