Preseason: Green Bay Packers (3-1) 30, Cleveland Browns 14
Saturday September 4th 1965 (at Cleveland)
GAME RECAP (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE)
(CLEVELAND) - Rebounding from last week's Dallas disappointment with a precision performance, Green Bay's bristling Packers humbled the reigning world champion Claveland Browns, 30-14, here Saturday night with 83,118 unhappy Ohionans looking on. The Packers, who had gone without a touchdown in surrendering a 21-12 decision to the inspired Cowboys flashed an explosive attack, hammering home two TDs in the first half and one more in the second half, along with three Don Chandler field goals, to win with surprising ease. Meanwhile, they restricted their title opponents to one second quarter score until victory was virtually sealed, the Browns' second and third touchdown coming nearly three minutes into the last quarter. Paul Hornung, exhibiting his finest form of the grapefruit season, slashed over left tackle from five yards out for the Packers' first touchdown at 14:49 of the first quarter, capping an 8-play drive. Elijah Pitts, called upon often in the absence of the injured Tom Moore, collected the second on a one yard smash shortly before halftime, sending the Pack into the intermission with a 14-7 bulge. The Browns squared the score early in the second quarter on a 10-yard pitch from Dr. Frank Ryan to Gary Collins, stationed beneath the crossbar in the Green Bay end zone. The Packers took full command in the third quarter, forging a 17-7 lead with the first of Chandler's three FGs - a 19-yard effort set up by Willie Wood's electrifying 56-yard punt return, then shortly padding it to 24-7 with a 13-play drive climaxed by a 9-yard Bart Starr up the middle bullet to Boyd Dowler in the Cleveland end zone. The Packers saw two scoring opportunities, both field goal attempts, backfire in the first eight minutes of the opening quarter, but the third time proved to be the charm. The first boomeranged following a 51-yard Packer surge to the Cleveland 24, during which the visiting firemen collected three first downs, one on a 14-yard Starr pass to Boyd Dowler, another on a 13-yard Jim Taylor slash off left tackle and the other on a 21-yard Starr pitch up the middle to Hornung. But after Taylor crashed over right guard for 5, Hornung failed to gain and juggled, then dropped a third down Starr pass, which brought Chandler to the scene with 5:14 gone. The Browns' Bill Glass thwarted Packer plans, however, barging through to deflect Chandler's 31-yard kick high in the air. Fellow Brownie Bernie Parrish ultimately recovered on the Cleveland 30.
BRIGHT OPPORTUNITY
The Packers shortly found themselves with another bright opportunity when Collins fumbled following a 16-yard Ryan pass and Ray Nitschke recovered on the Cleveland 37. This one also proved unproductive, however. A Starr pass slithered through Bob Long's fingers and, after Taylor bulled for 8, another Starr pitch to Fleming fell incomplete, again summoning Chandler. The Browns failed to get a hand on the ball this time, but Don's 41-yard boot sailed to the left of the uprights with 7:11 left in the quarter. Obviously chagrined, the Packers quickly set about making amends. After throttling the Browns on the next series, they drove 73 yards to score in just eight plays. The principal item was a dazzling 44-yard Starr-Dowler aerial, with Boyd faking out Cleveland defender Walter Beach on the play, Dowler angled first right, then left in maneuvering his way to the Brown 16. After Taylor bit off three yards, Starr hit the Bayou Bronco with a 6-yard swing pass, Taylor careening out of bounds on the 7. Hornung next hit right tackle for 2 and the first down.
SURPRISINGLY EASY
The rest was surprisingly easy. Hornung exploded through the left side, behind an incisive block by Forrest Gregg, and fell across the goal line with the Browns' Bill Glass astride his back with just one second remaining in the quarter. The Browns, unaccustomed to finding themselves in arrears, retaliated in short order, fashioning an 8-play, 82-yard scoring surge of their own. Ryan launched the drive with a 22-yard pitch to Clifton McNeil and subsequently augmented it with a 35-yard collaboration with the accomplished Collins. Brown hammered for 6, setting the stage for Ryan's 10-yard strike up the middle to Collins, who eluded Herb Adderley in the end zone just long enough to complete the transaction with 11:05 left in the second quarter. Lou Groza's conversion squared matters, 7-7. An Adderley interception, on which the Packers were penalized back to their 38 for clipping, led directly to the Bays' go-ahead touchdown. Starr and McGee were the principals in this happy project. Bart first hit the 33-year-old veteran with a 28-yard strike along the south sidelines, good for a first down on the Cleveland 36, then shortly found Max again with a clutch third down pitch, a 20-yard effort. Parlaying with a defensive holding levy on the Browns, it carried the Pack to the Brown 6. Pitts took it in from there, in two plays, bolting over right guard and right tackle for the TD with only 3:10 remaining in the half. The Packers made quick capital of a breathtaking 56-yard Willie Wood punt return at the start of the third quarter, padding their margin to 10 point. Wood, who several times appeared cut off, only to wriggle out of a tight corner, left the Browns' Charley Scales sprawling in his wake with a magnificent move on the Cleveland 38, then finally was tripped up on the 18 by the lone remaining Brown, Gary Collins. Taylor hit for four and Hornung for 2, but a Starr-to-Hornung pass misfired, bringing on Chandler for a third time. There was no question about this one, a 19-yarder that soared over the bar at 4:18 to make it 17-7. Regaining possession after one Cleveland first down, the Packers staged a spectacular demonstration of ball control, rolling 77 yards in 13 plays (plus two penalties) for a third touchdown. Key items were an 11 and 13-yard Starr passes to Hornung, a 13 yard strike to Long, and a 16-yard screen to Taylor, which produced a first down on the 15. Hornung added another 11 in two thrusts to the 4, but the Pack drew a delay-of-game assessment and on the next play, however, Hornung found Dowler beneath the goal posts. Stung by such offhand treatment, the world champions returned the favor in just six plays. Brown was the key figure, cantering 34 yards to the Packer 15 to set the stage, then sweeping tight end to score behind Collins, Gene Hickerson and Ernie Green with 2:09 gone in the final period, whittling Green Bay's margin to 24-14. Aided by an interference penalty, the Packers, with Dennis Claridge at the throttle, added to their cushion following the kickoff. Pitts added 20 on a sweep of right end to the Cleveland 36, and 11 more for another first down that carried to the 20. But there the drive stalled, three consecutive Claridge pitches to McGee misfiring. Chandler than came on to toe a 32-yard field goal with 9:15 remaining.
