American football player, coach, and executive (1921–2003)
American football player
Otto Graham
Graham in 1959
No. 60, 14
Position:
Quarterback
Personal information
Born:
(1921-12-06)December 6, 1921 Waukegan, Illinois, U.S.
Died:
December 17, 2003(2003-12-17) (aged 82) Sarasota, Florida, U.S.
Height:
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:
196 lb (89 kg)
Career information
High school:
Waukegan
College:
Northwestern (1941–1943)
NFL draft:
1944 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4
Career history
As a player:
Cleveland Browns (1946–1955)
As a coach:
Coast Guard Bears (1959–1965) Head coach
Washington Redskins (1966–1968) Head coach
Coast Guard Bears (1974–1975) Head coach
As an executive:
Washington Redskins (1966–1968) General manager
Career highlights and awards
As a player
3× NFL champion (1950, 1954, 1955)
4× AAFC champion (1946–1949)
3× NFL Most Valuable Player (1951, 1953, 1955)
2× AAFC Most Valuable Player (1947, 1948)
4× First-team All-Pro (1951, 1953–1955)
3× First-team All-AAFC (1947–1949)
2× Second-team All-Pro (1950, 1952)
Second-team All-AAFC (1946)
5× Pro Bowl (1950–1954)
2× NFL passing yards leader (1952, 1953)
NFL passing touchdowns leader (1952)
2× NFL passer rating leader (1953, 1955)
3× NFL completion percentage leader (1953–1955)
3× AAFC passing yards leader (1947–1949)
2× AAFC passing touchdowns leader (1946, 1947)
AAFC completion percentage leader (1947)
NFL 1950s All-Decade Team
NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team
NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team
Cleveland Browns Ring of Honor
Cleveland Browns No. 14 retired
First-team All-American (1943)
Third-team All-American (1942)
Chicago Tribune Silver Football (1943)
First-team All-Big Ten (1943)
2× Second-team All-Big Ten (1941, 1942)
AAFC records
Most passing yards in a season: 2,785 (1949)
Highest completion percentage in a season: 60.6% (1947)
Highest passer rating in a season: 112.1 (1946)
NFL Records
Most career yards per passing attempt (minimum 1500 passing attempts): 8.6
Career AAFC/NFL statistics
Passing attempts:
2,626
Passing completions:
1,464
Completion percentage:
55.8%
TD–INT:
174–135
Passing yards:
23,584
Passer rating:
86.6
Rushing yards:
882
Rushing touchdowns:
44
Head coaching record
Career:
NFL: 17–22–3 (.440)
Player stats at PFR
Coaching stats at PFR
Executive profile at PFR
Pro Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
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Otto Everett Graham Jr. (December 6, 1921 – December 17, 2003) was an American professional football quarterback who played for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. Graham is regarded by critics as one of the most dominant players of his era and one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, having taken the Browns to league championship games every year between 1946 and 1955, making ten championship appearances, and winning seven of them. With Graham at quarterback, the Browns posted a record of 105 wins, 17 losses, and 4 ties, including a 9–3 win–loss record in the AAFC and NFL playoffs. He holds the NFL record for career average yards gained per pass attempt, with 8.63. He also holds the record for the highest career winning percentage for an NFL starting quarterback, at 81.0%. Long-time New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, a friend of Graham's, once called him "as great of a quarterback as there ever was."[1]
Graham grew up in Waukegan, Illinois, the son of music teachers. He entered Northwestern University in 1940 on a basketball scholarship, but football soon became his main sport. After a brief stint in the military at the end of World War II, Graham played for the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League (NBL), winning the 1945–46 championship. Paul Brown, Cleveland's coach, signed Graham to play for the Browns, where he thrived. Graham's 1946 NBL and AAFC titles made him the first of only two people to have won championships in two of the four major North American sports (the second was Gene Conley). After he retired from playing football in 1955, Graham coached college teams in the College All-Star Game and became head football coach for the Coast Guard Bears at the United States Coast Guard Academy. After seven years there, he was hired as head coach of the Washington Redskins in 1966. Following three unsuccessful years with them, he resigned and returned to the Coast Guard Academy, where he served as athletic director until his retirement in 1984. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965.
