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1949 Cleveland Browns Season
The 1949 Cleveland Browns season was the team's fourth and final season in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). The Browns finished the regular season with a 9–1–2 Winning percentage, win–loss–tie record and beat the San Francisco 49ers to win their fourth straight league championship. In the season's sixth game on October 9, 1949, the 49ers stopped the Browns' professional football record unbeaten streak after 29 games. The streak started two years before on October 19, 1947, and included two league championship games and two ties. Cleveland made numerous roster moves before the season, adding Tackle (American and Canadian football), tackle Derrell Palmer, linebacker Tommy Thompson (linebacker), Tommy Thompson and defensive back Warren Lahr, all of whom remained with the team for many years afterward. It was clear even before the season began, however, that the AAFC was struggling and might not survive beyond the 1949 season. The regular season was shortened to 12 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Brown
Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Cleveland Browns, a team named after him, and later played a role in founding the Cincinnati Bengals. His teams won seven league championships in a professional coaching career spanning 25 seasons. Brown began his coaching career at Severn School in 1931 before becoming the head football coach at Massillon Washington High School in Massillon, Ohio, where he grew up. His high school teams lost only 10 games in 11 seasons. He was then hired at Ohio State University and coached the school to its first national football championship in 1942. After World War II, he became head coach of the Browns, who won all four AAFC championships before joining the NFL in 1950. Brown coached the Browns to three NFL championships — in 1950, 1954 and 1955 — but w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warren Lahr
Warren Emmett Lahr (September 5, 1923 – January 19, 1969) was a professional American football defensive back who played for the Cleveland Browns for 11 seasons, mainly in the 1950s. When he retired, he had the most career interceptions in Browns team history with 44. Lahr grew up in Pennsylvania and starred on the West Wyoming High School football team. After graduating in 1941, he attended Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and played football for the Red Cats as a reserve in 1942. He then served for three years in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He returned to Western Reserve in 1946 and became a star for the team as a left halfback for two seasons. Lahr was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) in the 1947 draft. However, he signed with the Browns of the rival All-America Football Conference (AAFC). Lahr sat out the 1948 season with an injured knee, but quickly became a regular on defense the following season. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Horvath
Leslie Horvath (October 12, 1921 – November 14, 1995) was an American football quarterback and halfback who won the Heisman Trophy while playing for Ohio State University in 1944. Horvath was the first Ohio State player to win the Heisman, an award given to the best college football player in the United States. The school retired his jersey number 22 in October 2000. Horvath grew up in Parma, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland and became a standout high school athlete despite his small stature. He entered Ohio State in 1939 on a work scholarship, but tried out for and made the football team the following year. He played as a reserve halfback on the 1942 team coached by Paul Brown that won Ohio State's first-ever national championship. Horvath graduated that year and moved to Ohio State's dental school. In 1944, however, acting Ohio State football coach Carroll Widdoes asked Horvath to rejoin the team, taking advantage of a World War II-era rule allowing graduate students with remain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halfback (American Football)
A halfback (HB) is an offensive position in American football, whose duties involve lining up in the offensive backfield and carrying the ball on most rushing plays, i.e. a running back. When the principal ball carrier lines up deep in the backfield, and especially when that player is placed behind another player (usually a blocking back), as in the I formation, that player is instead referred to as a tailback. Sometimes the halfback can catch the ball from the backfield on short passing plays as they are an eligible receiver. Occasionally, they line up as additional wide receivers. When not running or catching the ball, the primary responsibility of a halfback is to aid the offensive linemen in blocking, either to protect the quarterback or another player carrying the football. History Overview Before the emergence of the T formation in the 1940s, all members of the offensive backfield were legitimate threats to run or pass the ball. Most teams used four offensive back ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1950 NFL Championship Game
The 1950 NFL Championship Game was the 18th National Football League (NFL) title game, played on Sunday, December 24 at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. In their first NFL season after four years in the rival All-America Football Conference, the Cleveland Browns defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 30–28. The championship was the first of three won by Cleveland in the 1950s under head coach Paul Brown behind an offense that featured quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley, and ends Dante Lavelli and Mac Speedie. Cleveland began the season with a win against the Philadelphia Eagles, who had won the previous two NFL championships. The Browns won all but two of their regular-season games, both losses coming against the New York Giants. Cleveland ended the season with a 10–2 win–loss record, tied with the Giants for first place in the American Conference, forcing a playoff that the Browns won, 8–3. Los Angeles, meanwhile, finished the season 9–3, tied with the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marion Motley