GREEN BAY - 7 7 10 6 - 30
CLEVELAND - 0 7 0 7 - 14
GREEN BAY CLEVELAND
First Downs 23 12
Rushing-Yards-TD 38-194-2 24-113-1
Att-Comp-Yd-TD-Int 23-13-202-1-0 22-12-133-1-2
Sack Yards Lost 20 16
Net Passing Yards 182 117
Total Yards 376 230
Fumbles-lost 0 1
Turnovers 0 3
Yards penalized 40 97
SCORING
1st - GB - Paul Hornung, 5-yard run (Don Chandler kick) GREEN BAY 7-0
2nd - CLE - Gary Collins, 10-yard pass from Frank Ryan (Lou Groza kick) TIED 7-7
2nd - GB - Elijah Pitts, 1-yard run (Chandler kick) GREEN BAY 14-7
3rd - GB - Chandler, 19-yard field goal GREEN BAY 17-7
3rd - GB - Boyd Dowler, 10-yard pass from Bart Starr (Chandler kick) GREEN BAY 24-7
4th - CLE - Jim Brown, 7-yard run (Groza kick) GREEN BAY 24-14
4th - GB - Chandler, 32-yard field goal GREEN BAY 27-14
4th - GB - Chandler, 14-yard field goal GREEN BAY 30-14
RUSHING
GREEN BAY - Elijah Pitts 9-71 1 TD, Jim Taylor 12-58, Allen Jacobs 8-38, Paul Hornung 8-26, Bart Starr 1-1
CLEVELAND - Jim Brown 16-84 1 TD, Ernie Green 4-17, Leroy Kelly 3-15, Frank Ryan 1-(-3)
PASSING
GREEN BAY - Bart Starr 19-13-202 1 TD, Dennis Claridge 3-0-0, Zeke Bratkowski 1-0-0
CLEVELAND - Frank Ryan 17-9-101 1 TD 1 INT, Jim Ninowski 5-3-32 1 INT
RECEIVING
GREEN BAY - Boyd Dowler 3-68 1 TD, Paul Hornung 3-44, Jim Taylor 3-19, Max McGee 2-46, Bob Long 2-25
CLEVELAND - Gary Collins 4-69 1 TD, Leroy Kelly 3-22, Clifton McNeil 2-28, Walter Roberts 1-9, Ralph Smith 1-9, Jim Brown 1-(-4)
ALL PACKERS GET IN ON ISOMETRIC DRILL
SEPT 5 (Green Bay) - There are some doorways around here that are wider than they were when Jim Taylor first starting talking about isometric exercises. The Green Bay Packers fullback used to lean against the door frames and it looked as though he were trying to work himself into condition standing still. But when the doors started to give, people started paying attention. Now a good part of the NFL has taken up isometrics, substituting comparatively economical tension devices for door frames, which usually are installed in structures that are expensive to bend out of shape...EVERYBODY DOES: In the Packers football camp, everybody does isometrics, including Head Coach Vince Lombardi, whose enthusiasm for the system may be somewhat tempered by a spring pulley's inability to emit cries of pain and suffering, which usually accompany the coach's exercises. Because of isometrics, or despite them, Taylor continues to be one of football's greatest fullbacks. Now in his eight season with the Packers, Taylor came back from a long bout with hepatitis and a subsequent knee injury to gain 1,169 yards in 235 carries last season, setting a league record of five consecutive years of gaining more than 1,000 yards. An intense, serious young man who seems smaller - at rest - than his 6 feet and 215 pounds, Taylor is not well loved by defensive players around the league, because so frequently when they meet, fewer players get up with Taylor than went to the ground with him. Questioned on the subject, he insists: "I don't always run at them. Sometimes I sort of veer off." And while he insists, like most professionals, that he doesn't try to hurt a defensive man in action, he will admit that on occasion "I like to sting 'em a little." But questions about the vaunted second effort, which finds Taylor making the last few inches when the weight of beef on his back prevents him from gaining yards, make him bristle. "That's no second effort," he said. "It's all the same one. It starts when the ball is snapped and it's 100 percent from then until the whistle blows." Then he says, "when two men meet hard on the field, there may be a momentary tendency to relax. I try to overcome that."...PHYSICAL FITNESS: The man to whom Lombardi's now classic directive to "run to daylight" was given, is a yearlong, around-the-clock physical fitness devotee. He even had 3-year-old Jim Jr. lifting barbells at this year's Packer camp. And when the isometric equipment was installed as part of the Packers' regular conditioning, Taylor petitioned assistant coach Phil Bengtson to be named the resident expert. "You can be on the committee," said Bengtson, well versed in Taylor's incredible durability, "along with 39 other guys.' That makes 40 - the Packers' regular season roster.
