Former Browns Chris Rockins, Gregg Rakoczy, and Ernie Logan were each born on this date, three years apart. A few years earlier, Dave Atkins was also born on May 18. The Browns’ running backs coach the previous two seasons, he’s now “senior offensive assistant coach,” which I think translates into “19 years older than Chud.”
On a less festive note, it was 44 years ago today that Ernie Davis died in a Cleveland hospital, a victim of leukemia at age 23. Fans of a certain age don’t need this reminder, but for the rest, the Browns traded away their first-round pick plus future Hall of Famer Bobby Mitchell for the rights to Davis. The first black Heisman winner would have joined fellow Syracuse alum Jim Brown to form a most fearsome Browns’ backfield, but he got sick and never played a down in the NFL.
