Otto Graham

Otto Graham

Otto Graham as head football coach and athletic director at U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1959
No. 60, 14
Position:	Quarterback
Personal information
Date of birth:	(1921-12-06)December 6, 1921
Place of birth:	Waukegan, Illinois
Date of death:	December 17, 2003(2003-12-17) (aged 82)
Place of death:	Sarasota, Florida
Height:	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:	196 lb (89 kg)
Career information
High school:	Waukegan (IL)
College:	Northwestern
NFL Draft:	1944 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4
Career history
As player:
Cleveland Browns (1946–1955)
As coach:
Coast Guard (1959–1965) Washington Redskins (1966–1968) Coast Guard (1974–1975)
Career highlights and awards
3× NFL champion (1950, 1954, 1955) 5× Pro Bowl (1950–1954) 4× First-team All-Pro (1951, 1953–1955) Second-team All-Pro (1952) 3× NFL Most Valuable Player (1951, 1953, 1955) 2× NFL passing yards leader (1952, 1953) NFL passing touchdowns leader (1952) 4× AAFC champion (1946–1949) 3× First-team All-AAFC (1947–1949) 2× AAFC Most Valuable Player (1947, 1948) NFL 1950s All-Decade Team NFL 75th Anniversary Team Cleveland Browns No. 14 retired Big Ten Player of the Year (1943) First-team All-American (1943) First-team All-Big Ten (1943) 2× Second-team All-Big Ten (1941, 1942)
Career NFL statistics
Pass cmp/att: 1,464 / 2,626 Percentage: 55.8 TD–int: 174–135 Passing yards: 23,584 Passer rating: 86.6 Rushing touchdowns: 44
Player stats at PFR
Pro Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame

Otto Everett Graham Jr. (December 6, 1921 – December 17, 2003) was an American football quarterback who played for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Graham is regarded by critics as one of the most dominant players of his era, having taken the Browns to league championship games every year between 1946 and 1955, winning seven of them. With Graham at quarterback, the Browns posted a record of 114 wins, 20 losses, and four ties, including a 9–3 win–loss record in the playoffs. While most of Graham's statistical records have been surpassed in the modern era, he still holds the NFL record for career average yards gained per pass attempt, with 8.98. He also holds the record for the highest career winning percentage for an NFL starting quarterback, at 0.814. Long-time New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, a friend of Graham's, once called him "as great of a quarterback as there ever was." He is also known for being one of only two people (the other being Gene Conley) to win championships in two of the four major North American sports—1946 NBL (became NBA) and AAFC championship, plus three more AAFC and three NFL championships.

Graham grew up in Waukegan, Illinois, the son of music teachers. He entered Northwestern University in 1940 on a basketball scholarship, but football soon became his main sport. After a brief stint in the military at the end of World War II, Graham played during the 1946 season for the National Basketball League's Rochester Royals, who won the league championship that year. Paul Brown, Cleveland's coach, signed Graham to play for the Browns, where he thrived. After he retired from playing football in 1955, Graham coached college teams in the College All-Star Game and became head football coach at the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut. After seven years at the academy, he spent three unsuccessful seasons as head coach of the Washington Redskins. Following his resignation, he returned to the Coast Guard Academy, where he served as athletic director until his retirement in 1984. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965.