LIONS' RON KRAMER: 'WORKED OUT WONDERFUL FOR ME'
SEPT 5 (Cleveland-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - Looking inevitably strange in the Honolulu Blue and Silver of Detroit's Lions, hulking Ron Kramer candidly confided, "It has worked out wonderfully for me." "It," of course, was the former Packers' recent decision to leave Green Bay, his football home for seven years, and cast his lot with the Lions. "The biggest thing is that I am close to home, where I can take care of anything that may come up at the house (he lives in Royal Oak, Mich., a Detroit suburb)," Kramer explained as he struggled into his Detroit silks. Anxious to set the record straight, the massive ex-University of Michigan All-American end, "That's really all there was to it. I've always enjoyed Green Bay and the people. And there were never any bad words between Vinnie (Packer Coach Vince Lombardi) and me. It's just a matter that I had to be back in Detroit." "But it's still football," he pointed out with satisfaction. "It's all the same - everybody works hard." A former all-pro at right end, he noted, "I wasn't in a position to demand anything" when he sighed with the Lions as a defensive end, where he started the season, but obviously was happy to join the offensive platoon last week. Reporting he played "almost the entire second half against Cleveland last week," Kramer says he expects to share the position with incumbent Jim Gibbons, who started here Saturday night. His son, Curt, who suffered a freak eye injury that reportedly triggered Ron's decision to play out his Packer option and see employment with the Lions, "is coming along real fine," Ron revealed. "A cataract is forming on the eye, and the lens will have to have surgery, we aren't sure just when. It will be replaced by a contact lens." As he left, Kramer again emphasized, "I really would like to have people know there was nothing wrong between me and the coach. I have all the respect in the world for Lombardi. He's a tremendous coach, and I enjoyed playing for him."...Norm Masters, who announced his retirement the opening day of practice, came in from Detroit Saturday afternoon in time to fraternize with his ex-Packer colleagues before taking in the twin bill. Now engaged in a flourishing Detroit insurance business, Masters confessed without hesitation, "When you've been in football as long as I have, you have to miss it."...Commissioner Pete Rozelle and publicity director Jim Kensil of the NFL flew in from New York for the occasion...It was a sentimental journey for E.W. (Bud) Erickson, the Lions' assistant general manager and veteran publicity director. Erickson, who takes over as assistant to the president of the NFL's new Atlanta entry next Saturday, is making his last trip in behalf of the Lions. He has been in the Detroit front office since 1952...John McDowell, a Packer until last Monday when he was traded to the Giants for a future draft choice, presided at left tackle on New York's drive to its final touchdown in the waning minutes of the first game.
PACKERS CUT KOEPER, JIM THIBERT, ROBERTS
SEPT 7 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - With only Saturday night's exchange with the St. Louis Cardinals at Lambeau Field now remaining on the preseason agenda, the Packers' "championship" cast today approached its final form with the release of three more rookies. Before plotting their reception for the Cards, rated prime contenders for the NFL's Eastern Conference title, Vince Lombardi and his aides placed tight end Jim Thibert (Toledo U.), defensive back Jerry Roberts (Baldwin-Wallace) and offensive tackle Rich Koeper (Oregon State) on waivers. These moves reduced the roster to 43, the figure the Packers were required to reach by noon today. One more cut will have to be made - one week hence - when all NFL clubs must pare to the season-long limit of 40. The Pack's remaining 43 now include 38 veterans and five freshmen - offensive guard-tackle Eli Strand (Iowa State), center-linebacker Bill Curry (Georgia Tech), running backs Junior Coffey (Washington) and defensive tackle Rich Marshall (Stephen F. Austin). Saturday night's skirmish with the Cardinals hasn't officially been announced as a sellout, as yet, but less than 200 tickets were available as of noon today, according to Ticket Director Merrill Knowlton. The game will be highlighted by dedication ceremonies during which the stadium will be officially rechristened Lambeau Field in memory of the late E. L. (Curly) Lambeau, who founded the Packers in 1919 and coached them for 31 seasons...As might be expected, Lombardi was pleased with the manner in which the Packers dispatched the world champion Cleveland Browns over the weekend, but he evinced even greater satisfaction over the substantial role his youth movement played in the project. The Packer headmaster, who said the game film bore out his earlier observation that "we played a very fine football game, a very spirited game,' pointed out, "Marshall "rookie defensive tackle Rich) played three-quarters of the game, so did Voss (Lloyd, a sophomore). And Long (Bob, another second year man) played the entire game. Crutcher (Tommy, a sophomore linebacker) played over a half, Tom Brown (sophomore safety) three-quarters, and Jacobs (rookie running back Allen) better than a half. And next week," he beamed in summation, "Coffey (freshman running