cincibuck
You kids stay off my lawn!
We took the train from Dayton's Union Terminal right up to a siding next to Memorial Stadium, arriving a little more than a half hour before game time. My big sister was marching with the Fairmont High School band and so Mom, Dad and I tagged along. A Dayton bar had organized an excursion to the game and in spite of Ohio's Sunday blue laws, a club car was part of the train.
It was a bitterly cold day with the wind whipping off the lake and the scent of snow in the air. The Browns were the new kids on the block having embarrassed the old NFL by winning the league championship their first year. Their second season was running in the same direction. The Bears, a team the Browns had not yet played, bragged about coming to Cleveland and giving the upstarts a beating.
I ended up witnessing the most penalized game in NFL history, a record that still stands despite the Oakland Raiders and 60 seasons. All my favorite Browns, Otto Graham, Lou Groza, Mac Speedie, Dub Jones, Marion Motley, Horace Gillom, Bill Willis and Chuck Knoll made big plays. Two players, Groza and the Bear's nasty defensive end, Ed Sprinkle, were tossed out of the game. Sprinkle being pitched after a vicious clothesline tackle that broke Graham's nose. Flags were flying everywhere, including one time when the Browns were hit with three consecutive personal fouls.
We got back on the train and the club car was in full swing. It seems that the crew had spent the game resting there. Just outside of Mansfield the train ran out of water -- something the crew failed to take care of during the game -- without steam for the engine there was also no steam for the cars and we sat shivering while an engine was dispatched from the Columbus yard and backed up the line until it could connect with us.
Under normal circumstances an excursion run should have had us back home between seven and nine. We didn't get back until two in the morning. I didn't care. I'd seen my first NFL football game and taken my first train ride.
http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2009/11/this_day_in_browns_history_cle_1.html
It was a bitterly cold day with the wind whipping off the lake and the scent of snow in the air. The Browns were the new kids on the block having embarrassed the old NFL by winning the league championship their first year. Their second season was running in the same direction. The Bears, a team the Browns had not yet played, bragged about coming to Cleveland and giving the upstarts a beating.
I ended up witnessing the most penalized game in NFL history, a record that still stands despite the Oakland Raiders and 60 seasons. All my favorite Browns, Otto Graham, Lou Groza, Mac Speedie, Dub Jones, Marion Motley, Horace Gillom, Bill Willis and Chuck Knoll made big plays. Two players, Groza and the Bear's nasty defensive end, Ed Sprinkle, were tossed out of the game. Sprinkle being pitched after a vicious clothesline tackle that broke Graham's nose. Flags were flying everywhere, including one time when the Browns were hit with three consecutive personal fouls.
We got back on the train and the club car was in full swing. It seems that the crew had spent the game resting there. Just outside of Mansfield the train ran out of water -- something the crew failed to take care of during the game -- without steam for the engine there was also no steam for the cars and we sat shivering while an engine was dispatched from the Columbus yard and backed up the line until it could connect with us.
Under normal circumstances an excursion run should have had us back home between seven and nine. We didn't get back until two in the morning. I didn't care. I'd seen my first NFL football game and taken my first train ride.
http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2009/11/this_day_in_browns_history_cle_1.html
