While we recognize that Memorial Day is meant to commemorate those who lost their lives serving in the military, ClevelandBrowns.com would like to take the time to remember all those Browns players who served their country over the years...
Even when it comes to military service, the Browns are well-represented in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
And that's a good thought for Browns fans to have over this Memorial Day weekend.
Three Browns -- Don Steinbrunner, Alex Agase and Weldon Humble -- are featured prominently in the first of the HOF's several planned traveling exhibits, "Pro Football and the American Spirit: The NFL and the U.S. Armed Forces."
The warmup jacket Steinbrunner wore while with the Browns in 1953, his only season in the NFL, and the Purple Heart he was awarded in Vietnam, are both included.
He served in the Air Force, becoming one of just two former NFL players to have lost his life in the Vietnam War when his plane was short down over Kontum, South Vietnam on July 20, 1967. The other player is Bob Kalsu, who played with the Buffalo Bills in the late 1960s.
But unlike Kalsu, who was immediately memorialized nationwide, Steinbrunner's story fell through the cracks until surfacing in 2004.
Agase, a guard with the early Browns, and Humble, a linebacker and one of his teammates, are in a display entitled, "The Parallel Careers of Two NFL Soldiers; They Must Have Been Born Under the Same Star."
Agase and Humble went into the Marines to serve in World War II on the same day, July 1, 1943, and even were in the same regimen. Agase got hit by enemy fire at one point and was evacuated, and Humble was his replacement.
Following the war, both went back to college to finish their football careers, Agase to Illinois and Humble to Rice.
Both men began their pro careers in 1947 in the All-America Football Conference, Agase serving as a guard with the Los Angeles Dons and Chicago Rockets and Humble playing linebacker with the Browns. Agase went to the Browns in 1948 and he and Humble were teammates together on three straight league championship teams through 1950.
Both played four seasons with Cleveland, Agase through '51 and Humble through '50.
Agase retired -- temporarily -- after the 1951 season and then returned to the field in '53 with the Baltimore Colts, after which he retired for good. But in between, he served as an assistant coach in 1952 with the Dallas Texans.
Humble was out of football in 1951 and then went to the Texans in '52 for one final season as a player, where he was reunited with Agase yet again.
The two men, seemingly joined at the hip since 1943, at long last went their separate ways following the 1952 season, ending one of the most unique and interesting relationships in the history of pro football."
But long before the HOF came up with this exhibit, the history of the Browns and the military, and how they're indelibly linked, could be found in the team's media guide -- or press book, as it was called then -- in that inaugural season of 1946.
The biographical information about nearly every single player listed contains a reference to their war service:
Tackle Chet Adams -- Entered the Army in February 1944 as a private and was discharged as a first lieutenant in June 1946. Served in the Corps of Military Police.
Halfback Al Akins -- Served 32 months with the Marines, leaving with the rank of first lieutenant. Saw service in Guam, Saipan and Japan and won the Presidential Unit Citation.
Tackle Ernie Blandin -- Served 3½ years in the Navy, including a year in the Marshall Islands and three months in Hawaii.
Guard George Cheroke -- Was in the Army Air Forces more than four years, 19 months of which were in the European Theatre. Rose to the rank of captain.
Halfback Tom Colella -- Served in the Marine Corps from July 1942 to August 1943.
End Alton Coppage -- Served in the Army Air Corps for 31 months. Was overseas with the 20th Air Force.
Tackle Jim Daniell -- Won the Silver Star for heroism aboard a destroyer off Okinawa. Held the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre ribbon with nine battle stars.
Halfback Fred "Dippy" Evans -- Served in the Army Air Corps for three years, from February 1943 until January 1946. Got lost one night in a fighter plane and had but three minutes of gas left when he finally landed.
Fullback Gene Fekete -- Served in the Army from April 1943 until June 1945.
Center Frank "Gunner" Gatski -- Served 3½ years in the Army Infantry, including 18 months in the ETO.
Quarterback Otto "Otts" Graham -- Entered the Navy on Feb. 14, 1944 and was discharged Sept. 19, 1945.
Halfback Don "Slooie" Greenwood -- Enlisted in the Army Air Corps.
Tackle Lou "Chief" Groza -- Entered the Army's Medical Dept. in the Infantry. In the service for three years, spending six months on Leyte, five months on Okinawa, two in Hawaii and six in the Philippines.
End John Harrington -- Served in the Central Pacific before ending his tour of duty as a first lieutenant in early 1946.
Guard Lin Houston -- Was in the Army from May 1943 until February 1946. Served in New Guinea and the Philippines.
Halfback Edgar "Special Delivery" Jones -- Entered the Navy in April 1942 and was discharged in October 1945.
Guard Alex "Tata" Kapter -- Was a Naval pilot.
End Dante Lavelli -- Entered the Army in 1943 and served in France, Belgium and Germany.
Halfback Bill Lund -- Served as an ensign aboard a Navy destroyer in the Pacific Theatre.
Center Mel "Mac" Maceau -- Served for more than three years in the Army Air Forces, including 27 months in the China-Burma-India Theatre. Won two Bronze Stars and a Presidential Unit Citation.
Fullback Marion Motley -- Served in the Navy.
End John "Rock" Rokisky -- Served as a Navy athletic instructor for four years, including 11 months at Pearl Harbor.
Tackle Lou Rymkus -- Entered the Navy in March 1944 as an athletic instructor and served until early in 1946. Was stationed nine months at Pearl Harbor.
Quarterback Lou Saban -- Entered the Army in 1943 and had attained the rank of first lieutenant by the time of his discharge in 1946. Was utilized as an interpreter in China.
Center Mike "Mo" Scarry -- Interrupted his schooling to enlist in the Army and served with the Infantry in the African Campaign.
Fullback Gaylon Smith -- Enlisted in the Navy.
End Mac "Speed" Speedie -- Enlisted in the Army in March 1942 and was discharged as a first lieutenant in June 1946. Served in reconditioning work in the medical corps.
Halfback Bob Steuber -- Served in the Navy.
Halfback Ray Terrell -- Joined the Marines two months after Pearl Harbor (February 1942) and left the service as a second lieutenant in April 1946. Spent 10 months in the Pacific Theatre, plus three months in Japan.
Guard Ed Ulinski -- Entered the service May 7, 1942, terminating his Army career exactly four years to the day, on May 7, 1946, as a captain in the Army Air Forces. Served six months in the West Indies, during which time his B-29 made a forced landing in Cuba.
End John "Jumbo" Yonakor -- Enlisted in the Marines on June 6, 1942 (exactly two years before D-Day), and was called to active duty 13 months later. Served in the Southwest Pacific. Discharged in May 1946.
End George "Pordy" Young -- Entered the Navy in 1943.
Groza always told the story that, when actually in a fox hole while serving in Okinawa in 1945, he signed his first contract with the Browns.
So in a lot of ways, then, maybe that's where this link between the Browns and the military had its roots.
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