back Junior, plagued to date by a pulled muscle) will be ready." Lombardi also found satisfaction in the fact that Lee Roy Caffey had successfully functioned at "all three linebacker positions," and in Forrest Gregg's initial performance at left guard. "Gregg is going to play both guards and both tackles (which means Forrest shortly will be learning the lefty tackle assignment), Grimm (Dan) is going to play both guards, Thurston (Fuzzy) is going to play both guards," he enumerated. "That's what we're striving for - versatility." With injuries such a major factor now that the talent is so well distributed throughout the NFL, Lombardi indicated that, barring a full scale epidemic, he does not intend to again find himself in the position he did a year ago when the illness of Jerry Kramer and an injury to Thurston required him to reshuffled the entire offensive line in midseason. Continuing his analysis of the Pack's highly aggressive performance, Vince observed, "Starr completed 13 of 19 passes - and he could have had 17 of 19. Four of them were dropped, and they were easy drops." He also was happy to note, "Paul Hornung caught some key passes and was his old self down around the goal line." Elijah Pitts, it was suggested, likewise had been highly effective. Nodding his head, Lombardi declared, "Elijah's a great back."...PACKER PATTER: Today was moving day for the Pack, who checked out of their Sensenbrenner Hall quarters at St. Norbert College to make way for incoming students and temporarily transferred their effects to the Holiday Inn. They will officially break camp next Monday, prior to their NFL opener at Pittsburgh Sept. 19, when the players will move into their private residences...Monday was not a Packer holiday. Lombardi sent the Bays through a standard two-hour session under bleak skies, with special emphasis devoted to goal line plays. Bob Jeter, who sustained a rib injury in the second quarter of Saturday night's match, watch practice in sweat clothes but is expected to be ready for the Cardinals.
JACOBS 'SPITTING IMAGE' OF JIM TAYLOR AS ROOKIE
SEPT 8 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - "He's the spiting image of Jim Taylor in his rookie year here. He's built like him, he runs like him, acts like him, talks like him." The subject of this impromptu observation, delivered by a veteran member of the Packer family, has just "turned the corner" with Taylor-like abandon during Tuesday's rain-spattered practice session on South Oneida Street. Said subject was Allen Jacobs, the multi-muscled freshman from the University of Utah, one of only two rookie running backs remaining on the Pack's roster following yesterday's required reduction to 43. The genuine soul of modesty, Jacobs takes gentle issue with the comparison. "I don't think I should be compared with him," he says almost apologetically. "For one thing, Jimmy's a little quicker." As a matter of fact, the burly, 210-pound Los Angeles native is apologetic about his efforts to date, particularly in last weekend's match with the Cleveland Browns, which saw him undergo his first extensive test. "I made a lot of mistakes, a lot of blunders, Jacobs quietly confided, adding, "I get mixed up all the time, especially when the quarterback changes the play on a short count and I don't have time to adjust. In fact, one time I made a mistake and Bart (Starr) almost got it. He wound up with the ball, instead of me, I'd have been in a fine mess," he noted with a wry smile, "if he's gotten hurt." Be that as it may, the 210-pound Los Angeles native obviously has intrigued the Packer brain trust to some degree, or he would no longer be in evidence at this late date. And, despite his professed misgivings, it well could be linked to his performance in Cleveland, where he churned for 38 yards in 8 carries, an average of just under five yards per thrust. These figures proved of small consolation to the bull-shouldered Californian, however. "I missed a lot of holes," he imparted with a somber shake of the head. "When you don't practice live, it's hard to do. Coach Lombardi says to run for daylight, but sometimes it's pretty hard to adjust. It really was easy gaining what I did against the Browns. The linemen blocked well and there were always openings. Nobody had a real good shot at me. This is quite change from college - everything has to be perfect. A back doesn't only have to know how to run, but he has to know the defenses. But," brightening, he appended, "it's a lot of fun to run to daylight." He was convinced, then, it is the ideal approach? "Oh, I do," Jacobs replied with fervor. "If I'm ever a coach, this is how I'm going to do it."...The Packers, now 3-1 in grapefruit league competition, will be performing before their fourth sellout of the infant season in the St. Louis Cardinals at Lambeau Field. A capacity house has been assured, according to Publicity Director Tom Miller, who said the throng of 50,837 will bring the Packers' exhibition series total to 299,812 for the five appearances, which may be an all-time league record for preseason play. The figure included 67,945 for the Pack's Aug, 28 showing in the Dallas Cotton Bowl, a record for Dallas, and last Saturday night's 83,118 sellout in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, as well as the record 47,066 the Bays and Chicago Bears drew in Milwaukee County Stadium Aug. 21.
