Ryan was the last quarterback to have led the Browns to a championship
Frank Ryan, a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback who led the Browns to their last championship season in 1964, died Monday on New Year’s Day. He was 87 years old.
Ryan, who passed away due to Alzheimer’s disease, according to Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com, led the Browns over the Baltimore Colts in the 1964 NFL Championship game. The Browns defeated Johnny Unitas and the Colts, 27-0, and were propelled by Ryan’s three touchdown passes, all of which were thrown to Gary Collins.
Ryan was with the Browns from 1962-68 and accrued a 51-20-2 record as a starter. He’s fifth on their all-time passing list with 13,361 career yards and third with 134 passing touchdowns. He was named a Pro Bowler for three straight years from 1964-66 and led the NFL in passing touchdowns in 1964 and 1966.
The Browns released Ryan midway through the 1969 season after he had spent most of the 1968 season as the backup quarterback to Bill Nelsen, who led Cleveland to a division title that year. Ryan was then signed by the Washington Redskins and was their backup quarterback for the final two years of his career.
Ryan played for three total teams across his 13-year career — he spent his first four seasons with the Los Angeles Rams.
In addition to playing in the NFL, Ryan also impressively managed to attain a Ph.D in Math from Rice University. He taught the topic at Rice, Yale and Case Western University while he was still playing for the Browns.
Following his career, he was also named director of information services for the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was the director for the first computer voting system in the U.S. Congress.
He was also the athletic director for 10 years at Yale.
Ryan passed away in a nursing home in Waterford, Connecticut. According to Pluto, he was aware of the dangers of concussions and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) among football players and believed that played a role in his development of Alzheimer’s.
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