Exactly 51 Years since the last Cleveland Sports’ Title

This Sunday will mark the exact 51 year anniversary of the last Cleveland major sports league championship, which was won by the Cleveland Browns (27-0) vs the Baltimore Colts in the 1964 NFL title game, played on December 27th, 1964 at Municipal Stadium.

That day with over 80 thousand people in attendance, Browns’ quarterback (Dr.) Frank Ryan threw three touchdown passes to Gary Collins while the Browns’ “bend but don’t break” defense allowed no points, vs the great John Unitas and the Colts.

All time greats Jim Brown and Lou Groza, the latter with two field goals including a long one to open the scoring, made major contributions for the Browns.

This Sunday, the current incarnation of the Browns, an expansion team that began play in the NFL in 1999, will be in Kansas City playing the Chiefs.

While Cleveland is sans a sports crown since 1964 and has but 6 current major sports league titles (the Otto Graham led Browns, under coach and founder Paul Brown won NFL titles in 1950, 1954 and 1955 in addition to the Blanton Collier coached 1964 title, while the Indians’ only World Series wins were in 1920 and 1948), Kansas City won its third when the baseball Royals won their second this past season.

The Chiefs lone crown was in 1969, the year the Royals began play. They should at least make the playoffs this season.

The great coach Paul Brown, a same named deceased (no school principal would want “late” in front of their name) Yonkers school principal evokes similar great praise for his work, pictured above with the Cincinnati Bengals, was somehow not on ESPN’s list of the 20 greatest coaches in sports history. That is a disgrace!

So much of modern football innovation is owed to this man. Both Paul Browns cited here, the great coach and school principal helped future greats in their field.

Chuck Noll, a 4 time Super Bowl winner as a coach, June Drusin as an unforgettable school teacher are one example from each field.