LEMM DISAPPOINTED IN CARDS' PERFORMANCES TO DATE, ISSUES WARNING
SEPT 8 (St. Louis) - The St. Louis Cardinals travel to Green Bay Saturday night for their final preseason NFL test after winning only one of their first four games, and Coach Wally Lemm has a warning for the Packers: "We just haven't played the type of football that I think we are capable of playing." With a 1-2-1 exhibition record, the
Cardinals had shown little of the potential for the Eastern Division crown that some observers think they will wear until they trampled Chicago 25-3 last week. "We finally got our offense going," said Lemm. "The most encouraging sign was the improvement in our running game."...CARDS APPEAR STRONGER: On the form chart, the Cardinals are an even stronger team than the outfit which missed the division crown by the margin of one tie last year and went on to conquer the Packers 24-17 in the runnerup bowl game. Running back Bill Triplett, who missed the 1964 season because of a lung illness, is recovered. So is pass catcher Sonny Randle, sidelined half of last season with a shoulder injury. And with the Cardinals have added kickoff return artist Abe Woodson, obtained from San Francisco. Returning are most of the regulars on the 1964 team, including quarterback Charlie Johnson, flanker Bobby Joe Conrad, and Randle's replacement, Billy Gambrell, who caught six passes for 184 yards and scored two touchdowns in the January victory over Green Bay. The defensive rush could ruffle Packer passer Bart Starr Saturday night. Against Chicago, the Cardinals intercepted four passes, threw quarterback Rudy Bukich for 48 yards in losses and held the Bears to a net aerial gain of just 26 yards.
STALLING PACES CARDS DEFENSE VS. PACKERS
SEPT 9 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - Charley Johnson, Sonny Randle, Bobby Joe Conrad, and Larry Stallings. That last name doesn't sound familiar? It may, and if so, to the Packers' discomfort, before they conclude their final preseason match with the ambitious St. Louis Cardinals in Lambeau Field Saturday night. Stallings, for the benefit of the uninitiated, is the Cards' left side linebacker, and a highly anti-social hombre, judging by his conduct in last Friday night's annual Armed Forces game in Chicago, when he became the first defensive player since 1957 to win the Eisenhower Trophy as the game's most valuable player by keying the Cards' bristling 25-3 triumph over the Bears. The militant third-year performer from Georgia Tech hurled Bear quarterback Rudy Bukich for losses on four occasions en route to winning the award, an item that should serve as an obvious warning to the Pack's Bart Starr, Dennis Claridge and Zeke Bratkowski, not to mention their pass protectors. How valuable is he to the Cardinal cause? It would be stretching a point to say his part-time absence cost the Big Red the NFL's 1964 Eastern Conference championship, but Cardinal publicity director Joe Pollack points out Stallings did not appear in a losing venture last season. "He missed six games because of a bad knee last year and came back against Philadelphia in our 11th game," Pollack revealed. "The difference became quite obvious and, of course, we won our last four games with him in there, as we had our first four." The visiting publicist also reported, "Stallings had two pass interceptions last season, one in each Cleveland game, and each one set up a touchdown." A substantial 6-2 and 235, the 23-year-old linebacker was a "sleeper" for the Cards two years ago, having been drafted a distant 18th. "He was one of the great crowd of rookies we had in 1963, when 11 of them made the ball club," Pollack noted. "Six of them are now starters, including Jerry Stovall, Sam Silas, Jimmy Burson and Stallings on defense, and Jackie Smith and Bob Reynolds on offense."...BASICALLY SAME CLUB: As a whole, the Cardinals are "basically the same club we were when we played the Packers in the Playoff Bowl at Miami last January," the St. Louis spokesman informed, "although we do have Triplett (Bill) back and Sonny Randle is healthy again." Triplett and Randle were not available in Miami. "Like Green Bay, it's hard for a rookie to make our club. We have a fairly young and experienced team." Although the Cards will canter into Lambeau Field with a modest 1-2-1 grapefruit record, they have produced "an excellent defensive effort all along," according to Pollack. "In the Baltimore game, for example, which we lost 22-10, a pass interception brought the ball down to our 2-yard line and the Colts got the ball on our 10-yard line when our punter dropped the snap from center. They accounted for two of their three touchdowns." "We lost to the Redskins, too, but they had been averaging over 30 points a game and we held them to 13 (13-7). Then we tied the 49ers 17-17 (and they're going to surprise a few people this year) before playing the Bears, who completed only four passes against us." He didn't make mention of it, but the Big Red's tight fisted defense has
yielded only 332 yards by passing in those four appearances, an average of only 83 per game, and only 36 enemy completions in 94 attempts, an anemic 39.4 percentage. "Offensive, we've come a little each week," Pollack said. "We've been coming up slowly. Maybe we're just building up momentum for the regular season. Hopefully, we are anyway." The only major addition to the Cardinal cast, Abe Woodson (acquired in the trade
The Phantom 1965 “CB” Helmet of the Cleveland Browns - What happened when the Browns finally placed a logo on the helmet sides?
The Cleveland Browns have one of the most iconic helmets in the National Football League (NFL). Why? Because the helmet is devoid of any logo or lettering. This is not the case in college football where a multitude of teams do not bear a logo on the helmet (with the exception of stripes). But in the NFL, every club has something adorned on their headgear – except the Browns. The only other franchise that is missing an emblem is the Pittsburgh Steelers who sport their team logo only on one side of the helmet while the other side is vacant. From their inception in 1933 and into the 1960s, the Steelers were perennial losers. In the early 1960s NFL and American Football League teams were experimenting with helmet designs. In 1962, Steelers’ owner Art Rooney asked his equipment manager, Jack Hart, to attach one decal as a test to the side of the then-yellow helmets only to see how they would look. Pittsburgh went 9-5-0 that year - their best record ever - and then qualified for the Playoff Bowl. Rooney called the single decal a sign of good luck. The following season the helmet color was changed to black with the lone decal now a mainstay. But the Browns are well-known for their obscure evacuated helmet space.
