how good was otto graham

Graham had almost the same numbers in the NFL as he did in the AAFC. [55] Cleveland had several long drives that ended with missed field goals, and a fourth-quarter touchdown was negated because Graham's throw to Pete Brewster was first tipped by receiver Ray Renfro; under rules in place at the time, balls deflected by offensive teammates were automatic incompletions. [4][18], Graham's career at Northwestern officially ended in February 1944, when he moved to Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, in the Navy's V-5 cadet program, a pilot training course. 6 were in the NFL and he won 3 of those (7 total). Graham, however, soon replaced Lewis in Brown's T formation offense. The winning did not stop there. Otto Everett Graham Jr. [74] He still holds the NFL career record for yards per pass attempt, averaging 8.63. "[63] Still, Graham finished the season as the NFL's leading passer and again won the Most Valuable Player award. [46] A safety after the ensuing kickoff made the final score 8–3. It is 100% free, so what are you waiting for? The critics were completely wrong with their assumption. [51] This time, however, the Rams won 24–17. The Waukegan … The men are rugged, they play hard, but they play clean. Otto Graham was born on December 6, 1921 in Waukegan, Illinois, USA as Otto Everett Graham Jr. However a stat that isn’t shared is yards per completion vs. Yards per attempt which you will find on the back of football cards and player stats used to compare all the greats. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. [66] Graham, meanwhile, told Brown that he would retire after the season. [16][83], When Graham retired from football, he planned to focus on managing the insurance and appliance businesses he owned. [32][43][44] The Browns' only two losses of the season had come against the Giants, but in a frozen Cleveland Stadium on December 17, Cleveland beat New York. [75] Without Graham, the Browns floundered the following year and posted a 5–7 record, their first-ever losing season. [2] Encouraged by his parents, both of whom were music teachers (his father having taught famous comedian Jack Benny),[3] he took up several instruments: the piano, violin, cornet and French horn. [103], In 1974, Graham was named Coast Guard's football coach once again, although he resigned two years later to focus on his duties as athletic director. Young Otto became proficient in violin, cornet, piano, and French horn. [110] In 2014, a new gymnasium at Waterford Country School was dedicated to Otto Graham's memory. After seven years there, he was hired as head coach of the Washington Redskins in 1966. So why isn’t Otto more recognized for his greatness, when his championship appearance 10 years in a row winning 7 world championships?! [67] After losing the first three games, Cleveland won eight in a row and earned another shot at the championship, again against the Lions. [30][31][32] The Browns won that game, touching off a period of dominance. About Us. The AAFC's first season was not set to start until the fall of 1946, and Graham occupied the intervening months by joining the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League (NBL), a forerunner of the National Basketball Association. The west coast offense was decades away and the forward pass was ran in a simple fundamental way that typically was used on 3rd and long situations. Graham told police that while he and Beverly liked the Sheppards, they did not know much about their relationship. History Now: Peyton Manning Claims All-Time Passing Record, How Mike Ditka Stole Super Bowl Glory From Walter Payton, Otto Graham: The Greatest Quarterback Ever, The History Of The Three-Point Line In The NBA. [4][5] Graham also excelled in athletics, and attended Northwestern University on a basketball scholarship in 1940. Paul Brown, Cleveland's coach, signed Graham to play for the Browns, where he thrived. [71] He was offered a salary of $25,000 ($238,602 today), making him the highest-paid player in the NFL. Concerned that Graham was not ready to start, Brown put in Cliff Lewis at quarterback in the first game of the season. [6][7] He was able to stay at Northwestern as he waited to be called for active duty. "Nothing would induce me to come back", he said later. [6] There he played on the varsity basketball team as a freshman and continued to study music. Otto received a Basketball scholarship from Northwestern University in 1941. Graham was a starting defensive back … Many modern football fans have never even heard the name Otto Graham. They were not small players and they were extremely athletic in multiple sports. In total Graham led the Browns to 10 straight championship games with them winning 7 of them. He drove the offense downfield as time expired to set up a last-minute Groza field goal that sealed the win. Otto Graham. He was an actor, known for Cavalcade of America (1952), The NFL on CBS (1956) and The Ed Sullivan Show (1948). "He was not aloof, which you see a lot of times today. [16][17][18] Graham set another Big Ten passing record, was named the conference's Most Valuable Player, received All-American honors and finished third in Heisman Trophy voting. However, it would be on a variety of athletic fields where Graham's talents would manifest, making him the most famous native of Waukegan since comedian Jack Benny. Otto Graham was the best quarterback not only in Cleveland but in the NFL. