Browns Scrapbook

A Fond Look Back at Five Decades of Football, from a Legendary Cleveland Sportswriter

by Chuck Heaton

  • Format: Softcover, 208 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 inches
  • Illustrations: 24 black-and-white photographs
  • ISBN: 978-1-59851-043-0
  • Price: $14.95
Description

Hall of fame football writer Chuck Heaton spent an incredible five decades covering the Cleveland Browns— the “ old Browns” teams that fans still miss. He reported on the Browns for the Plain Dealer from 1946 to 1993— nearly the entire history of the original Cleveland franchise!

In this series of memoirs, written shortly before his retirement, Heaton reminisces about the great players he got to know, like Jim Brown, Otto Graham, and Leroy Kelly; masterful head coach Paul Brown; colorful characters like equipment manager Morrie Kono; even notorious Browns rivals like Oilers' coach Jerry Glanville and Steelers' owner Art Rooney. He recalls the relaxed atmosphere of training camp at Hiram College, and shares tales of life on the road with the team (including some memorably bad hotels).

If you're a Browns fans who remembers the old teams, you'll fondly recall the glory days in these old-fashioned, personal stories. If you're a younger Browns fan, you'll find out why everyone still longs for them.

Book Excerpt:
Spirit of Togetherness Permeated Camps at Hiram

That was the comment of Preston Carpenter in 1956 to a woman standing next to him as they looked out the window of a sitting room in the Centennial Dormitory at Hiram College.

Katie Brown just smiled in reply. She probably never told her husband— coach Paul Brown— about this initial reaction of the running back, the first draft pick from Arkansas.

The Browns spent 26 summers in that bucolic, beerless spot, and I was with them for 24 of those years. It all started for me on a warm Sunday afternoon in 1954 after a drive down Route 82 from Cleveland.

My car radio was tuned to an Indians doubleheader against the New York Yankees from the Stadium. The Tribe had been my first sports love since joining the Plain Dealer eight years earlier.

The club was on its way to win 111 games and the American League pennant. But my assignment had been changed and I was being tried out as the Browns beat writer.

In assigning me to the Browns beat a few days earlier, Plain Dealer Sports Editor Gordon Cobbledick warned: “ We'll see what kind of a job you do. This is a very important beat.”

Never did I think that it would be so much fun, or that this would become an assignment that would occupy most of my working days for 24 years.

Memories of those summers at Hiram College and Kent State University flood back each year as Cleveland's pro football team prepares for another training camp.

Hiram College and the quiet town at the intersection of Routes 82 and 700 turned out to be a second home. The media people were housed with the players in those days and usually went home only on . . . [ Read More Free Samples ]

About Chuck Heaton
Chuck Heaton

In 1980 Chuck Heaton was honored with a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he received the prestigious Dick McCann Memorial Award, awarded to one journalist each year for a lifetime of excellence in football reporting. Heaton began writing as a city reporter for the Plain Dealer in 1942, earning $50 a week, and stayed with the paper for 51 years. In 1946 he eagerly accepted a job writing in the sports department and in 1954 began covering the Browns as a football writer. Heaton was one of the first electors to the Hall of Fame in 1963 and served in that role for thirty years. In 1990 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cleveland Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He was elected to the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame in 1992. He retired from the Plain Dealer on October 1, 1993. He was chosen by Leroy Kelly to be his presenter when Kelly was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994. More About Chuck Heaton

Contains References to:

Paul Brown, Jim Brown, Hiram College, Otto Graham, Dick Schafrath, Art Modell, Casey Coleman, Bob Gain, Paul Wiggin, Marion Motley, Blanton Collier, Jerry Sherk, Abe Gibron, Lou Groza, Bobby Mitchell, Brian Sipe, Red Right 88, Forrest Gregg, Sam Rutigliano, Morrie Kono, Leo Murphy, Dr. Vic Ippolito, Ernie Green, Gene Hickersonm, Leroy Kelly, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Arthur Rooney, O.A. Phillips, Houston Oilers, Jerry Glanville, Chuck Noll, Jack Lambert, Detroit Lions, Joe Namath, San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Colts, Dante Lavelli, Bill Willis, Paul Warfield, Mike McCormack, Frank Gatski,

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