:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72423734/514955130.0.jpg)
Paul Brown, who coached the Cleveland Browns from 1946 to 1962, is credited with numerous innovations that changed the NFL, from the use of playbooks and game film, allowing coordinators to call plays, placing a radio transmitter inside the quarterback’s helmet, and developing the passing pocket.
But one decision that may have been his most significant came in 1946 when he signed fullback Marion Motley and middle guard Bill Willis to the roster. Motley and Willis, along with Woody Strode and Kenny Washington of the Los Angeles Rams, broke professional football’s color barrier when they took the field for their respective teams that fall.
Related: The best players to wear No. 29 in Browns history
Willis would go on to play eight seasons with the Browns, join Motley in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and earn the distinction as the best player to wear No. 30 in franchise history.
Small at the time for his position, the 6-foot-2 and 210-pound Willis made an immediate impression in his first training camp with the Browns as he continually used his quickness to befuddle future Hall of Fame center Frank Gatski and harass quarterback Otto Graham. Willis was so quick that everyone believed he must be offside (something that current Browns defensive end Myles Garrett can relate to), but after checking into the situation, Brown determined that Willis was just that much better than everyone else.
Willis, who would eventually switch to uniform No. 60 near the end of his career, was a key member on both defense and offense as the Browns went to eight consecutive league championship games, bringing home the title five times. Along the way, Willis picked up a trio of Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections, was named to the Hall of Fame’s All-1940s team, and joined Motley in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.
If not Willis, then who?
Cornerback Bernie Parrish was selected by the Browns in the ninth round of the 1958 NFL Draft but decided to play baseball instead with the Cincinnati Reds. A year later he saw the error of his ways, signed with the Browns, and was a fixture in the starting lineup from 1959 until the end of the 1965 season.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24768671/98837572.jpg)
A two-time Pro Bowl selection and a starter on the 1964 NFL Championship team, Parrish led the NFL in interception returns yards in 1960 with 238 and posted a career-best seven interceptions the following season. Parrish had 29 career interceptions with the Browns, good for No. 7 on the franchise’s all-time list, and his 557 career return yards are fourth-best in team history.
Parrish was an advocate for his fellow players and in his role as vice president of the NFL Players Association clashed with Commissioner Pete Rozelle over the league’s pension policy. In 1965 he led a movement to have Paul Brown replace Rozelle, which angered owner Art Modell as Modell had fired Brown following the 1962 season.
That led Modell to make another one of his brilliant personnel moves and release Parrish one game into the 1966 season. Parrish landed with the Houston Oilers in the AFL, played 11 games and then retired.
The best of the rest
Running back Cleo Miller, who averaged 4.2 yards per carry and surpassed 600 rushing yards twice while playing eight seasons for the Browns (1975 to 1982), running back D’Ernest Johnson, who averaged 5.2 yards per carry while seeing occasional duty with the Browns from 2019 to 2022, running back Jamel White, who twice had more than 850 combined yards from scrimmage while playing for the Browns from 2000 to 2003, and running back Ken Brown, who rushed for 1,193 career yards in 77 games for the Browns during his six-year career from 1970 to 1975.
Poll
Who is the best player to wear No. 30 in Browns history?
This poll is closed
-
1%
Maurice Bassett
(1 vote) -
1%
Ken Brown
(1 vote) -
1%
Ibraheim Campbell
(1 vote) -
0%
Lew Carpenter
(0 votes) -
0%
Emerson Cole
(0 votes) -
2%
Thane Gash
(2 votes) -
1%
Boyce Green
(1 vote) -
0%
Sherman Howard
(0 votes) -
1%
D’Ernest Johnson
(1 vote) -
5%
Ron Johnson
(5 votes) -
0%
Derrick Kindred
(0 votes) -
0%
Eric King
(0 votes) -
0%
Gerard Lawson
(0 votes) -
0%
Jim Leonhard
(0 votes) -
0%
Jason McCourty
(0 votes) -
5%
Cleo Miller
(5 votes) -
9%
Bernie Parrish
(9 votes) -
1%
Antonio Perkins
(1 vote) -
0%
Billy Robinson
(0 votes) -
3%
Jamel White
(3 votes) -
68%
Bill Willis
(64 votes)
Loading comments...