Paul Brown and his lasting influence on the NFL
You can’t stop seeing Paul Brown’s impact. You just don’t know it.
Brown has not coached since Dec. 28, 1975, yet remains the most influential figure in the National Football League. This August marked the 25th year since Brown passed away, leaving behind the most underrated and widespread legacy in pro football history.
Throughout his 30 years as a head coach in professional football, Brown changed the way that coaches coach, and players play. He was an innovator and a visionary. He was a fair man in a time of great bigotry.
Brown could hold a grudge for a lifetime. He is the inspiration for one team’s name in the modern-day NFL and is the founder of another. To this day, Brown is honored by two teams, both in the state of Ohio. He has an NFL award and a stadium named after him, yet most fans under 30 years old could not tell you which teams he worked for.
Brown remains the single most important figure in the history of professional football, yet he lingers in history’s shadow. On every snap of every NFL game, we see his mind at work in various ways. Without Brown, we do not have the sport of football in its current form, or anything like it. He revolutionized everything from the equipment to the flow of each play, unbeknownst to almost everyone in the audience.
Without Paul Brown, the NFL landscape would be seismically different.
