Paul Brown facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Paul Brown

Brown on a 1952 football card
Position:	Head coach
Personal information
Born:	(1908-09-07)September 7, 1908 Norwalk, Ohio, U.S.
Died:	August 5, 1991(1991-08-05) (aged 82) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Career information
High school:	Massillon Washington (Massillon, Ohio)
College:	Miami (OH)
Career history
As coach:
Severn School (1930–1931) Massillon Washington High School (1932–1940) Ohio State (1941–1943) Great Lakes Navy (1944–1945) Cleveland Browns (1946–1962) Cincinnati Bengals (1968–1975)
As executive:
Cleveland Browns (1946–1962) General manager/part-owner Cleveland Browns (1963) Vice president Cincinnati Bengals (1968–1990) Owner/president
Career highlights and awards
3× NFL champion (1950, 1954, 1955) AP NFL Coach of the Year (1970) 3× UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1957, 1969, 1970) 3× Sporting News Coach of the Year (1949, 1951, 1953) NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team 4× AAFC champion (1946–1949) Cleveland Browns Ring of Honor Cincinnati Bengals Ring of Honor NCAA national champion (1942) 4× High school national champion (1935, 1936, 1939, 1940)
Career professional statistics
Win–loss record: 159–80–5 (NFL) Winning percentage: .665 Games: 244
Coaching stats at PFR
Pro Football Hall of Fame

Paul Eugene Brown (born September 7, 1908 – died August 5, 1991) was a famous American football coach and leader. He worked in two big football leagues: the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and the National Football League (NFL). Paul Brown helped start and was the first coach for the Cleveland Browns. This team was even named after him! Later, he also helped create the Cincinnati Bengals. His teams won seven championships during his 25 years as a professional coach.

Brown started coaching at Severn School in 1931. Then he became the head football coach at Massillon Washington High School in Massillon, Ohio, where he grew up. His high school teams were super strong, losing only 10 games in 11 seasons. After that, he coached at Ohio State University. He led their team to win its first national football championship in 1942.

After World War II, Brown became the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. They won all four AAFC championships before joining the NFL in 1950. Brown guided the Browns to three NFL championships in 1950, 1954, and 1955. However, he left the team in January 1963 due to disagreements with the team owner, Art Modell. In 1968, Brown helped start the Bengals and was their first coach. He stopped coaching in 1975 but stayed as the Bengals' team president until he passed away in 1991. The Bengals even named their home stadium Paul Brown Stadium to honor him. Paul Brown was added to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967.

Paul Brown is known for many new ideas in American football. He was the first coach to use game films to study opponents. He also hired a full-time team of assistant coaches. He even tested players to see how well they knew their plays. He created the modern face mask and invented the practice squad and the draw play. Brown also helped break down racial barriers in professional football. He brought the first African-American players to play pro football in the modern era onto his teams.

Even with all his achievements, not everyone liked Brown. He was very strict and liked to be in control. This sometimes caused arguments with players who wanted more say in how plays were called. These disagreements, along with Brown not talking to Modell about big player decisions, led to him leaving the Browns in 1963.

Paul Brown's Early Life

Paul Brown grew up in Massillon, Ohio. His family moved there from Norwalk when he was nine years old. His dad, Lester, worked for a railroad company. Massillon was a town that loved its high school and professional football teams, both called the Tigers. Their main rival was nearby Canton. When the professional teams stopped playing in the 1920s, the high school rivalry became even more important.

Brown started at Massillon Washington High School in 1922. He was small for football, weighing less than 150 pounds. So, he first focused on the pole vault. His coach, Dave Stewart, saw how determined Brown was. He brought Brown onto the football team. In 1924, as a junior, Brown became the starting quarterback. Massillon had a great record of 15 wins and 3 losses during Brown's junior and senior years.

Brown finished high school in 1925. He went to Ohio State University the next year, hoping to play for the Ohio State Buckeyes. But he didn't make the team. After his first year, he moved to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. There, he became the starting quarterback. In two seasons at Miami, Brown led the team to 14 wins and 3 losses. He married his high school sweetheart, Katie Kester, the next year. Brown had studied pre-law and thought about history, but he decided to become a coach instead. In 1930, he got his first coaching job at Severn School, a private school in Maryland.

