Written by Greg Popelka

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We have recently taken a look at some defining moments of several former head coaches for the Cleveland  Browns. Beginning this week, we are turning our attention to some of the all-time great Browns players.

There are stars from the last 65ish seasons who we current fans may not really know all that well. If you are like me, you know the names of the Hall of Famers, but you may not know much more about some of them. Off the top of my head: guys like Mike McCormick. Len Ford. Frank Gatski. Gary Collins.

Wait- Collins isn’t actually in the Hall of Fame. I only assumed he was. Should he be?

I was re-reading Big Chuck! by Chuck Schodowski of Cleveland comedy fame, and learned that Collins could be a sneaky-funny guy when he played for the Browns. He was a friend of Ernie Anderson (Ghoulardi), and appeared in a 1965 television project Anderson produced. In the 1960s, Schodowski manned the sideline parabolic microphone during Browns home games, and Collins would make it a point to pass “Big Chuck” when he ran off the field. Collins often had a choice comment to make- like the time after he’d performed an impossibly acrobatic, crowd-pleasing touchdown catch in the mud on an errant Frank Ryan throw (Ryan was a soft tosser who occasionally air-mailed passes): “Man! That guy can really throw a ball.” 

Big Chuck’s story telling reminded me of a friend of mine. The first impression Jake leaves is that of a smart, serious business manager- but several stories from his past are among the funniest I have heard. 

There are several Hall of Fame receivers from the Gary Collins era who are suitable ‘comps’. CantonRep.com’s Steve Doerschuk  compared the following in a 2009 online piece:

                                                                                                         Games- Catches- Yds- TDs

Gary Collins, 1962-71                      127    331    5,299    70

Lynn Swann, 1974-82                      115    336    5,462    51

Bob Hayes, 1965-75                         132    371    7,414    71

Lance Alworth, 1962-72                    136    542    10,266    85

Tommy McDonald, 1957-68             152    495    8,410    84

Raymond Berry, 1955-67               154    631    9,275    68

All of the above are Hall of Famers, except for Collins. The inclusion of Berry is noteworthy; Collins prided himself on patterning his route precision and catching ability after the Baltimore Colt star. Berry once told Collins that he was a worthy heir to Berry’s style and intense preparation regimen. Collins has noted he was bigger and a little faster than Berry.

Collins may have been overshadowed a bit by stars in Cleveland such as RBs Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly, and WR Paul Warfield. All are Hall of Famers in their own right, of course. Brown commanded 30-35 plays per game, and Warfield was as smooth a deep threat as there was in football.

But Browns owner Art Modell’s first NFL draft pick (1962) sported some serious credentials of his own. Number 86 (previously worn by Dante Lavelli) certainly passed the eye test for reliability. He also has more catches than any Browns receiver besides Ozzie Newsome (a tight end). He has more total touchdowns than any Brown besides Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly. He starred for the Browns during an era when they played for the NFL championship four times, winning it in that famed 1964 season.

Collins also was the Browns’ punter for six seasons. His average distance was over 40 yards per punt, exceeding the average of other such notable punters as the Oakland Raiders’ Ray Guy.

Speaking of wide receivers that deserve to be in the NFL Hall of Fame, Jake actually played high school football with Cris Carter, in the same defensive backfield. To hear Jake describe it: “Carter would be out of position, but he was off-the-charts athletic, so it never mattered where he lined up. The coaches would yell, “MOVE OVER! MOVE BACK… GOOD PLAY! WAY TO GO!”” 

Jake played some DIII college ball. While living on campus, he walked home from a bar one night, still carrying the tumbler he’d been served. When the glass was empty, he hook-shot it over his head and past some trees. He’d been unaware there was a building right behind the trees. The tumbler smashed through a window, and a teacher came running out of the building, toward them. He was furious, as the thrown tumbler had sent shattered glass over the teacher and his desk. After an hour or more, Jake was able to convince the teacher not to call the police. They made a deal: Jake would appear before the Student Court, and abide by their judgment. 

Jake arrived on the assigned date for his case at Student Court. He noted the docket, posted by the door. He ran through the cases: Cheating on Assignment; Illegal Parking… ah, there was his name. The charge? ATTEMPTED MURDER. Wow! He laughed out loud a little at how preposterous that was. And then he began to get very nervous. If he got suspended (or worse),he would have a very tough time explaining things to his father.

