

Old picture of Otto Graham
Otto Everett Graham Junior was born on December 6th in 1921 and passed away on December 17th in 2003. He was an American football player who was a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the All America Football Conference, otherwise known as the AAFC, and the National Football League, also known as the NFL. Otto is widely known to be one of the most dominant football players of his time and took the Browns to league championship games every year from 1946 to 1955.
So, not only did he make ten championship appearances, he won seven of them, which is an impressive feat. As a quarterback for the Browns, Otto has fifty-seven wins, thirteen losses, and one tie, including a nine to three win-loss history in the playoffs. Otto also holds the highest career-winning percentage for an NLF starting quarterback, at a point eight one zero. A friend of Otto’s, named George Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees, said that Otto was “as great of a quarterback as there ever was.”
Otto grew up in Waukegan, Illinois, and was the son of two music teachers. But for college, he ended up going to Northwestern University in 1940 on a basketball scholarship. To everyone’s surprise at the time, he ended up in football for a career, though he started at basketball. He played for the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League, also known as the NFL, and won the championship from 1945 to 1946. Shortly after that, Otto was signed on to play for the Browns, where his career took off.
Here are his NFL stats, which speak to the amazing career he had.
Year Team GP Passing Rushing Fumbles
Att Cmp Pct Yards Avg TD Int Rtg Att Yards TD Fum Lost
1946 CLE 14 174 95 54.6 1,834 10.5 17 5 112.1 30 –125 1 — —
1947 CLE 14 269 163 60.6 2,753 10.2 25 11 109.2 19 72 1 — —
1948 CLE 14 333 173 52.0 2,713 8.1 25 15 85.6 23 146 6 — —
1949 CLE 12 285 161 56.5 2,785 9.8 19 10 97.5 27 107 3 — —
1950 CLE 12 253 137 54.2 1,943 7.7 14 20 64.7 55 145 6 6 6
1951 CLE 12 265 147 55.5 2,205 8.3 17 16 79.2 35 29 3 7 5
1952 CLE 12 364 181 49.7 2,816 7.7 20 24 66.6 42 130 4 4 4
1953 CLE 12 258 167 64.7 2,722 10.6 11 9 99.7 43 143 6 8 3
1954 CLE 12 240 142 59.2 2,092 8.7 11 17 73.5 63 114 8 3 1
1955 CLE 12 185 98 53.0 1,721 9.3 15 8 94.0 68 121 6 7 4
Career 126 2,626 1,464 55.8 23,584 9.0 174 135 86.6 405 882 44 35 23
Here are the stats from when he was a coach.
College
Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs
Coast Guard Bears (New England Football Conference) (1959–1965)
1959 Coast Guard 3–5
1960 Coast Guard 5–3
1961 Coast Guard 4–4
1962 Coast Guard 5–2–1
1963 Coast Guard 8–1 1st L Tangerine
1964 Coast Guard 3–5
1965 Coast Guard 4–4
Coast Guard Bears (New England Football Conference) (1974–1975)
1974 Coast Guard 4–6
1975 Coast Guard 8–2
Coast Guard: 44–32–1
Total: 44–32–1
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth
Otto in the NFL
Team Year Regular Season Postseason
Won Lost Ties Win % Finish Won Lost Win % Result
1966 7 7 0 50.0 5th in NFL Eastern Conference – – –
WAS 1967 5 6 3 45.5 3rd in NFL Capitol Conference – – –
WAS 1968 5 9 0 35.7 3rd in NFL Capitol Conference – – –
Professional Total 17 22 3 43.6 – – –