Written by Jeff Rich

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This is one installment in a team effort by The Cleveland Fan, highlighting the top local sports figures by jersey number. Please weigh in with your thoughts, in the Boards. As David Letterman would say, “For entertainment purposes only; please, no wagering.”

Paul Brown was a man that seemed to always know what he wanted, but better yet, he found ways to get those things.  "Nobody touches Graham", his offensive lineman would chant as they broke the huddle, and it wasn't often that they did, en route to Championships in their first five seasons of existence.  Weldon "Hum" Humble wasn't there for all of them, but played a significant role in three of them.

You'll have to forgive the native of San Antonio for not helping the Browns in 1946; he was at Rice University for the second time, leading the Owls to an 8-2 season that ended with a victory over Tennessee in the Orange Bowl.  The Orange Bowl is played in Florida, and that just happened to be where the namesake of the Cleveland Browns was on vacation at the time.

Born in 1921, Humble was a bit older than the typical college football player, even one with the honors that Humble had collected on the gridiron as a First Team All-American in 1946.  As a Marine serving in World War II, the 1st Lieutenant earned the Bronze Star before returning to the Rice football program as a captain.

It was in the hotel, on the dance floor, where Brown discovered him, before the 1947 Orange Bowl.  "He appeared to be the sort of fellow we like to have on our team.  Then I watched him in that Tennessee game," Brown would later say, "and after that made up my mind he'd be with my club if I ever had the chance to make a deal for him."  However, Baltimore would get in the way of Cleveland football properity in the case of Humble, and we all know that it wasn't for the last time either.

The Browns All-American Football Conference nemesis, the Colts, would acquire the rights to Humble, but Browns sent four players to Baltimore for the services of the former Marine.  He joined Bob Gaudio on an already solid offensive line for the defending AAFC Champions.  Otto Graham and Marion Motley's numbers improved considerably from the previous season, and the Browns repeated as Champions in 1947.  It had become old hat by 1948, so the Browns upped the ante, and went undefeated.  Humble was a second-team All-Pro in that perfect season.

As we know, the Browns would also win the AAFC Championship in 1949, making them 4-for-4 in the existence of the league before it disbanded for the more recognized NFL.  The new league turned out to be the same script with a different cast, but the Browns were now also playing Humble on defense at linebacker.  He was rewarded for his play in the Browns inaugrual NFL season with an invite to the very first Pro Bowl.  He finished his career with 5 interceptions, and also an NFL Championship in that 1950 season to go with his AAFC titles.

With the threat of being called into action for the Korean War, Humble re-enilisted in the Marine Corps in 1951, where not only played for a military team, but was recognized as the best player in the service by the Washington Touchdown Club.  He went to return to the Browns, but Paul Browns had traded him to the Dallas Texans for a fullback before the 1952 season, where Humble played just one season before retiring.

Honorable Mention

Eric Plunk pitched for the Indians for all or part of seven seasons.  He spent six seasons in the big leagues with New York and Oakland, where he was traded for Rickey Henderson twice.  In all honesty, the Indians were among the only teams that didn't figure out that you win a World Series immediately after dumping Plunk, like the A's did in 1989 and Toronto did before he threw an inning the 1992 regular season.

Believe it or not, there's actually some substance to that.  The Wilmington, California native came out fo the bullpen for the better part of 14 years after Oakland tried to use him as a starter in 1986 and 1987, and his best years were the seven he spent with the Indians.  In 462 innings pitched, he struck out 460 batters, while compiling a 3.25 ERA.   However, the playoffs were a different story, where his ERA was up around 9, mostly because of that dreadful appearance in Game 3 of the 1997 World Series.

Antonio Langham was a first round pick of the Browns in 1994, who started at cornerback in all 32 of the Browns games over their last two seasons in Cleveland.  He intercepted 4 passes and made 121 tackles in those two seasons.  His production went up after the move to Baltimore, with his best season coming 14 games in 1996, which saw him pick off 5 passes.  He was back with the Browns reincarnation in 1999, but started in just two games.