Book Description
Ohio coaching legend Paul Brown said he wanted to create "the New York Yankees of pro football" when he assembled the Cleveland Browns from scratch in 1946. Not even the future Hall of Fame coach, however, could have foreseen 10 league championship appearances and seven titles in the team’s first 10 years. That excellence and professional dominance cultivated a national fan base that has since crossed international boundaries. Elvis Presley, President John F. Kennedy, and Hank Aaron counted themselves as Browns fans. More than 50 years later, Browns Backers Worldwide is the largest organized fan club in professional sports, with over 265 chapters and 27,000 members worldwide. In Tales from the Browns Sideline, Cleveland native and veteran football writer Tony Grossi recalls the personalities that sowed one of the NFL’s proudest traditions and the characters who have continued to grow it. Grossi discloses the unlikely origin of the Marion Motley trap play and the talents that Otto Graham never used on the football field. Fans can read the scout’s inside story behind "the mad dog in the meat market" and the general manager’s insult that launched Brian Sipe’s rise from a 13th-round draft pick to the league’s Most Valuable Player. Tales from the Browns Sideline reveals who first called his defensive teammates "Dawgs" and why teammates stayed as far away as possible from Steve Everitt’s locker. From Jim Brown to Ben Gay, from Glue Fingers Lavelli to Turkey Jones, the colorful characters who wore the plain white uniforms and blank orange helmets are captured like never before.


About the Author
Tony Grossi was born and raised in Cleveland and has covered the Cleveland Browns and the NFL for The Plain Dealer since 1984. He has earned writing awards on the national, state, and local levels and has been named Ohio Sportswriter of the Year. Since 1994 he has served on the prestigious Board of Selectors for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Grossi lives in Solon, Ohio, with his wife, Carolyn.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Ohio coaching legend Paul Brown said he wanted to create "the New York Yankees of pro football" when he assembled the Cleveland Browns from scratch in 1946. But not even the future Hall of Fame coach could have foreseen 10 league championship appearances and seven titles in the team's first 10 years. That excellence and professional dominance cultivated a national fan base that has since crossed international boundaries. Elvis Presley, President John F. Kennedy and Hank Aaron counted themselves as Browns fans. More than 50 years later, Browns Backers Worldwide is the largest organized fan club in professional sports with over 265 chapters and 27,000 members worldwide. In Tales from the Browns Sideline, Cleveland native and veteran football writer Tony Grossi recalls the personalities that sowed one of the NFL's proudest traditions and the characters who have continued to grow it.