Beginning with their initial season in 1946, the Cleveland Browns appeared in the Championship every winter for ten consecutive years, winning half of them. Under coach Paul Brown, the Browns continuously refreshed and retooled, fielding championship-quality teams every season. In 1962 Paul Brown’s boys finished the season in third place with a 7-6-1 record, led as usual by legendary running back Jim Brown. This vintage Wilson F1460
Paul Hornung All-American model white football holds the signatures of 30 members from this ’62 Browns squad all coming in nearly pristine 9/10 black ink, including Hall of Famers Paul Brown,
Lou Groza, Gene Hickerson and Mike McCormack.
The highlight is the ever-elusive autograph of Ernie Davis, the first ever African-American Heisman Trophy winner who played for the
Syracuse Orangemen and was Cleveland's first overall selection in the 1962
NFL Draft. Tragically, a diagnosis of leukemia in the summer of '62 cut short
his football career and soon ended his life. Other notables on this ball are Ernie Green (R), Ray Renfro, Rich Kreitling, Johnny Brewer, Tommy Wilson, Frank Costello, Bernie Parrish, Galen Fiss, Bob Gain, Floyd Peters, Mike Lucci (R), Jim Shofner and Don Fleming (who ironically died in a crane accident 17 days after Davis' death in 1963). Jim Brown has been deemed a clubhouse signature.
The ball is mostly inflated and has hardened from aging and storage, but remains in very good condition all things considered. The strong black signatures are very legible against the white leather of the ball. Team signed balls from these early gridiron years are hard to come by, and this is one of the finer examples. You will be hard-pressed to find a higher quality signature of Ernie Davis.
Full LOA's from PSA/DNA and JSA. *Jim Brown CH.