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RIP Art Modell


AmishBengalFan

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[url="http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8343621/former-ravens-owner-art-modell-dies-87"]http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8343621/former-ravens-owner-art-modell-dies-87[/url]

One of the most important figures in NFL history passed away today. Mr. Modell was 87 years old.

[img]http://r1wolbbaltimore.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/art-modell.jpg?w=597[/img]


Godspeed, Art.

Rest In Peace.
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I'm not sure if I have the story right but didn't Art buy the Browns from Paul Brown and since he felt like it would never be 'his' team as long as Paul was around, (who I believe was an owner and the coach), fired P Brown shortly afterwards? There's no soft spot in my heart for Art Modell.
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Brown was fired in January 1963 amid a power struggle with Modell. From Wikipedia:

Linky: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Brown"]http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Paul_Brown[/url]

[quote]As Jim Brown's star rose, players began to question Brown's leadership and play-calling in the late 1950s. The skepticism came to a head in a game against the Giants at the end of the 1958 season in which a win or tie would have given the Browns a spot in the championship. In the third quarter, the Browns drove to the Giants' 16-yard line with a 10–3 lead and lined up for a field goal. But Brown called a timeout before Groza could make the try, which put the Giants on watch for a possible fake. Brown indeed called a fake, and the holder stumbled as he got up to throw. The Giants came back to win the game by a field goal and reach the championship, while the Browns went home without a spot in the title game for the second year in a row.

Brown blamed the struggles on quarterback Milt Plum, who the team had drafted in 1957, saying the Browns had "lost faith in Plum's ability to play under stress." But the players were instead losing faith in Brown and his autocratic style. Jim Brown started a weekly radio show, which Paul Brown did not like; it undercut his control over the team and its message. But the coach found it hard to question Brown given his feats on the field, and the tension between the two men grew. The team finished second in its division in 1959 and 1960, even as Jim Brown racked up league-leading seasons in rushing.

Art Modell, a New York advertising executive, bought the team in 1961 for almost $4 million. Modell, who was 35 years old at the time, bought out Brown's 15% stake in the team for $500,000 and gave Brown a new eight-year contract. He said he and Brown would have a "working partnership" and began to play a more direct role than previous owners in the team's operation, which angered Brown. Modell, who was single and only a few years older than most players, started to listen to their concerns about the coach. He became particularly close to Jim Brown, calling him "my senior partner". Modell sat in the press box during games and could be overheard second-guessing Paul Brown's play-calling, which drove a deeper wedge between the two men. When Plum openly questioned Brown's absolute control over play-calling, he was traded to Detroit.

The conflict between Brown and Modell reached a breaking point when Brown traded star halfback Bobby Mitchell for the rights to Ernie Davis, a Heisman Trophy-winning running back who broke all of Jim Brown's rushing records at Syracuse. Brown did not inform Modell of the move, and Modell only heard about it after getting a call from Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall. Davis, however, was diagnosed with leukemia before the 1962 season. He came to Cleveland to train after the cancer went into remission, but Brown would not allow him to play. Modell, however, wanted to give Davis a chance to play before he succumbed to the disease. Ultimately, the relationship between coach and owner was never repaired, and Ernie Davis never played in a professional game, dying on May 18, 1963.

As the rift between the players and Brown and between Modell and Brown grew, Modell fired Brown on January 7, 1963. A controversy developed over the timing of the decision amid a local newspaper strike, which limited discussion of the move. A printing company executive, however, got together a group of sportswriters and published a 32-page magazine fielding players' views on the firing. Opinions were mixed; Modell came in for his share of criticism, but tackle and team captain Mike McCormack said he did not think the team could win under Brown.[/quote]
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