LOUDONVILLE — Less than two months after winning their second-straight championship in the All-American Football Conference (a major competitor to the NFL), the dominant Cleveland Browns arrived in Loudonville to take on the hometown Flxible Clippers.
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 1948, the gymnasium at the Loudonville High School (now C.E. Budd School) was at maximum capacity as throngs of onlookers eagerly shelled out the admission price of $1.25 for adults and $0.75 for children to watch the reigning championship football team take on the local heroes … in basketball.
Despite their success on the field, and popularity across the country, football was only a part time job for the Browns (and other teams) during the 1940s. The average football player made less than $6,000 even through the 1950s, and so many supplemented their income by taking a second job: Lou Groza sold insurance, Paul Warfield owned a tire outlet, Jim Brown handled marketing for Pepsi-Cola, and even Colts’ legend Johnny Unitas laid linoleum.
One way to earn some extra cash, and keep their fans happy, was when the Browns formed an exhibition basketball squad.
The squad toured Ohio, and other states, playing 50 to 60 exhibition games a year. In 1948 that traveling team included future Hall-of-Famers Otto Graham, Dante Lavelli, and Marion Motley, as well as Cliff Lewis, Lou Saban, and Lou Rymkus. Though known for football, many of the players had been multi-sport athletes in high school, including Graham who prior to joining the Browns had played for the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League (a forerunner of the NBA).
In fact, Graham and the Royals won the 1945-1946 championship while he was waiting for the Browns season to start, making him one of only two athletes to have won a professional championship in two of the four major North American sports.
With a full house in Loudonville, the game tipped off and the Browns quickly showed that they could hold their ground on the hardwood just as well as the turf. The Loudonville Times noted that Cleveland played a “slightly different game than the Clippers are accustomed to combating, the Browns forgot the three-second rule in their own foul circle.”
The big man, Motley, controlled the game under the Browns basket and took advantage of his height to secure nearly every rebound. Graham and Saban provided most of the sharpshooting for Cleveland.
The first quarter was a close one, with the Clippers only trailing by 1, but by the end of the half the Browns had a nine-point lead and never looked back. The final score was 51-43, Cleveland. Saban was the top scorer (14) for Cleveland, with Graham a close second (12).
For the Clippers, Stetler (13) and Yuncker (9) did their best to keep the game close. Despite the box score, the Flxible News suggested that “had the Clippers hit the hoop on a percentage basis comparable to previous games the score very easily could have been in their favor.”
More information on the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum can be found at this link.