Coaching High School Teams

Severn School Success

Brown had two very successful years at Severn. His team was undefeated in his first season and won the Maryland state championship. In 1931, the team's record was 5 wins, 2 losses, and 1 tie. Brown's total record there was 12 wins, 2 losses, and 1 tie. After his second year, the head coaching job at Massillon became open, and Brown took it.

Massillon Tigers Era

Brown returned to Massillon in 1932 when he was only 24 years old. The Tigers team had not been doing well. Brown wanted to make them strong again. He focused on building a disciplined and hard-working team. He even fired an assistant coach for being late to practice! No player was allowed to sit on the bench during a game; Brown made them stand. He taught them an offense that focused on quickness, not just strength.

Brown helped get a new, bigger football stadium built for Massillon Washington High School. It's now named Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

In his first year at Massillon, Brown's team had a 5-4-1 record. It was better, but not good enough for Brown. The team got even better in 1933, with an 8-2 record. But they lost to their main rivals, the Canton McKinley High School Bulldogs. In 1934, Massillon won all their games until a loss to Canton in the last game. The pressure on Brown grew to beat Canton. Finally, in 1935, Massillon had an undefeated season and beat Canton. This was the first of many undefeated seasons for Brown.

By then, Brown had a strong system in place. He had a strict way of coaching and a good way to find talented young players from Massillon's junior high schools. He didn't care about a player's race. He brought several African-American players onto the team, even when many other schools didn't.

Over the next five seasons, Massillon lost only one game. This was a 7-0 loss in 1937 when many players got sick. As the Tigers became more famous, Brown convinced the school to build a new stadium in 1936. It was almost three times bigger than the old one. The stadium was finished in 1939 and is now named after Paul Brown.

A big moment in Brown's Massillon career was a victory in 1940 against Toledo's Waite High School. Both teams were undefeated in 1939 and both claimed to be state champions. They decided to play each other the next year, and Brown's team won 28-0. The 1940 Massillon team is still seen as one of the best high school teams ever. They even beat a college team, Kent State University, 47-0 in a practice game!

During his nine years at Massillon, Brown invented the playbook. This was a detailed list of plays. He also tested his players on how well they knew it. He also started the idea of sending plays to his quarterback from the sideline using hand signals. His total record at the school was 80 wins, 8 losses, and 2 ties. This included a 35-game winning streak. Between 1935 and 1940, the team won the state championship five times and the High School Football National Championship four times. They outscored their opponents by a huge amount: 2,393 points to 168. After losing to Canton early on, the Tigers beat them six times in a row.

College and Military Coaching

Ohio State Buckeyes Coach

Brown's success at Massillon made him very well-known in Ohio. People called him the "Miracle Man of Massillon." When Ohio State University needed a new coach in 1940, Brown was a top choice. Ohio State officials weren't sure if a high school coach could handle college football. But they worried they might lose talented high school players who wanted to play for Brown if they didn't hire him.

Ohio State offered Brown a salary of $6,500. This was about $1,500 more than he made at Massillon. He accepted in January 1941. He immediately started his strict system. Players were drilled and tested. Brown focused on getting new players ready to become starters. He made his players train for quickness. He even used the 40-yard dash to measure speed.

Brown's first year at Ohio State was a success. The Buckeyes won six of eight games in 1941. The final game was a 20-20 tie with Michigan, which was a good result since Ohio State was expected to lose. The Buckeyes finished 13th in the AP Poll.

The attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 changed things for the 1942 season. But most college teams kept playing. The Buckeyes started the season by beating a Fort Knox team 59-0. Then they won two more games. Ohio State was ranked best in the nation for the first time ever. The 1942 team was mostly made of players Brown had chosen, like Bill Willis and Les Horvath. They lost only one game that season. The Buckeyes won their conference and their first-ever national title.

The 1943 season was tough for Brown and the Buckeyes. Many players were drafted into the military. Ohio State had to play 17-year-old new players. The Buckeyes ended with a 3-6 record. In three seasons at Ohio State, Brown had a record of 18 wins, 8 losses, and 1 tie.

Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets

In 1944, Brown joined the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant. He became the head coach of the Bluejacket football team near Chicago. This team played against other military teams and college teams. The Navy wanted their teams to win to boost spirits. Brown didn't have much time to set up his own system. He used the offensive plays from the Chicago Bears. His team had some talented players. In 1944, the team finished with a 9-2-1 record.