A New Owner and a New Coach
Blanton Collier had been an assistant coach under Cleveland head coach Paul Brown for 11 seasons. During World War II the two were stationed and coached at the Great Lakes Training Station in North Chicago, the U. S. Navy’s only boot camp. Brown was installed as head coach as Great Lakes competed against other major college football programs. When the Browns became a charter member of the upstart All American Football Conference, Coach Brown hired Collier as his top assistant where he ran the offense for eight years. During this marriage, Cleveland won four AAFC Championships and played in the NFL Championship Game four times, winning one title. Art Modell led an ownership group which bought the Browns in 1961 for $3.925 million. Unlike the two previous ownership groups, Modell was more hands-on as an NFL boss. In 1965 he forced Jim Brown, the league’s greatest running back and then-current MVP plus rushing champion, to retire. Collier had languished in the shadows of Paul Brown for many years as his top assistant and then accepted the head coaching position at the University of Kentucky from 1954-1961. In his absence, Cleveland won back-to-back NFL titles from 1954-1955. Coach Brown hired Collier back to the Browns for the 1962 season to again run his offense after Kentucky fired Collier. The two men had remained friends during the Kentucky years. But the franchise was in a much different place than when he left to coach college football. Despite his MVP status, Jim Brown and Coach Brown were always at odds plus Brown had traded away their second most productive offensive weapon, Bobby Mitchell, to the Washington Redskins for the rights to rookie Ernie Davis (who would never play). After the 1963 season, Modell fired Coach Brown after going 8-5-1 and 7-6-1 in his final two seasons and had missed the playoffs four consecutive years. Collier was then named head coach. In his first season, he turned Cleveland around with a 10-4-0 record and missed the playoffs by a single game. The Browns then captured the NFL Championship in 1964 with a 27-0 victory over the Baltimore Colts. This marked the fourth NFL title and eight league championships combined for the franchise.
A New Look
Fresh off the championship banner, the NFL approached Browns’ owner Modell about Cleveland finally adding a logo to their helmets. Modell conferred with Collier who had wanted to stamp his own name to the franchise in some way and not become known as the coach who won with Paul Brown’s players. So in 1965, they decided to join the rest of the NFL and add a logo motif to their helmets. “The NFL was just using television as a medium to promote their sport and wanted viewers to be able to know which teams were playing, so one-by-one teams put logos on their helmets,” said Paul Lukas, architect of the knowledgeable uniform site Uni-Watch.com and frequent ESPN columnist. “Just a few years earlier the Packers had gone from a solid helmet to adding a logo, and now the league wanted the Browns to follow suit.” In the 1950s, Browns’ trainer Leo Murphy had added a decal on the side of a single helmet to gauge Coach Brown’s reaction. Coach Brown quickly shot down the notion of any logo when he told Murphy that this particular team did not want to look like automobile racers on the playing field. And at one point, the Cleveland Plain Dealer sponsored a logo contest with the hopes that the team would finally add something to their helmets. Thousands of entries were submitted, but nothing ever became of this idea because the club itself wasn’t behind the efforts, nor even cared. But Coach Brown was now gone. Modell commissioned artist David Boss to craft a helmet design. Boss’ work comprised of the same orange shell with two brown stripes with a single center white stripe, but with a “CB” design added to each side of the helmets. The design basically was a capital “C” which had a tail at the bottom that engaged the top of a capital letter “B” but in italics, brown lettering with a thin white outline. Boss would eventually work at NFL Properties and was the force behind Pro! Magazine. He passed away in 1999. According to the folks at HelmetHut.com, an online football helmet gallery, they note that at one point (other than stripes) only the Los Angeles Rams, Baltimore Colts and Washington Redskins had helmet logos which meant all of the other clubs had blank helmets. The NFL pressured teams into adding a logo of some sort for television and also marketing. And at some point with the Browns the only holdover, they were next to get the call from the NFL for a change. The media was not included with information that included the new “CB” design displayed prominently on the helmet sides. The 1965 Cleveland media guide still displayed the solid orange helmet with a gray single bar facemask. In addition, the Browns played in the annual NFL Champs vs. the College All-Stars game and the program featured the usual 1964 helmet design instead of the new “CB” helmet. 1965 pocket schedules offered by the Cleveland Press were also devoid of the new design. Boss was later commissioned by the NFL to prepare oil paintings for every NFL club for use in advertisements and league publications. Quite a few teams used one of his paintings for the cover of their home game programs which featured every current NFL helmet divided into Eastern and Western Conferences. That same painting was also in use the following season including the cover of the 1966 NFL Championship Game between the Packers and Cleveland. The Browns’ helmet displayed is of the new “CB” logo. “It is not uncommon for a prototype to somehow get some traction even though the design never really makes the field,” surmised Lukas. “But in this instance, it looks like the Browns wanted the ‘CB’ helmet to become their new look and were sold on it.” The Browns had committed to the new look. In addition to the oil paintings, there were also “CB” renderings on lots of merchandise for adults and children available including playing cards, gumball machine mini-helmets, coasters, wall plaques, electric football games, pencil sharpeners, matted print reproductions of Boss’ artwork, and 13” Johnny Hero sports dolls. In addition, parents could buy their children an official Browns football uniform made by Macgregor for $11 at either W.T. Grants, May Department Stores or Higbees; which included shoulder pads, jersey, pants and a helmet complete with the new “CB” logo. But when exactly did the club wear these helmets? And why doesn’t anyone have any photos of the players wearing them?
