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About Lou Groza
Lou Groza is of one of the all-time greats in
football history, Lou “The Toe” Groza. After starring in high school
in Martins Ferry, Ohio, and playing a season at Ohio
State University, Lou was drafted in the United
States Army for service in World War II, where he
was stationed in the Philippines and Okinawa. While
he was in the Army, Lou received a letter from Paul
Brown, his coach at Ohio State. Brown had just been
named the head coach of the new Cleveland Browns in
the All-America Football Conference, and he wanted
Lou to be a member of the first Browns’ team. Upon
being discharged in early 1946, Lou went to
Cleveland, a place he would never leave.
Lou ended up playing 21 magnificent seasons for the
Browns. He began his career as both an offensive
tackle and a kicker. In 1954, Lou was named the
NFL’s Player of the Year. After a back injury forced
him to sit out the entire 1960 season, Lou came back
solely as the kicker, a role that he maintained
until he retired. This was the first time in NFL
history that a player had appeared on a roster
exclusively as a kicker.
Lou’s greatest moment as a football player occurred
on Christmas Eve, 1950. The Browns, in their first
season in the NFL, were down 28-27 to the Los
Angeles Rams in the 1950 NFL Championship Game. With
28 seconds remaining, the Browns turned to Lou to
kick a 16-yard field goal. With the championship
hanging in the balance, Lou nailed the kick and
Cleveland won 30-28.
When he retired in 1967, Lou left a legacy that is
still unmatched in NFL history. The 1,608 career
points he scored is still a Browns’ franchise
record, and he ranks third all-time in league
history. Lou was a nine-time All-Pro and won an
amazing eight championships, four in the AAFC
(1946-1949) and four in the NFL (1950, 1954-1955,
1964). That puts Lou in an elite group of athletes
that includes Bill Russell, Joe DiMaggio, and
Maurice Richard as the greatest winners in
professional team sports history. The Browns retired
his number, 76, in 1968, and in 1974, the name of
Lou Groza was etched into football immortality when
he was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The influence Lou Groza had on the Cleveland Browns
franchise is still evident today, and it is not
confined to the myriad of team records that he still
holds. When the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999,
they honored Lou with one final tribute – their
training facility in Berea, Ohio, is located on 76
Lou Groza Boulevard.
It only seems appropriate that when every current
and future Cleveland Browns player goes into work,
he will have to drive down a road named for the
heart and soul of the franchise. As teammate Doug
Dieken said upon Lou’s death in 2000, “I don’t know
if he is the greatest Cleveland Brown, but he is THE
Cleveland Brown.”
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