What is a Brown, anyway? Good question. In this case, the Brown is Paul Brown, who became the team鈥檚 first head coach when it was a member of the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949 before joining the NFL in 1950. Originally, Cleveland Panthers was selected in a name-the-team contest, but a local businessman blocked its use because he still owned the rights to that name, which had been adopted by a defunct 1926 team that played in the first American Football League. A second name-the-team contest was held to find a replacement, and since many people had already taken to calling it 鈥淏rown鈥檚 team,鈥� Browns became the popular choice. Although Paul Brown wasn鈥檛 crazy about the idea, it worked for Ohioans, who admired Brown鈥檚 incredible record as a high school coach in Massillon, Ohio, and for guiding Ohio State to a national championship. At various times, the team has used a cartoon creation called Brownie the Elf as a mascot, but it has never been used as a logo on the team鈥檚 helmets, maybe because he鈥檚 a little too childish looking.
TONY DEJAK/AP
