Ralph Brown (American football, born 1925) Ralph Brown (American football, born 1925) J. Ralph Brown (born c. 1925) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas from 1959 to 1961, compiling a record of 9–18. Brown played as a fullback in 1946 at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College—now knwon as Oklahoma State University–Stillwater. The next year, he transferred to the University of Kansas to play center. He did not play his last two years of college because of a back injury. After working in the high school ranks and as an assistant coach
Paul Brown when Brown traded star halfback Bobby Mitchell for the rights to Ernie Davis, a Heisman Trophy-winning running back who broke all of Jim Brown's rushing records at Syracuse. Paul Brown did not inform Modell of the move, and Modell only heard about it after getting a call from Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall. Davis, however, was diagnosed with leukemia before the 1962 season. He came to Cleveland to train after the cancer went into remission, but Brown would not allow him to play. Modell, however, wanted to give Davis a chance to play before he succumbed to the disease.