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. Despite his ambition, not even the future Hall of Fame coach could have foreseen ten league championship appearances and seven titles in the team's first ten years. Since their first game, the Cleveland Browns have come to symbolize power, excellence, and gridiron dominance. Now fans of one of the NFL’s most storied teams will recapture all the excitement and glory of Browns football in this newly revised edition of Tales from the Cleveland 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. Fans will discover the unlikely origin of the Marion Motley trap play, the scout's inside story behind "the mad dog in the meat market,” the insult that launched Brian Sipe's rise from a thirteenth-round draft pick to the league's Most Valuable Player, and so much more. From Jim Brown to Bernie Kosar and up through the modern era, this book captures the colorful characters who wore the plain white uniforms and blank orange helmets like never before.

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 Cleveland 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 Cleveland 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.

If you remember the Kardiac Kids … the Dawgs … the old Stadium … Bernie and Marty and Ozzie … this book is for you! Like a Classic throwback jersey, it recalls favorite players and exciting moments from Cleveland Browns teams of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and more. They played it old-school. Doug Dieken set the NFL record for consecutive starts by a left tackle despite three knee surgeries, broken hands and thumbs, torn tendons, a broken arm and “a concussion or two. Maybe four or six. Hard to know.” Ozzie Newsome never expected to play tight end when he was drafted, then practically reinvented the position on his way to the Hall of Fame. Bernie Kosar carried a massive weight on his young shoulders as a hometown hero leading the Browns during years when the team offered a ray of hope to a downtrodden city. Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack together formed one powerhouse backfield and separately dealt admirably with adversity. Phil Dawson discovered that despite popularity and longevity, “Every kick could be your last.” Also includes Gregg Pruitt, Brian Sipe, Marty Schottenheimer, Reggie Langhorne, Brian Brennan, Bill Belichick, Tim Couch, Phil Dawson, and others. These insightful short profiles will entertain Browns fans of any vintage!

For the city of Cleveland and the fans of the Browns, it’s not just a football team: it’s a way of life. From rabid fan clubs all around the country to fans around Northeast Ohio wearing the colors of the brown and orange, time stops when the Browns take the field each week. The team joined the NFL in 1950 and won a championship in their first year in the league, and went on to win three more, the last of which was 1964 when they shutout the Baltimore Colts 27-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Since then fans have been waiting, through good years and bad, for the glory to return to the Browns franchise. They have had to endure the harshest of defeats, losing three times to the Denver Broncos in the 1980’s on the doorstep of playing in their first Super Bowl. They also had to live out the nightmare of their franchise being ripped away during the 1995 season, as then owner Art Modell moved them to Baltimore in one of the most shocking moves in NFL history. This book will give you an idea of the fanfare and the love that former players and fans have for the Cleveland Browns. Read as Bernie Kosar, Ozzie Newsome, Don Cockcroft, Eric Metcalf, and other beloved players remember the glory days, with exciting trips to the postseason. You’ll understand after reading this just how much Cleveland loves its football team, and how the players feel the same. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

It’s difficult to imagine today—when the Super Bowl has virtually become a national holiday and the National Football League is the country’s dominant sports entity—but pro football was once a ramshackle afterthought on the margins of the American sports landscape. In the span of a single generation in postwar America, the game charted an extraordinary rise in popularity, becoming a smartly managed, keenly marketed sports entertainment colossus whose action is ideally suited to television and whose sensibilities perfectly fit the modern age. America’s Game traces pro football’s grand transformation, from the World War II years, when the NFL was fighting for its very existence, to the turbulent 1980s and 1990s, when labor disputes and off-field scandals shook the game to its core, and up to the sport’s present-day preeminence. A thoroughly entertaining account of the entire universe of professional football, from locker room to boardroom, from playing field to press box, this is an essential book for any fan of America’s favorite sport.

When the Cleveland Browns selected Bernie Kosar in the 1985 Supplemental draft, few knew just how much that would impact the next decade of Cleveland Browns football. They were coming off of a rough patch, but had a long history of winning. The fans were passionate and ready to support a winner. What happened next was a decade of ups and downs the likes of which were dramatic enough that it often seemed like a Hollywood script was unfolding before our very eyes. There was a drive, a fumble, even retired quarterback Don Strock made his return straight off of a golf course. Beloved coach, Marty Schottenheimer, left and Bud Carson arrived to take the Browns back to the verge of the Super Bowl in 1990, only to fall short, once again being defeated by the emerging icon, John Elway, wearing number seven for the Denver Broncos. Bill Belichick would arrive soon after in 1991, a visionary before his time that never quite got it with the Browns, and by the time he departed, cut a hometown hero and was the captain of sinking ship as Modell announced the move on that dreadful November day. One could wonder what would have happened had the Browns not left Cleveland in 1995, but no one can dispute the absolute thrill ride the hometown boy, Bernie Kosar, from Boardman Ohio took us all on for ten glorious years. This is the story of Cleveland Browns, the passionate fans and a decade that truly was the last great era in Cleveland football. Interviews include Brian Brennan, Reggie Langhorne, Tommy Vardell, Leroy Hoard, Matt Stover, Ed Sutter, George Lilja, Felix Wright, Brian Kinchen, Brian Hansen, and Michael Jackson

A classic NFL/civil rights story—the showdown between the Washington Redskins and the Kennedy White House In Showdown, sports historian Thomas G. Smith captures a striking moment, one that held sweeping implications not only for one team’s racist policy but also for a sharply segregated city and for the nation as a whole. Part sports history, part civil rights story, this compelling and untold narrative serves as a powerful lens onto racism in sport, illustrating how, in microcosm, the fight to desegregate the Redskins was part of a wider struggle against racial injustice in America.