Cleveland received their team name “the Browns” from the man who started the franchise from Day One: Paul Brown. The franchise was a member of the eight-team All-America Football Conference, an NFL rival league from 1946-1949. Before the team had its first game, there was a name-the-team contest. The winner was “Panthers.” But a man named George T. Jones contacted the new Cleveland franchise and told them he owned the rights to the name “Cleveland Panthers” from a team he once owned in 1927 and wanted to be paid a large sum in order to relinquish the rights.
Browns training camp 1985: Origins of the Dawg Pound