Marion Motley (June 5, 1920 – June 27, 1999) was an American professional football player who was a halfback and linebacker for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). He was a leading pass- blocker and rusher in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and ended his career with an average of 5.7 yards per carry, a record for running backs that still stands. A versatile player who possessed both quickness and size, Motley was a force on both offense and defense. Fellow Hall of Fame running back Joe Perry once called Motley "the greatest all-around football player there ever was". Motley was also one of the first two African-Americans to play professional football in the modern era, breaking the color barrier along with teammate Bill Willis in September 1946, when the two played their first game for the Cleveland Browns. Motley grew up in Canton, Ohio. He played football through high school and college in the 1930s befor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fullback (American Football)
A fullback (FB) is a position in the offensive backfield in gridiron football, and is one of the two running back positions along with the halfback. Fullbacks are typically larger than halfbacks and in most offensive schemes the fullback's duties are split among power running, pass catching, and blocking for both the quarterback and the other running back. Many great runners in the history of American football have been fullbacks, including Jim Brown, Marion Motley, Bronko Nagurski, Jim Taylor, Franco Harris, Larry Csonka, John Riggins, Christian Okoye, and Levi Jackson. However, many of these runners would retroactively be labeled as halfbacks, due to their position as the primary ball carrier; they were primarily listed as fullbacks due to their size and did not often perform the run-blocking duties expected of modern fullbacks. Examples of players who have excelled at the hybrid running–blocking–pass-catching role include Vonta Leach, Mike Alstott, William Henderson, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sporting News
The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a print magazine. It became the dominant American publication covering baseball, acquiring the nickname "The Bible of Baseball." From 2002 to February 2022, it was known simply as ''Sporting News''. In December 2012, ''Sporting News'' ended print publication and shifted to a digital-only publication. It currently has editions in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan. History Early history *March 17, 1886: ''The Sporting News'' (''TSN''), founded in St. Louis by Alfred H. Spink, a director of the St. Louis Browns baseball team, publishes its first edition. The weekly newspaper sells for 5 cents. Baseball, horse racing and professional wrestling received the most coverage in the first issue. Meanwhile, the sporting weeklies ''Cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All-Pro
All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list that consists of at least 22 players, one for each offensive and defensive position, plus various special teams players depending on the press organization that compiles the list. All-Pro lists are exclusively limited to the major leagues, usually only the National Football League; in the past, other leagues recognized as major, such as the American Football League of the 1960s or the All-America Football Conference of the 1940s, have been included in All-Pro lists. Beginning in the early 1920s, All-Pro teams have traditionally been assembled from press polls of individually voting sportswriters. After polling the writers, the votes are tallied to determine the selected players and the results have historically been published through vario ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lou Saban
Louis Henry Saban (October 13, 1921 – March 29, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He played for Indiana University in college and as a professional for the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference between 1946 and 1949. Saban then began a long coaching career. After numerous jobs at the college level, he became the first coach of the Boston Patriots in the American Football League (AFL) in 1960. He joined the Buffalo Bills two years later, and led the team to consecutive AFL championships in 1964 and 1965. After serving briefly as head coach at the University of Maryland, he was hired as head coach of the Denver Broncos in 1967, where he remained for five years. Saban returned to the Bills—by then in the National Football League following the AFL–NFL merger—from 1972 to 1976, reaching the playoffs once but failing to bring Buffalo another championship. Following his departure from Buffalo, Saban returned to college coaching. He coached team ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
End (American Football)
An end in American and Canadian football is a player who lines up at either end of the line of scrimmage, usually beside the tackles. Rules state that a legal offensive formation must always consist of seven players on the line of scrimmage and that the player on the end of the line constitutes an eligible receiver. Before the advent of two platoons, in which teams fielded distinct defensive and offensive units, players that lined up on the ends of the line on both offense and defense were referred to simply as "ends". The position was used in this sense until roughly the 1960s. On offense, an end who lines up close to the other linemen is known as a tight end and is the only lineman who aside from blocking can run or catch passes. One who lines up some distance from the offensive line is known as a split end. In recent years and the proliferation of the forward pass, the term wide receiver covers both split ends and flankers (wide receivers who line up in split positions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually considered the leader of the offense, and is often responsible for calling the play in the huddle. The quarterback also touches the ball on almost every offensive play, and is almost always the offensive player that throws forward passes. When the QB is tackled behind the line of scrimmage, it is called a sack. Overview In modern American football, the starting quarterback is usually the leader of the offense, and their successes and failures can have a significant impact on the fortunes of their team. Accordingly, the quarterback is among the most glorified, scrutinized, and highest-paid positions in team sports. '' Bleacher Report'' describes the signing of a starting quarterback as a Catch- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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