Otto Graham

Otto Everett Graham Junior was born on December 6^th 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               –          –          –