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. [41] His short passes were hard and accurate, teammates later said, and his long balls were soft. [60] Despite an 11–1 record, Cleveland lost in the championship game for the third year in a row, falling to the Detroit Lions 17–16. [106] After eight more years as the school's athletic director, Graham retired in 1984. Otto Everett Graham Jr. (December 6, 1921 – December 17, 2003) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). [38] Graham was the AAFC's all-time leading passer, throwing for 10,085 yards and 86 touchdowns. [64] Graham threw two touchdowns and ran for two more as the Browns beat the Rams 38–14. Cowherd had the nerve to say he didn’t want to hear about guys like Otto Grahama who played in the “no face mask era”. QB Info; Stats; Advertising. [4], Graham's first game for the Northwestern Wildcats football team was on October 4, 1941, when he caught a Kansas State punt and returned it 90 yards for a touchdown. [25], Graham wore number 60 for much of his career, but he was forced to change it to 14 in 1952 after the NFL passed a rule requiring offensive linemen to wear jersey numbers 50–79 so referees could more easily identify ineligible receivers. [7][13], The following year Graham and some of his teammates enlisted in the military but continued to play for Northwestern. With Graham at quarterback, the Browns posted a record of 57 wins, 13 losses, and one tie, including a 9–3 win–loss record in the playoffs. He ran and passed for two more touchdowns in the 51–3 victory. [56] After the season, as Graham was practicing for the Pro Bowl in Los Angeles on January 2, 1953, his six-week-old son Stephen died from a severe cold. Graham had a rating of 99.1 against the AAFC and a rating of 78.1 against the NFL. [26] In March 1946, the Royals swept a best-of-five series against the Sheboygan Red Skins to win the NBL title. Despite his reservations about the professional game, Graham, who moonlighted as a television and radio commentator for the American Football League's New York Jets in 1964 and 1965, left the Coast Guard Academy after seven years in 1966 to become head coach and general manager of the NFL's Washington Redskins,[94][95][96] Graham's three seasons (1966–1968) were similarly unsuccessful, with an overall record of 17–22–3. He didn’t throw as many TDs as others But again in that era, you ran the ball in the red zone…although I bet Otto would have preferred to run a play action, or bootleg and let his arm out points on the board He was one of the first inductees into the Hall Of Fame in 1965. The only years during this period where they did not win a championship was 1951, 1952 and 1953. The only argument that any one might have against Graham would be that the playoffs were shorter with less games when he played. At the time the Browns played in the All American Football Conference (AAFC). [49], Cleveland posted an 11–1 record in 1951, losing their only game to the San Francisco 49ers in the season opener. [1] The Browns retired his number 14, while 60 remains in circulation. America has a rich history of sports, tap into it here! LTP is going to stage Otto Graham next week so that everyone in this generation can have an appreciation for how good the Northwestern great really was. Playoffs were shorter but still impressive. The Graham Goode Performance centre employs over 25 people (many long-term employees), and holds a stock of over 180,000 product lines. The Browns were not expected to be as dominant in the NFL. Otto Graham was one of the great quarterbacks in National Football League (NFL) history.Possessed of a powerful arm and pinpoint accuracy, Graham almost single-handedly transformed pro football from a running … He played Tailback and quarterback at Northwestern culminating in a senior year where he was named the Big 10 MVP and was third in the voting for the Heisman trophy. I believe his career avg was 16 yards…one season was 19 yards per completion! When Paul Brown began organizing the Cleveland Browns team to play in the new All-America Football Conference (AAFC), the first player he signed was Otto Graham, a tailback from Northwestern University. When men get into big time football, they’re good enough not to have to play dirty. Graham will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. [41] "I remember his tremendous peripheral vision and his great athletic skill, as well as his ability to throw a football far and accurately with just a flick of his arm", Brown said. Otto Graham goes for a pass in Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. Otto Graham led the Cleveland Browns to the championship game in each of his 10 seasons as the team's quarterback. Thank you great info- Hard to argue against him being the best. He was the 1st and possibly the biggest Cleveland sports star ever. Graham was discovered playing intramural football his freshman year at Northwestern and was asked to play College Football. [99][100] He coached the college team in the College All-Star Game in 1970 for his tenth and final time. While I’ve had the knowledge of how great of an athlete he was, it always made me wonder how his legacy was somehow lost by the sports media when he should be talked about as much as other great athletes of his era, Joe DiMaggio, Bill Russel and Joe Louis.

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