How did Cleveland fans call their team?

wahoowa94

If this is referring to the Indians, "Legend has it that the team honored Louis Sockalexis when it assumed its current name in 1915. The spectacular Sockalexis, a Native American, had played in Cleveland 1897-99." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Indians#The_Indians_Nickname If this is referring to the Browns, "a fan contest was conducted to determine the name of the team, with the most popular choice being "Panthers." However, [Paul] Brown objected to the name after finding out it had been used by a semipro team in the city—one that had a reputation as a chronic loser. This prompted a second contest to choose a name befitting a champion. This contest yielded the nickname "Brown Bombers"—after reigning heavyweight champion Joe Louis—and was shortened to "Browns" for the convenience of headline writers. However, to this day, rumors persist that the team was named after Paul Brown himself." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Browns Feb 29 08, 12:42 PM

AyatollahK

The Browns story is partially true and partially false. The discussion linked below used to appear on the Browns home page and is consistent with the story told by former Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Russell Schneider in his out-of-print book "The Best of the Cleveland Browns Memories." http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/8962 Browns' owner "Mickey" McBride held a naming contest, as stated -- but the overwhelming choice for the name of the new Cleveland AAFC franchise was "Browns", as Paul Brown was already a legend in Ohio, having led Massilon High to the state high-school championship and then Ohio State to the national collegiate championship before WWII. Brown thought that was being too egocentric and instead chose "Panthers." Then, someone claimed to McBride that he owned the name, because he'd had a semipro team called the Panthers in Cleveland. McBride asked Brown about it, and Brown decided that it wasn't worth the cash to pay this guy off, because others might claim to have "owned" this semipro team as well, and how could you ever know for certain when there weren't any real records? However, there was no second contest. Brown decided to acquiesce in the use of his name for the team, but to deflect the ego stroking, the Browns put out the public story that the team was being renamed in honor of Joe Lewis. Schneider said that everyone knew that was bogus, but Paul Brown was worried that he'd be setting himself up for failure if the team admitted that it was named after him. As it happens, he had nothing to worry about, with the Browns making 10 straight championship games in the AAFC and NFL, winning 7 of them, including a 15-0 championship season in 1948. Feb 29 08, 3:47 PM

AyatollahK

The Sockalexis story for the Indians is also mostly untrue, according to Plain Dealer writer Terry Pluto in chapter 4 of his 1999 book "Our Tribe: A Baseball Memoir." Through 1914, the team was called the Naps in honor of superstar Napoleon Lajoie. But the team traded him at the end of 1914, and the owner asked Cleveland sportswriters to pick a new name. The writers chose "Indians" in honor of the Boston Braves, who had just won the 1914 World Series. The Sockalexis story came later, as a way to deflect criticism of the name. Feb 29 08, 3:58 PM

wahoowa94

AyatollahK, I recall hearing about the Browns story but didn't have a reference. And as you say and I imply ("Legend has it...") the Indians Sockalexis story is essentially untrue. However, it is a story that some in the organization continue to stick with in order to keep their name and logo, which in this day and age, have offended many groups and Native Americans and have caused numerous Colleges to change their names. Feb 29 08, 5:03 PM