Did the “CB” Helmet Actually Exist?
So far we know the Browns made an effort to add the new logo to their helmets and also keep the two brown stripes with a center white stripe. Products were made with the new logo’s image. Paintings were ordered and actually produced. When the Browns were in training camp at Hiram College, the “CB” logo was never on any player’s helmet. In those days, the Chicago Tribune sponsored an annual game with the current NFL champion against a group of blue-chip just drafted rookies called “The Chicago Charities College All-Star Game.” It was the league’s first pre-season game with the proceeds to benefit Chicago-area charitable causes. In 1965, the then-NFL champs Cleveland defeated the All-Stars 24-16 in a rain-soaked game. Navy star Roger Staubach led the college squad. The program for this annual game did not display anything related to the new “CB” logo nor did the players sport the new logo on their helmets in the August 6 contest. The Browns’ next pre-season opponents were road games against the San Francisco 49ers, Rams and Detroit Lions, then a home contest against the Packers, and finally a game against the Steelers played in Akron, Ohio. There are actual photos of those exhibition games against the 49ers, Rams, Lions and Steelers, and in every single game the “CB” logo is missing. That leaves the Packers home game in front of 83,118 and sporting a 4-0-0 pre-season record. Even though this was still an exhibition game, it was the first time the home crowd was able to see their NFL Champions in a game situation in anticipation of the September 19th opener in Washington against the Redskins.
Facts That We Know
According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, they have zero photos of any Browns’ player wearing a “CB” helmet. Any photograph from the 1965 Browns’ training camp is devoid of any logo. In the contest against the College All-Stars as well as five other pre-season games - still no “CB” logo. It has been rumored that the players wore the “CB” helmets against the Packers that pre-season and then later held a revolt and tore off the decals, but actual game photos of that Packers game depict a solid orange helmet without any emblem whatsoever. Plus, not a single player on that squad has said that actually happened. “No, we never saw the ‘CB’ helmets,” Collins offered of that 1965 season. “We never wore them and we were never shown a helmet with that sticker on the helmet sides. Just always the solid orange with the stripes.” During the 1965 season, every game program (home and away) does not don any photo of any player with this design. News clippings during the regular season from the Cleveland Plain Dealer also never depict any helmet with the “CB” logo. Other area newspapers that covered the Browns such as the Canton Repository and the Akron Beacon Journal do not have a single photograph of this new-fangled helmet design. “As a player, I never saw a helmet with the ‘CB’ logo but I did see something in a publication. Things back then were more different,” Wiggin said. “You were focused on making the team than fancy things. But I have no recollection of any of us players ever having a helmet with any logo on the sides. And if the Browns or the NFL wanted that ‘CB’ on the sides and they never used it, I don’t have a clue why they didn’t ever use it.” It is also a fact, that the new design went live and set in motion by Browns’ owner Art Modell between the 1964 Championship season and 1965; and that Modell fully intended for his Browns to sport the new logo during the entire 1965 year and beyond as a permanent mainstay. “There are a number of reasons why this design never made it to the field. It’s pretty clear the team was going to use it, but in the end scraped the project,” Lukas stated. “And once the Browns sent out the logo initially they simply couldn’t bring it back. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.”
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that sent John David Crow to the 49ers), "has played real well. We've used him some at cornerback, although he hasn't started a game, and on punts and kickoffs, of course. He's got a 29.2 yard average on kickoffs and he also scored our first touchdown against Baltimore on an interception."...PACKER PATTER: Willie Wood sparkled as the Packers took official note of the Cards' visit in Wednesday's practice, intercepting three passes against the Cardinal offense, as simulated by the Pack's attacking unit. Tom Brown also waylaid one "Cardinal" aerial. Convalescent Bob Jeter, who sustained a rib injury in last Saturday's Cleveland romp, donned full battle dress but did not take part in the contact...The day's only casualty was End Coach Tom Fears, who pulled a muscle in his left calf during calisthenics and limped through the balance of the session with the gimpy underpinning heavily bandaged.
