Terry Pluto: 'Jim Brown once told me the thing he admired most about Paul Brown, 'was how he integrated the team and the roommates. He never said he word. He posted the rooming list, a black player with a white player. He just did it.''
CLEVELAND, Ohio – He carried the football like a loaf of bread, holding it far away from his body. I’ve never seen anyone else do it quite like that.When Brown was in the Cleveland backfield and running a sweep behind pulling guards Gene Hickerson and John Wooten, Brown would hold the football in one of his huge hands. He used his free hand to swat away opposing tacklers, much like a big man shoving aside an annoying beagle puppy.No coach would want a player to carry a football like Brown.
But Paul Brown didn’t say a word. He realized Jim Brown wouldn’t listen. Jim Brown also never missed a game. He rarely missed practice. But did you know that Paul Brown went into the 1957 NFL Draft not looking to select Jim Brown, the star running back from Syracuse?Cleveland had the No. 6 pick in the draft.Paul Brown liked Jim Brown. To the coach’s credit, he didn’t try to force the issue by drafting another quarterback. He took Jim Brown.The Jim Brown statue sits outside of Cleveland Browns Stadium on Friday evening, May 19, 2023.Jim Brown is in the Hall of Fame. You probably knew that, as in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Jim Brown battled Paul Brown on play-calling. The coach liked to run Brown up the middle. Brown wanted more sweeps.He wanted room to run with that football in one hand. He loved it when one tackler tried to bring him down. Brown would use his legs like pistons, knocking the defender away much like a big brother dismissed a little brother’s feeble attempt to bring him to the ground.
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