In September 1944, a sports editor named Arch Ward suggested a new professional football league. It would be called the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). Arthur B. "Mickey" McBride owned the Cleveland team in this new league. McBride offered Brown $17,500 a year to coach the new team. This was more than any coach at any level made! He also gave Brown full control over football decisions and a share in the team.

On February 8, 1945, Brown accepted the job. He said he was sad to leave Ohio State, but it was a great opportunity for his family. This decision surprised Ohio State officials, who thought he would come back after the war. The AAFC didn't start playing until after the war. So, Brown continued to coach at Great Lakes in 1945. Many of his best players were moved to other bases as the war changed. The team started with a 0-4-1 record. But they won six games in a row after the war ended and players returned. Soon after his last game with the Bluejackets, Brown moved to Cleveland for his new job.

Professional Coaching Career

Cleveland Browns in the AAFC (1946–1949)

When Brown arrived in Cleveland, the team had already signed some players. These included quarterback Otto Graham, who had beaten Brown's Buckeyes in 1941. Many players came from teams Brown had coached before, like Ohio State, Great Lakes, and Massillon. Lou Groza, a kicker and tackle, played for Brown at Ohio State. Receiver Dante Lavelli was on Ohio State's championship team in 1942. Bill Willis, a defensive player, and Marion Motley, a running back, became two of the first black athletes to play professional football when they joined the team in 1946.

At first, Brown was supposed to name the team. He didn't want it named after him. So, McBride held a contest in May 1945. The name "Panthers" was chosen. But this name was quickly dropped. Some say Brown didn't like it because the old Panthers team had failed. Others say McBride didn't want to pay for the rights to the name. In August, McBride decided to name the team the Browns, even though Paul Brown didn't want it.

For many years, Brown claimed the team was named "Brown Bombers" after the boxer Joe Louis, whose nickname was "The Brown Bomber." He said it was shortened to "Browns." But later in his life, Paul Brown admitted this story was not true. He made it up to avoid attention for the team being named after him. Today, both the Browns and the NFL say the team was indeed named after Paul Brown.

With the team ready, Brown wanted to build a winning team. He said, "I want to be what the New York Yankees are in baseball."

After training, the Browns played their first game in September 1946. Over 60,000 people came to watch the Browns beat the Miami Seahawks 44-0. This was a record for professional football attendance. The team kept winning. They finished the season with a 12-2 record and won their division. The Browns then beat the AAFC's New York Yankees to win the championship.

Cleveland won the AAFC championship again in 1947. Their offense used the forward pass more often than other teams. The Browns' success came from Brown's version of the T formation. This play style was becoming very popular in football.

The Browns won every single game in the 1948 season! This was an amazing achievement. It wasn't matched until the Miami Dolphins did it in 1972. Cleveland then won the AAFC championship for the fourth time in a row in 1949. But by then, the league was having trouble. The Browns were so dominant that fans lost interest in the games. At the end of 1949, the AAFC closed down. Three of its teams, the San Francisco 49ers, the Baltimore Colts, and the Browns, joined the NFL.

Cleveland Browns in the NFL (1950–1955)

The Browns' first game in the NFL in 1950 was against the two-time defending champions, the Philadelphia Eagles. They won the game 35-10. This was the first of 10 wins that year. After beating the New York Giants in a playoff game, the Browns won the championship game against the Los Angeles Rams. They won with a last-minute field goal. Paul Brown said his was "the greatest football team a coach ever had." In 16 seasons, Brown had led his teams to 12 championships. He was the first head coach to win both a college and NFL championship.

The Browns reached the championship game in the next three years but lost all of them. In 1952 and 1953, Cleveland lost to the Detroit Lions. Before the 1953 season, McBride sold the team to a group of businessmen. Brown was upset he wasn't asked about the deal. But the new owners promised to let Brown run the team. Brown felt he needed full control over players and coaching to make his system work.

Quarterback Otto Graham said 1953 would be his last season. But the team won the championship in 1954 against the Lions. Brown convinced Graham to come back. Cleveland finished 1955 with a 9-2-1 record, reaching the championship game again. The Browns beat the Rams for their second straight championship. Graham retired after that season.

Brown on the sideline in 1952 during a rainy game.

Later Years in Cleveland (1956–1963)

Without Graham, the Browns had a losing season in 1956, with a 5-7 record. This was Paul Brown's first losing season as a pro coach. In the next year's draft, the team picked Jim Brown from Syracuse University. As TV made football more popular than baseball, Jim Brown became a huge star. He was a great player, but Paul Brown sometimes criticized his game. In Jim Brown's first season, the team reached the championship game but lost badly. The Browns didn't win the championship in the next two years.

