Maurice LaFrancis Bassett (April 26, 1931May 24, 1991) was a professional

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 wi ...

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