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1954 Cleveland Browns Season
The 1954 Cleveland Browns season was the team's fifth season with the National Football League. The Browns' defense became the first defense in the history of the NFL to lead the league in fewest rushing yards allowed, fewest passing yards allowed, and fewest total yards allowed. The Browns were 9–3 in the regular season and won the Eastern Conference. They hosted the NFL Championship Game, and met the two-time defending champion Detroit Lions for the third straight year. This year's result was different, as the Browns won with a 56–10 blowout. The teams had met on the same field the previous week, in a meaningless game won 14–10 by the Lions. Both teams had already clinched their respective conference titles; it was postponed from early October due to the World Series. After the win, Detroit was a slight favorite for the title game. Offseason Defensive Back Don Paul arrived via a trade with the Washington Redskins, who acquired him from the Chicago Cardinals. Upon his a ... [...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] |
Otto Graham
Otto Everett Graham Jr. (December 6, 1921 – December 17, 2003) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Graham is regarded by critics as one of the most dominant players of his era, having taken the Browns to league championship games every year between 1946 and 1955, making ten championship appearances, and winning seven of them. With Graham at quarterback, the Browns posted a record of 57 wins, 13 losses, and one tie, including a 9–3 win–loss record in the playoffs. He holds the NFL record for career average yards gained per pass attempt, with 8.63. He also holds the record for the highest career winning percentage for an NFL starting quarterback, at 81.0%. Long-time New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, a friend of Graham's, once called him "as great of a quarterback as there ever was." Graham grew up in Waukegan, Illinois, the so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dub Jones (American Football)
William Augustus "Dub" Jones (born December 29, 1924) is a former American football halfback who played ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and the old All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily for the Cleveland Browns. He shares the NFL record for touchdowns scored in a single game, with six. Jones was born into an athletic family in Louisiana and played a variety of sports, including football, at his high school in Ruston. The team won the state championship in 1941, his senior year. Jones attended Louisiana State University on a scholarship for a year before being transferred to Tulane University in New Orleans as part of a World War II-era U.S. Navy training program. He played football at Tulane for two seasons before joining the Miami Seahawks of the new AAFC in 1946. The Seahawks traded Jones at the end of the 1946 season to the AAFC's Brooklyn Dodgers, who subsequently sent him to the Browns before the 1948 season. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dante Lavelli
Dante Bert Joseph "Gluefingers" Lavelli (February 23, 1923 – January 20, 2009) was an American professional football player who was an end for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1956. Starring alongside quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley, placekicker Lou Groza and fellow receiver Mac Speedie, Lavelli was an integral part of a Browns team that won seven championships during his 11-season career. Lavelli was known for his sure hands and improvisations on the field. He was also renowned for making catches in critical situations, earning the nickname "Mr. Clutch". "Lavelli had one of the strongest pairs of hands I've ever seen," Browns coach Paul Brown once said of him. "When he went up for a pass with a defender, you could almost always count on him coming back down with the ball." Lavelli grew up in Hudson, Ohio and played football, baseball and basketball at his local high school. Afte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Renfro
Austin Raymond Renfro (November 7, 1929 – August 4, 1997) was an American professional gridiron football player. Renfro attended the University of North Texas and played in 12 NFL seasons from 1952–1963 for the Cleveland Browns. He is the father of former Houston Oilers and Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Mike Renfro. Ray died at the age of 67 and was interred at the Greenwood Memorial Park cemetery along with Lon Evans. He also served as an NFL assistant coach in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1965, he coached running backs for the Detroit Lions. He then coached wide receivers for the Washington Redskins (1966–1967) and Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ... (1968–1972). He helped win Super Bowl VI as the Quarterbacks and Wide Receivers coach for th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chet Hanulak
Chet Hanulak (March 28, 1933- September 10, 2021) was a former professional American football player who played running back for four seasons for the Cleveland Browns. Hanulak played football at Hackensack High School and was recruited to play on the Maryland Terrapins football team after his high school coach met the Maryland coach while both were attending a summer course. Nicknamed the "Jet," Hanulak was awarded All American status for his football accomplishments at the University of Maryland and still remains atop Maryland’s all-time rushing list, averaging 8.13 yards a touch over his three seasons. He was a member of the Gamma Chi Chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity at the University of Maryland. Fellow Sigma Chi brothers of his at Maryland who were football All Americans included Bill Walker and Bob Pellegrini. Hanulak, inducted into the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994 and named an ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Morrison (American Football)