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Otto Everett Graham Jr. (December 6, 1921 – December 17, 2003) was an American professional football quarterback who played for the Cleveland Browns in...
crimes Otto Frank (1889–1980), German-born Swiss business man, father of Anne Frank Otto Freundlich (1878–1943), German painter and sculptor OttoGraham (1921–2003)...
Browns players were inducted in the inaugural induction class of 1963. OttoGraham was the first Browns player to be enshrined as a member of the class...
wins. Patrick Mahomes leads active players with 15 postseason wins. OttoGraham holds the record for the highest winning percentage with a minimum of...
under head coach Paul Brown behind an offense that featured quarterback OttoGraham, fullback Marion Motley, and ends Dante Lavelli and Mac Speedie. Cleveland...
Soldier Field for a high school football game, as well as future legend OttoGraham to try out for football. Robert W. "Bob" Voigts became the head coach...
regular season with a win against the Buffalo Bills. Led by quarterback OttoGraham, fullback Marion Motley and ends Mac Speedie and Dante Lavelli, the Browns...
the fourth quarter against the Rams' potent offense, but quarterback OttoGraham engineered a comeback with a touchdown pass to Rex Bumgardner and a long...
hated to practice. His music teacher was OttoGraham Sr., a neighbor and father of football player OttoGraham. At 14, Benny was playing in dance bands...
Parker. The Browns were led by head coach Paul Brown and quarterback OttoGraham. The Lions had won the regular season meeting 14–10 the week before on...
for players wearing that number- the NFL allowed 00 in the past, with Jim Otto and Ken Burrough wearing it. The number can be, and rarely is, used in the...
had a different numbering system with quarterback in the 60-69 range (OttoGraham), fullbacks in the 70-79 range (Marion Motley), halfbacks in the 80-89...
a perfect rating in the same season: The 1954 Cleveland Browns with OttoGraham and George Ratterman, the 1973 Atlanta Falcons with Dick Shiner and Bob...
the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Flaherty, Turk Edwards, Curly Lambeau, OttoGraham, Vince Lombardi, George Allen, and Gibbs. A running total of the number...
record of 12–2, winning the AAFC's Western Division. Led by quarterback OttoGraham, fullback Marion Motley and ends Dante Lavelli and Mac Speedie, the team...
league's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team joined the coin toss ceremony: OttoGraham, Joe Greene, Ray Nitschke, and Gale Sayers. A special 75th anniversary...
Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved July 12, 2023. "OttoGraham Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College". Pro-Football-Reference...
AAFC championship for the second straight year. As in 1946, quarterback OttoGraham led an offensive attack that featured fullback Marion Motley, ends Dante...
one of the teams of that era that relied most on passing. Quarterback OttoGraham helped the Browns win four AAFC championships in the late 1940s in head...
the Titans by a score of 41–35. Mayfield's four first-half TDs tied OttoGraham for a franchise record. Mayfield came close to throwing six first-half...
American 1st 11 1 0 Lost NFL Championship (at Rams) 17–24 Paul Brown (COY) OttoGraham (MVP) 1952 1952 NFL American 1st 8 4 0 Lost NFL Championship (Lions)...
the rest of the AAFC teams would cease to exist. Browns quarterback OttoGraham, end Mac Speedie, and linebacker Lou Saban were named to sportswriters'...
Dante Lavelli 50 pass from OttoGraham (Groza kick), 17–7 CLE Third quarter CLE – Graham 15 run (Groza kick), 24–7 CLE CLE – Graham 1 run (Groza kick), 31–7...
the only loss was to Northwestern University and its star quarterback, OttoGraham. The final game of the season was a 20–20 tie with Michigan, which the...