PACKERS RECALL TWO LOSSES TO CARDINALS IN '64
SEPT 10 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - Professional football, as its names betokens, is played by its practitioners as a means of support. But powerful intangibles also are obviously involved, such as the inherent yen for contact, the intensity of which is most often the difference between victory and defeat. And, of course, not the least of these is pride, an item that looms large in the well disciplined camp of the Packers as they near Saturday night's collision with the St. Louis Cardinals in Lambeau Field. Prudent citizens, they are making no predictions, but there can be little doubt they vividly recall their two 1964 exchanges with the Cardinals, both St. Louis victories, and have more than passing interest in exacting a measure of revenge from their guests before a capacity house tomorrow night. All-pro Henry Jordan, a soft-spoken soul off the field, sums up the prevailing sentiment with deceptive mildness. "The team would kind of like to even the score," he drawled following Thursday's practice, "for those two consecutive defeats." This will not be easily accomplished, he admitted in the next breath. "They've got a good team, too," Jordan pointed out, "one of the best." As indicated, the home forces were not entirely happy with last year's relations with the Cards, which saw them surrender a 20-7 decision to the Big Red in their opening preseason venture at New Orleans, then closed out an 8-5-1 regular season campaign with a 24-17 loss to the St. Louisans in Miami last January. It was, in fact, one of a few times during Vince Lombardi's seven-year tenure that the Packers has lost twice to any opponent in a single season. Revenge, sweet as it might be, will not be the Bays' only incentive. They also would like to handle the Cards with dispatch for the psychological benefits, described in most quarters these days as "momentum," that would accrue as they head into next weekend's 1965 NFL inaugural at Pittsburgh. The Cardinals, of course, subscribe to the same thinking, which should produce some interesting pyrotechnics, particularly since the title-favored invaders will be coming off a 25-3 mauling of the Bears in last week's annual Chicago Armed Forces game. That, incidentally, was the Big Red's first success along the preseason trail, following 22-10 and 13-7 losses to the Baltimore Colts and Washington Redskins, respectively, and a 17-17 tie with the vastly improved San Francisco 49ers...PACKER PATTER: Left cornerback Bob Jeter took active part in practice Thursday for the first time since sustaining a cracked rib in last weekend's 30-14 rout of the Cleveland Browns, but may miss the Cardinal match. "I won't say he will play," Lombardi said today, "but he might. We have a few who aren't at their best, but everybody is likely to play." Doug Hart, who replaced Jeter in the second quarter at Cleveland and toiled the rest of the way, will draw the starting assignment...Although an early morning downpour had ended by the time the Packers took to the practice field, they did not escape unscathed. The rains returned near the end of the session, dousing all concerned, particularly quarterbacks Bart Starr, Dennis Claridge and Zeke Bratkowski and receivers Bob Long, Carroll Dale and Marv Fleming, who remained for some voluntary pass pattern work following practice...The Cardinals are scheduled to arrive at Austin Straubel Field at 1:30 this afternoon and headquarter at the Hotel Northland.
EYES FAIL, YOUTH TO SEE LAST GAME
SEPT 11 (Wausau) - Roger Behm, 11, of Wausau, may see his last professional football game tonight when he goes to Green Bay with his father, Charles, to watch the Packers play the St. Louis Cardinals in an NFL exhibition. The youngster has been blind in one eye since he was two. The family recently learned that he probably will lose the sight in the other eye soon. Roger and his mother will fly to Boston next Tuesday where a specialist will examine him and decide whether he can undergo laser treatment in a final effort to save his sight.
TITLE PREVIEW? PACK, CARDS MAY MEET JAN. 2
SEPT 11 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - A preview of Jan. 2? If a not inconsiderable number of the nation's football experts have read their crystal balls rightly, that is what will unfold tonight in Lambeau Field, where the Packers wrap up their preseason schedule against the recently obstreperous St. Louis Cardinals before a capacity crowd of 50,837 customers. The Pack, many of the aforementioned seers have publicly predicted, will forge to the NFL's Western Conference title while the Big Red is prevailing in the Eastern Conference. If such circumstances should evolve, tonight's antagonists obviously will return to the same premises for a frigid replay Sunday afternoon, Jan. 2, the day Commissioner Pete Rozelle has set aside to determine the NFL's 1965 champion. Preview or not, this one looms as the most strenuous assignment of the grapefruit season for the Packers, who will be encountering one of football's most miserly defenses. The Cardinals have not permitted an opponent to score more than two touchdowns since their first outing, when their own largesse contributed heavily to two of three Baltimore TDs in a 22-10 Colt victory...ALLOWS 3 TDS: In the interim, they have yielded the meager total of three to as many opponents in bowing to the Washington Redskins, 13-7, struggling to a 17-17 tie with the San Francisco 49ers, and humbling Chicago's Bears, 25-3, in their most recent venture last weekend. The Big Red has been particularly resistant to air attack, an item which has not escaped the Pack's attention. As a matter of fact, the Cards have been downright miserly in this category, restricting their four foes to a total 332 yards and a puny 39.4 percent completion record. They have been slightly more receptive to enemy rushes, having yielded 651 ground yards to those same four opponents, an average in excess of 160 per game. The Packers, who will be in search of their fourth success in five preseason exercises, will field the same format with which they subdued the defending world champion Cleveland Browns last weekend (30-14) - with one exception...HART TO START: Doug Hart is expected to open at left cornerback instead of Bob Jeter, last week's starter, who acquired a cracked rib while diving for an attempted tackle in the second quarter of the Cleveland affair. Jeter hasn't been ruled out by Coach Vince Lombardi, but is likely to see limited action, if any. Hart and his fellow defenders will be called upon to contend with a talent-laden Cardinal offense, featuring Charley Johnson, rated by Coach Wally Lemm the finest young quarterback in the NFL, gifted receivers such as Sonny Randle and Bobby Joe Conrad, and the rushes of the highly competent Billy Triplett, Prentice Gautt and Joe Childress, among others...The stadium will be official rechristened Lambeau Field in pregame dedication ceremonies, which will be climaxed by an address by Packer immortal Don Huston. Mayor Donald Tilleman will formally dedicate the stadium, and Don Lambeau will make the acknowledgment in behalf of the Lambeau family.
