NFL draft history: Grading the Browns very first NFL college draft

There wasn’t always a draft to worry about 

The Cleveland Browns were built by Paul Brown throughout 16 years from inception and into the early 1960s.

During this time, the franchise captured seven league championships, won 12 division titles, came in second in the division twice, played in the league championship game 11 times including 10 straight from 1946-1955 (still a record), and won five consecutive championships, which also remains a record.

From 1946-1949, Cleveland was a member of the eight-team “All-America Football Conference” (AAFC), an NFL-rival league. The Browns were owned by a wealthy man as Coach Brown was given the green light on how to build his team every season with an open checkbook.

The Browns offered better contracts than any other team in the AAFC as well as most NFL clubs. Because of this, they annually signed some of the best college talent as well as current NFL athletes who jumped leagues for more money.

Sometimes this meant getting into a bidding war with another AAFC team as well as the NFL club that held the player’s rights.

That all changed for Cleveland in 1950.

While the AAFC failed to construct a method as to how their member clubs could form their rosters and install parity in their first season, the NFL had a system already in place. Teams would draft college players in reverse order of how they finished the regular season the year before so that the worst team would draft first while the league champion would have the last pick. And then subsequent rounds would follow. The number of rounds was different for most years.

In 1949, the NFL had 10 teams. After merging into the fold the Browns, San Francisco 49ers, and Baltimore Colts in December, for the 1950 season, the NFL was now 13 clubs while the AAFC was out of business.

The enlarged league was renamed the “National-American Football League.” In March, the term “American” was dropped but two conferences were set up to be called the American Conference and the National Conference.

In 1950, the Cleveland Browns were now a member of the “National Football League.”

Paul Brown’s first-ever NFL draft

The Browns came into the NFL as four-time champions of the AAFC. Coach Brown was a master at gathering talent and signing them to good contracts.

Since the NFL had a structured college draft designed to even out the talent in the league, this stymied Coach Brown from offering contracts to any player he wished out of the college ranks to play for Cleveland as well as compete in the AAFC.

Suddenly, Coach Brown had a draft to prepare for.

During this period, the championship game was played before Christmas which essentially ended the season before the first of the year. The 1949 NFL Championship Game with the Los Angeles Rams hosting the Philadelphia Eagles was played on December 18, a 14-0 Eagles win.

In today’s NFL world, the draft is always in the month of April. Back then, they got right to it.

The 1950 NFL draft was held January 20-21 at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia where the NFL offices were located. With the addition of the three extra teams, a whooping 30 rounds was scheduled that would involve 391 college football players.

The draft order for the 1950 NFL draft was the win-loss records of all teams collectively regardless of the league they participated in the year before. This put Cleveland (.900) drafting at #13, second to last just ahead of the reigning NFL champions Philadelphia Eagles (.917). For some reason, one team was given a “lottery bonus pick” which just happened to be the first overall selection so the Detroit Lions had two first-round picks.

The 1949 Heisman Trophy winner was Leon Hart, a receiver from Notre Dame. Traditionally, the reigning Heisman winner went first overall and Detroit selected him with their lottery pick. Five future Hall of Famers would be taken in this draft.

One of these eventual Hall of Fame inductees was Leo Nomellini, an offensive tackle from Minnesota. He went #11 in the first round to San Francisco. The Los Angeles Rams then selected Oklahoma OG Stan West with the #12 pick.

This placed Cleveland on the clock.

Coach Brown then drafted his very first player: halfback Ken Carpenter – Oregon State.

Carpenter (6’-0”, 195 pounds) played in all 12 games as a rookie with two starts. He had 35 rushes for 181 yards with a single TD and a 5.2 yards per carry average. He also had five receptions for 45 yards. During this time period, running backs were referred to as halfbacks which is the original designation since the inception of the game of American Football.

Legendary Jim Brown was still seven years from donning the orange and brown. However, at the time, the Browns still had Marion Motley as their key rusher with Dub Jones as his running mate so Carpenter made for a crowded room.

In 1951, Motley suffered a knee injury that limited him during the year. This opened the door for Carpenter who reeled off 402 yards and four touchdowns along with 183 receiving yards. At season’s end, Carpenter was named to the Pro Bowl.

After two more seasons in Cleveland, Carpenter signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the “Canadian Football League” (CFL) where he was named a Three-time All-Star. He hung up his cleats after the 1957 season and went into coaching.

Other 1950 draft picks

The Browns had two picks in Round 2.

They selected OT John Sandusky from Villanova with the #18 pick and then DE Jim Martin of Notre Dame with pick #26. Sandusky played six years of which Cleveland played in the championship game each season. Martin had a safety in the 1950 NFL Championship Game in which Cleveland won 8-3. After only one season, Coach Brown traded Miller along with four other players for two draft picks plus cash.

Round 3: HB Jimmy Joe Robinson – Pittsburgh

Round 4: C Red Wilson – Wisconsin

Round 5: DB Don Phelps – Kentucky

Round 6: S Ken Gorgal – Purdue

Round 7: HB Win Carter – Missouri

Round 8: OT Russ Frizzell – Tulsa

Round 9: DE Jim Duncan – Wake Forest

Round 10: FB Frank O’Pella – William & Mary

Round 11: OG Bob Plotz – Pittsburgh

Photo by Vic Stein/Getty Images

Round 12: FB Emerson Cole – Toledo

Round 13: LB Rupe Wright – Baylor

Round 14: OG Packard Harrington – St. Mary’s

Round 15: DT Ted Meland – Oregon

Round 16: OG Art King – Ball State

Round 17: OG Hal McKinney – Missouri Valley

Round 18: DB Joe Travue – Louisville

Round 19: QB Butch Songin – Boston College

Round 20: DT John Hackney – Murray State

Round 21: OG Leroy Vogts – Washington

Round 22: DT Jim Dowling – Santa Clara

Round 23: FB Dom Moselle – UW-Superior

Round 24: LB Jack Woodward – Bowling Green

Round 25: C Jim Brasher – Maryland

Round 26: DT Charley Toogood – Nebraska

Round 27: DB Dick Gray – Oregon State

Round 28: HB Billy Pyle – Texas

Round 29: TE Bob Schnelker – Bowling Green

Round 30: DB Jim Massey – Detroit

Of these players drafted, tight end Bob Schnelker in Round 29 was the only athlete to make the Pro Bowl of which he was selected for this honor twice.

Moselle played a single season and was traded for OT Bob Gain. Songin never played for the Browns but spent most of his career in the CFL.

Drafted in the twelfth round, Cole was the franchise’s very first black player drafted.

Gorgal selected in Round 6 played one season and then served a two-year term with the U.S. Army in the Korean War. Phelps became strictly a kick return specialist which was unheard of for the day.

Fourth-rounder Red Wilson opted for pro baseball and never played a down in the NFL. He played for the Cleveland Indians in 1960.

Of the 30 players drafted in 1950, only seven made the regular season roster: Carpenter, Gorgal, Moselle, Phelps, Martin, Sandusky, and Cole.

Paul Brown would get better at drafting players.

Photo by Robert Riger/Getty Images

He chose Future Hall of Famers DB Don Shula and OT Art Donovan in 1951 although neither played for very long in Cleveland. HB Ray Renfro was drafted in 1952 and future Hall of Famer DE Doug Atkins was a first-round pick in 1953. DE Paul Wiggin and future Hall of Famer Willie Davis were selected in 1956.

In 1957, Coach Brown chose three Hall of Famers – FB Jim Brown: Round 1, DT Henry Jordan: Round 5, and OG Gene Hickerson: Round 7.