Fred Lew "Curly" Morrison (October 7, 1926 – November 15, 2020) was an American football player and executive. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Bears, from 1950 to 1953, and the Cleveland Browns, from 1954 to 1956. Morrison played college football at the Ohio State University. College career Morrison played for the Ohio State Buckeyes from 1947 to 1949. As a sophomore, he was an end and led the Buckeyes in receptions, with seven for 113 yards. In his junior year, he moved to fullback when starter Joe Whistler was injured in the first game of the 1948 season. When Whistler returned, Morrison continued at fullback as a backup. Morrison took over the fullback position as a senior in 1949 and led the Buckeyes in scoring, with nine touchdowns. His best rushing game as a college student was against the USC Trojans, in Los Angeles, on October 8, 1949 when he rushed for 134 yards. Later that season, the Buckeyes returned to Souther ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Reynolds (American Football)
William Dean Reynolds (July 20, 1931December 2, 2002) was a professional American football halfback in the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). He played for the NFL's Cleveland Browns (1953–1957) and Pittsburgh Steelers (1958) and the AFL's Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ... (1960). External links * 1931 births 2002 deaths People from St. Marys, West Virginia Players of American football from West Virginia American football halfbacks Pittsburgh Panthers football players Cleveland Browns players Pittsburgh Steelers players Oakland Raiders players American Football League players {{runningback-1930s-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Bassett
Maurice LaFrancis Bassett (April 26, 1931May 24, 1991) was a professional American football player. Bassett played fullback for three seasons for the Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A .... He led the Browns in rushing his rookie year and serves as the namesake for the Cleveland Browns' Rookie of the Year award. He attended Langston University and would go on to serve in the Navy before playing for the Browns. References 1931 births 1991 deaths American football fullbacks Cleveland Browns players Langston Lions football players People from Chickasha, Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{runningback-1930s-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Adamle
Anthony "Tony" Adamle (May 15, 1924 – October 7, 2000) was a professional American football linebacker and fullback in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and the National Football League (NFL). He played his entire career for the Cleveland Browns before retiring to pursue a medical degree. Adamle grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and was a star fullback on his Collinwood High School football team. He attended Ohio State University in 1942, but his college career was cut short by World War II. After a stint in the United States Army Air Force, Adamle returned to finish his education at Ohio State in 1946. He soon dropped out of school, however, and joined the Browns. Cleveland won AAFC championships in each of Adamle's first three years, after which the league folded and the Browns were absorbed by the more established NFL. Cleveland continued to succeed in the NFL, winning the 1950 championship and advancing to the 1951 championship but losing to the Los Angeles Rams. Adam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Ratterman
George William Ratterman (November 12, 1926 – November 3, 2007) was an American football player in the All-America Football Conference and the National Football League. Early life He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he graduated from St. Xavier High School in 1944. He played college football at the University of Notre Dame from 1944 through 1946, primarily as a backup to quarterbacks Frank Dancewicz and Johnny Lujack. He was the last of only four students in Notre Dame history to earn letters in four different sports (football, basketball, baseball, tennis). Legendary football coach Frank Leahy called him "the greatest all-around athlete in the history of Notre Dame." Professional football career He played professional football with the Buffalo Bills of the AAFC from 1947 to 1949, when the league merged with the NFL. In his first year, 1947, at the age of 20, Ratterman threw 22 touchdown passes, setting a professional football rookie record that stood for more than fifty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Bauer (American Football)
John Richard Bauer (March 11, 1932 – December 26, 2010) was an American football guard and tackle who played for the National Football League's (NFL) New York Giants. Born in Benton, Illinois, Bauer attended the University of Illinois, where he played for the school's football team from 1951 to 1953. In the first round of the 1954 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns chose him with the 12th overall pick. In August 1954, Bauer was traded to the Green Bay Packers as part of a six-player transaction. A month later, the Giants acquired Bauer from the Packers in another trade. Bauer played in two games for the Giants during the 1954 NFL season as a backup. He went into the Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ... and returned to the Giants in 1957, but left the team befo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