Jake and the other defendants sat quietly. Time passed… More time passed… There weren’t enough jury members present to hold trials. Finally, the ‘judge’ had had enough. He sent everyone home. No makeup date. All cases were dismissed. ‘Attempted Murder’ to ‘case dismissed’ in one hour. Jake laughed all the way to flunking out of that school by year’s end.

In recent years, however, Collins has admitted to being an angry player at times while with the Browns. He was in a self-described “bad marriage”, and his wife lived with a man Collins knew while they were separated in the mid-60s.

Collins’ teammates (such as Warfield and Kelly) have always vouched for his character, as well as his ability to carry the team on his back in a pressure situation. For years, he just never seemed to drop the football.

I have to share a couple stories from Jake’s experience as a teenage worker on the lone roller coaster at a small amusement park. Think Geauga Lake, only much smaller. Maybe like Euclid Beach (google-able). 

The first day Jake reported for duty, he approached his station: the roller coaster ride. The boy on duty was glad to get a break; he pointed to some welding equipment and told him to feel free to ‘fix’ something if it ‘broke’. Jake had never touched such equipment. 

Sure enough, riders leaving the coaster cars ran to Jake. “THERE’S A BROKEN TRACK OUT THERE. SOMEONE IS GONNA GET KILLED!!” Jake shut down the ride, and tiptoed up the rickety, exposed catwalk to take a look. Sure enough, one of the two fasteners of a length of track had broken. The loose end had swung down, causing the shorter, fastened end to stick up. One might imagine the panic that such a sight might cause to a rider. The coaster flattened the length of track as it passed; fortunately, it swung back into the correct spot. 

One day, the line for the ride swelled. Jake manned the brake as he faced the crowd. This brake was a shoulder-high wooden lever that protruded from the floor, in the loading area. It was an old-school coaster, and the workers needed to manually help stop the cars when the ride was over. The handle on the lever had been taped like a baseball bat handle, but it was ripped and coming undone. Jake wanted to re-tape it. He picked up a utility knife, and began slicing the old tape. Unfortunately, he was slicing in an upward motion. The knife slipped, and he struck himself in the cheek. Jake was stunned, and embarrassed that so many had seen this happen. He looked near his feet for the knife. Some girls screamed, “It’s in your face!!” The knife was still stuck in his cheek, and the bleeding began in earnest when he removed it. 

Another time, when Jake was again working the brake, the ride coasted in and he leaned on the lever. It didn’t quite stop the cars, and the riders hooted, laughed, and pumped their fists - hey, another free ride- “ALLRIIIGHT!!!” The roller coaster cars completed another circuit and came back around. Jake leaned on the brake again, harder… and the cars once more slid by. The riders’ nervousness showed on their faces. The next time through, the cars slid by yet again, only a little faster. Any pretense of bravado and satisfaction was gone. “GET US OFF THIS (EFF)ING THIIING!!!”

The end of Gary Collins’ career was also its low point.  Late in the season, Collins had multiple broken ribs; he continued to play, but kept it a secret in order to keep opposing teams from aggravating the injury. In the rain and sleet at Cleveland Stadium late in 1970, Collins dropped a couple key passes, committed two offensive pass interference penalties, and fumbled as the Dallas Cowboys beat the Browns, 6 to 2. On the day, the defense played a great game, and RB Bo Scott ran the ball well. QB Bill Nelsen was 23 of 39 passing for 239 yards. As rookie Mike Phipps watched from the sideline, Nelsen tried to will the Browns to the win, but his efforts fell short. The mistakes and penalties weren’t limited to Gary Collins, but he was the target of intense booing by the home crowd of 75,000+. Collins was miffed at the booing, after all those years of stellar play. He flipped the crowd the bird.

He remained bitter for many years, not reappearing publicly with the Browns until the 40 year anniversary celebration of the 1964 NFL Championship season. (Collins was the star of that game. We’ll take a nice, long look at that, sometime in the future.) Currently, Collins appears to be ‘back’ with the Browns. It was nice to see him as a guest announcer for the team, on the podium at a recent NFL draft. Current accounts of Collins’ life describe him as active, in his early 70s, helping his son with his landscaping business duties.

The next step is getting him into that Hall of Fame.

Thank you for reading. Sources included Big Chuck! by Chuck Schodowski with Tom Feran; Wikipedia; CantonRep.com’s Steve Doerschuk; AncientMariner at SBNation.com; the Baltimore Sun online site; the Cleveland.com Browns game database; Tales From The Browns Sideline by Tony Grossi.

Photo below shows Collins sitting next to Ernie Davis.