Paul Brown: Difference between revisions

* [[Severn School|Severn School (MD)]] (1930–1931)<br/>Head coach

* [[Massillon Washington High School|Massillon Washington HS (OH)]] (1932–1940)<br/>Head coach

* [[Ohio State Buckeyes football|Ohio State]] (1941–1943)<br/>Head coach

* [[Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football|Great Lakes Navy]] (1944–1945)<br/>Head coach

* [[Cleveland Browns]] ({{NFL Year|1946}}–{{NFL Year|1962}})<br/>Head coach

* [[Cincinnati Bengals]] ([[1968 AFL season|1968]]–{{NFL Year|1975}})<br/>Head coach

* [[Cleveland Browns]] ({{NFL Year|1946}}–{{NFL Year|1962}})<br>General manager/ & part-owner

* [[Cincinnati Bengals]] ([[1968 AFL season|1968]]–{{NFL Year|19901991}}){{efn-ua|name=Death|While Brown died on August 5, 1991, this was during the 1991 preseason. The last regular season he was the owner was 1990 which is why 1990 is listed here.}}<br>Owner/ & president

* 3× [[NFL Coach of the Year Award#UPI NFLNational Football League Coach of the Year|UPI NFL Coach of the Year]] (1957, 1969, 1970)

|pfrcoach=BrowPa0{{#property:P6836}}

Brown is credited with a number of American football innovations. He was the first coach to use game film to scout opponents, hire a full-time staff of assistants, and test players on their knowledge of a playbook.{{sfn|Cantor|2008|p=3}} He invented the modern [[Face mask (gridiron football)|face mask]], the [[practice squad]] and the [[draw play]]. He also played a role in breaking professional football's [[Racial segregation|color barrier]], bringing the first [[African-American]]s to play pro football in the modern era onto his teams.{{sfn|Cantor|2008|p=4}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rhoden |first=William C. |date=1997-09-25 |title=ON PRO FOOTBALL; When Paul Brown Smashed the Color Barrier |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/25/sports/on-pro-football-when-paul-brown-smashed-the-color-barrier.html |access-date=2022-12-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Maule |first=Tex |title=A MAN FOR THIS SEASON |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1962/09/10/a-man-for-this-season |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=Sports Illustrated Vault {{!}} SI.com |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Marc Bona |first=cleveland com |date=2016-02-09 |title=Paul Brown and racial integration: Museum's latest exhibit |url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2016/02/paul_brown_and_racial_integrat.html |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=cleveland |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Shuck |first=Barry |date=2021-07-17 |title=Changing pro football’sfootball's color barrier: Paul Brown hires Bill Willis and Marion Motley |url=https://www.dawgsbynature.com/2021/7/17/22567693/changing-pro-footballs-color-barrier-paul-brown-hires-bill-willis-and-marion-motley |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=Dawgs By Nature |language=en}}</ref> Despite these accomplishments, Brown was not universally liked.{{sfn|Keim|1999|pp=17–18}} He was strict and controlling, which often brought him into conflict with players who wanted a greater say in play-calling. These disputes, combined with Brown's failure to consult Modell on major personnel decisions, led to his firing as the Browns' coach in 1963.{{sfn|Pluto|1997|p=293}}

Bill Walsh was passed over in favor of Bill "Tiger" Johnson for the head coaching job when Brown retired. In a 2006 interview, Walsh said Brown worked against his candidacy to be a head coach anywhere in the league. "All the way through I had opportunities, and I never knew about them", Walsh said. "And then when I left him, he called whoever he thought was necessary to keep me out of the NFL."<ref name="Farmer on Brown">{{cite news|last=Farmer |first=Sam |title=Living Legend |access-date=June 24, 2012 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=December 22, 2006 |page=D1 |url=https://articles.latimes.com/2006/dec/22/sports/sp-walsh22/3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619054859/http://articles.latimes.com/2006/dec/22/sports/sp-walsh22/3 |archive-date=June 19, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Brown stayed on as team president after stepping down as head coach, and the Bengals later made two trips to the [[Super Bowl]], losing both games to Walsh and the 49ers.{{sfn|Cantor|2008|pp=200–202}} He rarely appeared in public, however. He died on August 5, 1991, at home offrom complications from of
pneumonia.{{sfn|Cantor|2008|pp=202–203}}

* {{cite book|last=Coughlin|first=Dan|year=2011|title=Pass the Nuts: More Stories About the Most Unusual People and Remarkable Events from My Four Decades As a Sports Journalist|publisher=Gray & Company, Publishers |isbn=978-1-59851-073-7}}