As Jim Brown became more famous, players started to question Paul Brown's coaching. This became clear in a game against the Giants in 1958. A win or tie would have put the Browns in the championship game. But Coach Brown made a strange play call that didn't work. The Giants came back and won the game.

Paul Brown blamed the struggles on his quarterback. But the players were losing faith in Coach Brown's strict style. Jim Brown started a radio show, which Paul Brown didn't like. It made him feel less in control. But it was hard for the coach to argue with Jim Brown because he was so good on the field. The tension between them grew. The team finished second in their division in 1959 and 1960, even with Jim Brown's amazing rushing seasons.

Art Modell, a New York advertising executive, bought the team in 1961. Modell was 35 years old. He bought Brown's share of the team and gave Brown a new eight-year contract. Modell said they would work together. But he started to be more involved in the team's daily work. This made Brown angry because he was used to having full control. Modell also started listening to players' concerns about the coach. He became very close to Jim Brown. Modell would even second-guess Paul Brown's play calls during games, which made their relationship worse. At that time, Brown was the only coach who insisted on calling every offensive play. He didn't allow the quarterback to change plays at the line of scrimmage. When the quarterback, Milt Plum, questioned Brown's control, he was traded.

The disagreements between Brown and Modell became very serious. Brown traded star player Bobby Mitchell for the rights to Ernie Davis. Davis was a Heisman Trophy winner who had broken Jim Brown's rushing records in college. Paul Brown didn't tell Modell about this trade. Modell only found out after getting a call from another team owner. Sadly, Davis was diagnosed with leukemia before the 1962 season. He came to Cleveland to train, but Brown wouldn't let him play. Modell wanted to give Davis a chance to play before he died. But the relationship between coach and owner never got better. Ernie Davis never played in a professional game and passed away in May 1963.

Leaving Cleveland

As the problems between players and Brown, and between Modell and Brown, grew, Modell fired Brown on January 7, 1963. This caused a lot of talk. Brown's assistant, Blanton Collier, became the new head coach. Brown stayed with the team as vice president and still got his salary. But he said the position had "no true power."

Brown was out of football for the first time since 1930. He spent the next five years away from the sidelines. He never even went to a Browns game. He rarely spoke to Modell. Brown was financially secure, but he was very frustrated. "It was terrible," he later said. "I had everything a man could want: free time, enough money, a wonderful family. Yet with all that, I was eating my heart out."

Brown looked for other coaching jobs. But he wanted to make sure he would have full control, unlike what happened in Cleveland. In 1967, the AFL started a new team in Cincinnati. Brown had a big share in the team. He became the general manager and head coach. He also got the right to represent the team in all league matters, which was very important for him to have control.

Cincinnati Bengals

Brown named his new team the Bengals. There had been a Cincinnati team with that name in the 1930s, and he wanted to connect to the past. Brown's son, Mike, joined the team's front office and became his father's main assistant. Brown brought in other coaches like Bill Walsh. In their first two seasons, 1968 and 1969, the Bengals didn't do well. But the team started to improve as Brown drafted good players, including quarterback Greg Cook.

The Bengals joined the NFL in 1970 because of the AFL–NFL merger. They were placed in the same division as the Browns. Before the 1970 season, Cook got a career-ending injury. The Bengals had to use Virgil Carter, a backup quarterback who could make short passes but not long ones. Brown and Walsh created an offense around Carter's skills. This offense was the start of the West Coast offense that Walsh later used successfully with the San Francisco 49ers.

The Bengals lost their first game against the Browns 30-27 in 1970. Brown was booed because he didn't shake the other coach's hand after the game. Brown explained, "I haven't shaken the other coach's hands after a game for years. ... I went up to him before the game, and we did our socializing then." The Bengals beat the Browns later that season. Brown called it "my greatest victory."

As the Bengals' head coach, Brown led the team to the playoffs three times, including in 1970. Even with a good quarterback like Ken Anderson, Brown's team never got past the first round of the playoffs. Four days after the Bengals were out of the playoffs in 1975, Brown announced he was retiring after 45 years of coaching. Football had changed a lot during his time, becoming America's biggest sport. Brown was 67 years old.

