![]() They won the AAFC championship all four times, and Graham led the league in passing yards in three of them.Īfter the AAFC folded after the 1949 season, Cleveland joined the NFL, where the wins kept coming the Browns defeated the Los Angeles Rams to win the NFL championship in their first season, then lost three title games in a row before finishing Graham’s career with back-to-back championships. Notable achievement: He led the Cleveland Browns to a championship game appearance in each of his 10 seasons, a feat even Tom Brady can't match.įor Graham’s first four professional seasons, the Browns played in the All-America Football Conference, an upstart rival to the NFL. Otto Graham (1946-1955)Ĭleveland's Otto Graham ran for a touchdown against the Chicago Bears in this 1955 game. He also has the finest pair of working hands in football, as fast as a rattlesnake’s strike.” 3. He is also a first-class runner and one of football’s greatest defensive backs. “Baugh is something more than football’s greatest passer," Grantland Rice, then the most famous sportswriter in America, wrote in 1943. he threw for four touchdowns and intercepted four-one of the greatest performances in league history. In a 42-20 win over Detroit on November 14, 1943. Notable achievements: In 1943, he led the NFL in completions (133), punting average (45.9) and interceptions (as a defensive back) with 11.īaugh, who spent his entire NFL career with Washington, played offense, defense and special teams-commonplace during the era. In his rookie season in 1937, he threw for 335 yards-a remarkable figure for the time-and three touchdowns in a 28-21 win over Chicago.īaugh's 1943 season was the most striking example of his multi-faceted greatness. Washington's Sammy Baugh signed autographs for fans during a late 1940s practice. READ MORE: 10 Extraordinary Pro Football Hall of Fame Classes 2. ![]() “He was the first ‘real’ quarterback in the NFL,” Kendle says. The move paid off handsomely for the Giants, as Friedman threw 20 touchdowns in 1929, as many as the bottom seven teams in the league combined. He worked on strengthening his hand and forearm, developed a throwing motion that kept his arm close to his body and close to his ear and even adjusted his grip to be better suited to the football of that time.įriedman was so influential that the Mara family, owners of the New York Giants, purchased his 1928 team, the Detroit Wolverines, mainly to acquire his rights. The mechanics of quarterbacking that are taken for granted today came from Friedman's innovations. "He wrote books about throwing the football in a time when the football was very large and wasn’t easy to throw,” says Jon Kendle, director of archives and football information at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Notable achievements: He was a four-time All-Pro and modernized the forward pass in the NFL.įriedman, who played for the Cleveland Bulldogs, Detroit Wolverines, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers during an eight-year career in the NFL, was instrumental in developing the throwing motion for the sport.
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