New Hall of Famer Chuck Howley helped Cowboys surpass Browns, become 'America's Team'

Attention, young Ohioans. Please humor a Hall of Fame history challenge.

Instructions:

Find a few Cleveland Browns fans old enough to have followed the team in the latter stages of the franchise's original glory days.

Ask them about Chuck Howley, one of the great, lost names of the NFL.

Chances are those Browns fans remember the Dallas Cowboys linebacker who caught Hall of Fame running back Leroy Kelly from behind, stopping a breakaway touchdown.

The reaction in Browns circles that day was, "No linebacker catches Leroy Kelly from behind."

West Virginia University loyalists were less surprised. They knew Howley as a rare cat who had lettered in track, swimming, wrestling, gymnastics and football for the Mountaineers.

Catching Kelly wasn't the only time Howley looked like a track star and all-around dynamo against the Browns.

This ties into the history challenge.

Cleveland and Dallas are ships passing in the night now. In the 49 years since Howley's last season, they have collided only 12 times — never in the postseason.

In contrast, they became real rivals in Howley's 13 years with the Cowboys, 1961-73, battling the Browns 20 times.

Along the way, Howley did for Dallas what latter-day Browns fans wished had happened in modern-era Cleveland. That is, he helped the Cowboys develop from an overmatched expansion outfit into the so-called "America's Team."

Cleveland's original glory days lasted from the team's birth in 1946 through 1973. In those 28 seasons, the Browns suffered just one losing year, 1956. It was quite alarming, considering the Browns had been in league championship games in all 10 of the previous years of their existence.

Cleveland's regular-season record from 1946-73 was an astounding 260-96-12. This is along the lines of Bill Belchick's regular-season record in 23 years with the Patriots, 262-108.

Blame who you will — candidates come to mind — as to the Browns' record from 1974 to present, an abominable 288-432-2.

Meanwhile, Howley didn't get to Dallas until 1961, when he was 25 years old. He was a first-round draft pick by the Chicago Bears in 1958. He played as a '58 rookie but blew out a knee in training camp before the 1959 season.

He sat out the entire 1960 season before a 1961 trade sent him to Dallas, which was coming off a 0-11-1 slog as first-year expansion team.

Howley played in obscurity on a Cowboys team that actually was worse in its first five seasons, 18-46-13, than the Browns were in their first five years when they came back as an expansion team — they were 25-55 from 1999 through 2003.

The Browns and Cowboys met twice a year throughout Howley's first six seasons in Dallas. Cleveland won 10 of those 12 games.

The Cowboys' first win over Cleveland, 45-21 in December 1962, helped embolden Cleveland owner Art Modell to fire coach Paul Brown.

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Howley intercepted quarterback Frank Ryan during the game. He kept picking on Ryan as the Cowboys grew stronger.

In a 1964 regular-season game, in what became the last year the Browns won a world championship, he intercepted Ryan in Cleveland.

In a 1967 playoff game, he returned an interception of Ryan 28 yards for a touchdown that provided a 21-7 lead. A Ryan-to-Gary Collins touchdown pass wasn't enough to prevent a 21-14 Browns loss.

The Cowboys advanced to the 1967 NFL championship game, where they lost a late 17-14 lead to Green Bay in the fabled "Ice Bowl." The Packers advanced to Super Bowl II.

The Browns avenged the loss a year later in the playoffs, but not before Howley sacked Bill Nelsen, recovered Nelsen's fumble, and ran 44 yards for a touchdown.

Kelly was at the height of his powers in that game, scoring on a 45-yard catch and a 35-yard run.

The Cowboys surpassed the Browns in 1970, making it all the way to Super Bowl V, in which Howley was named MVP despite a 16-13 loss to the Baltimore Colts. By then, he was part of Dallas' "Doomsday Defense," which, during the regular season, produced a 6-2 win at Cleveland.

Howley came along at about the same time as iconic Cleveland back Jim Brown. Brown was born Feb. 17, 1936. Howley was born June 28, 1936. Brown was a No. 6 overall draft pick in 1957. Howley was a No. 7 overall choice in '58.

Howley faced Brown 10 times. Cleveland's No. 32 unleashed his powers with 232 rushing yards in a 1963 game. Dallas' No. 54 helped keep Brown below 100 yards in eight of the meetings.

Howley's best years came after Brown retired after the 1965 season. The first of Howley's five consecutive first-team, All-Pro seasons came in 1966, when he was 30 years old.

Howley is more closely associated with Kelly, the man he caught from behind. All three of the Cleveland-Dallas postseason games in the franchises' histories came when Howley and Kelly were first-team All-Pros.

Brown's NFL career began in 1957 and ended in 1965. Kelly's spanned 1964-73. Howley was a rookie in 1958 and played into the 1973 season.

Kelly was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1994. Twenty-nine years later, as a member of the Hall's Class of 2023, Howley catches him again.

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Dallas Cowboys, Hall of Famer Chuck Howley had rivalry with Browns