Later Life and Legacy

The Bengals' stadium was named after Paul Brown from 2000 to 2022.

When Brown retired, Bill Walsh was not chosen to be the next head coach. Brown stayed on as team president. The Bengals later went to the Super Bowl twice, but lost both games to Walsh's 49ers. Paul Brown passed away on August 5, 1991, at home from pneumonia.

Brown and his first wife, Katie, had three sons: Robin, Mike, and Pete. After Katie died in 1969, he married Mary Rightsell in 1973. His son Robin died of cancer in 1978. Brown is buried in Massillon.

The grave marker of Paul Brown, Rose Hill Memorial Park, Massillon, Ohio

His son Mike took over as the Bengals' team president. In 2000, Cincinnati opened a new football stadium and named it Paul Brown Stadium in his honor. It kept that name until 2022. Brown was added to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967. Otto Graham, his former player, said at the ceremony, "I feel he's as fine a coach as the game ever has had." In 2009, Sporting News named Brown the 12th greatest coach of all time.

Paul Brown's Impact on Football

Paul Brown coached many successful teams. But his strict personality and sharp criticisms made some players dislike him. Brown was a very organized and disciplined coach. He didn't like it when players didn't follow his system. If players were late for the team plane, it would leave without them. They had to find their own way and pay a fine! Practices were always exactly the same length. Players who made mistakes were often made fun of during film review sessions. A saying among players was, "There's a right way, a wrong way and the Paul Brown way." If you did it his way, you were right.

Brown was also a tough negotiator about salaries. He often didn't give players raises even if they played well. This made players frustrated and helped lead to the creation of the National Football League Players Association. This group helps players with their interests. Brown was so annoyed by this union that he had a team photo from 1946 changed to remove one of the union's founders.

His disagreements with Art Modell and his departure from Cleveland were also a source of criticism. Brown refused to give up any control, even though Modell owned the team. Modell felt Brown wasn't changing with how football was played in the 1960s. Many players agreed. After he was fired, Brown held a grudge against Modell for the rest of his life. He also never forgave his assistant, Blanton Collier, for taking over as coach.

Even with his strict style, Brown played a very important role in making football modern. He invented the draw play. This is where the quarterback pretends to pass but then hands the ball to a running back. He also created detailed pass patterns to find weak spots in the defense. Brown is also given credit for the "passer's pocket." This is a way the offensive line protects the quarterback to give him more time to throw.

Brown's biggest contribution was how he organized and managed teams. Before Brown, football was seen as mostly about physical strength. Few coaches took strategy seriously. Brown, however, hired full-time assistant coaches. He tested players' intelligence and their knowledge of plays. He made practices very organized. He also watched game films to get an advantage over opponents. Brown created a detailed system for finding college players for the draft.

The success of his organized approach made other teams follow. Most of Brown's ideas for organizing teams are still used today. A former player, Paul Wiggin, said, "No one, I mean no one, has ever had total command and respect like Paul Brown."

Brown's ideas influenced many future coaches. Coaches he worked with, like Don Shula, Weeb Ewbank, Chuck Noll, and Bill Walsh, all used parts of his system.

Brown also invented the practice squad, which was called the "taxi squad" back then. These were promising players who weren't on the main team but were kept in reserve. The team owner paid them through his taxi company, even though they didn't drive cabs.

Brown made his players sit in classrooms and tested them constantly on their playbook. He was a quiet man, and his criticisms could be very harsh. He told players not to smoke in public and made them wear coats and ties on road trips.

He was the first coach to use intelligence tests to check players. He also scouted opponents using game films and sent plays to his quarterback using messengers. He helped create the modern face mask after some of his players got facial injuries.

The Bengals' stadium was named in his honor until 2022. He was also part of the Bengals' first Ring of Honor class in 2021.

Paul Brown's Coaching Tree

Many coaches learned from Paul Brown, either directly or indirectly. This group of coaches is called his "coaching tree." It's so big that it's sometimes called a "forest"! Many coaches who came from Brown's tree have won NFL championships, including Super Bowls. Here are some of the most famous ones:

Coaching Records

High School Coaching Record

College Coaching Record

Professional Coaching Record

See also

In Spanish: Paul Brown para niños

• List of American Football League players
• List of National Football League head coaches with 50 wins
• List of professional gridiron football coaches with 200 wins
• List of National Football League head coaches by playoff record