Robert Gain (June 21, 1929 – November 14, 2016) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player who played 13 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 ( ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), and also played in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). He played in five

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

s in the space of seven years with the Browns and was a first-team All-Pro selection once and a second-team selection seven times. Gain played tackle,

middle guard The Imperial Guard (French: ''Garde Impériale'') was originally a small group of elite soldiers of the French Army under the direct command of Napoleon I, but grew considerably over time. It acted as his bodyguard and tactical reserve, and he ...

, and

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

and was standout defender at tackle, end, and middle guard. Cleveland led the NFL in many defensive categories in his 12 years and the Browns won of their games and three championships during his career.

College career

Gain was a standout offensive and defensive lineman at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

, where he won the

Outland Trophy The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best college football interior lineman in the United States as adjudged by the Football Writers Association of America. It is named after John H. Outland. One of only a few players ever to be named an All-Ame ...

in 1950 as the nation's Outstanding College Interior Football Lineman of the Year. Gain started at tackle four years (1947–1950) at the

(SEC). At Kentucky he won All-American honors his last two years (consensus in 1950) and co-captained a Wildcats team that captured the SEC championship. In 1950, the three-year All-SEC selection was chosen the best SEC lineman by the Atlanta (GA) Touchdown and Birmingham (AL) Quarterback Clubs. He was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1980.

Professional career

After playing one season in Canada in 1951 with the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

of the

, he returned to Cleveland and played for 12 years (1952, 1954–1964). Gain played defensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns (NFL). A stalwart defensive tackle on six Browns Eastern Conference and three (1954–1955, 1964) NFL championship teams, Gain started in five Pro Bowl games. Gain interrupted his professional career in 1953 to serve in

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

for the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

as a

1st Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...

. He was honored by the Pittsburgh (PA) Dapper Dan Club and was named to the West Virginia and Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame. He ended his career with a one-time All-Pro and a 7-time Second-team All-Pro record in his 12 seasons, and after the 1957 season was voted the NFL Defensive linemen of the year by the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. He ended his career with three NFL championships with the Browns. The

Professional Football Researchers Association The Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional American football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by wri ...

named Gain to the PRFA Hall of Very Good Class of 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gain, Bob 1929 births 2016 deaths American people of Serbian descent Players of American football from Akron, Ohio American football offensive tackles American football offensive guards American football defensive tackles American football defensive ends Kentucky Wildcats football players All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Ottawa Rough Riders players Cleveland Browns players Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players