Frank Ryan ( American football ) Frank Beall Ryan ( born July 12 , 1936 in Fort Worth , Texas ) is a retired American football quarterback in the National Football League who played for the Los Angeles Rams ( 1958 – 1961 ) , Cleveland Browns ( 1962 – 1968 ) and Washington Redskins ( 1969 – 1970 ) . Although he led the Browns to their last National Football League title in 1964 , Ryan is best remembered for being perhaps the only Ph . D . in mathematics to play in the league , completing a doctorate at Rice University . Early years . Ryan played football while attending R . L . Paschal High School in Fort Worth , Texas . He was recruited by college coaches from across the country , including Bear Bryant , and was admitted to Yale University . Yet Ryan declared a major in physics at Rice University , becoming the first in his family to not go to Yale . He was unable to establish himself during the course of his collegiate career , splitting time behind center with King Hill , who was receiving most of the snaps . Given his desire to continue toward a Ph . D . , Ryan originally decided not to play professional football after the Rams chose him in the fifth round of the 1958 NFL Draft . However , he changed his mind after he was able to enroll at both UCLA and University of California , Berkeley in pursuit of the advanced degree . Ryan then transferred back to Rice , where he studied during the off - season . NFL career . Los Angeles Rams . Ryan spent the first four years of his career primarily in a reserve capacity , making $ 12 , 000 per year . He did start a handful of games in competition with teammates Billy Wade and Zeke Bratkowski . In 1961 , he and future Hall of Famer Ollie Matson connected on a 96 - yard touchdown reception , establishing a new team record . However , after sitting on the bench for the last four games of the 1961 season , Ryan stormed into the dressing room and threatened General Manager Elroy Hirsch that he was going to quit football if he were not traded . He became part of a multi - player deal with the Browns on July 12 , 1962 , his 26th birthday , as the arrival of highly - touted newcomer Roman Gabriel made Ryan expendable . Cleveland Browns . 1962 – 1963 . Acquired to back up starting quarterback Jim Ninowski , Ryan moved into the starting slot on October 28 when Ninowski broke his collarbone while being tackled by Pittsburgh Steelers ' defensive lineman Eugene " Big Daddy " Lipscomb . With no other candidates to compete with , Ryan established his leadership and held on to the starting role for much of the next six seasons . In his first full season as a starter , 1963 , Ryan threw for 2 , 026 yards and 25 touchdowns with only 13 interceptions , helping the Browns to a 10 – 4 record . Thirteen of those touchdowns went to Gary Collins , who tied for the league lead in receiving touchdowns that year . 1964 . In 1964 , Ryan established himself as one of the league ’ s best passers . He threw for 2 , 404 yards and repeated his 1963 performance by completing 25 touchdown passes , which was enough to lead the league . Ryan had excellent company on the Browns offense : fullback Jim Brown ; wide receiver s Collins and Paul Warfield ; and an outstanding offensive line led by future Hall of Famers Lou Groza and Gene Hickerson . But Ryan was also a clutch performer during the Browns ’ memorable 10 – 3 – 1 season . Needing a win in the December 12 regular season finale against the New York Giants to clinch a berth in the NFL title game , Ryan completed 12 of 13 passes for five touchdowns and ran for a sixth touchdown in the 52 – 20 win . Two weeks later in the championship game against the Baltimore Colts , Ryan hit Collins for three touchdowns to win the title , 27 – 0 ( the last Browns championship to date ) . Ryan was rewarded for his performance with the first of three straight Pro Bowl appearances . Unfortunately , on the first play of the second half , he suffered a severe shoulder injury in the game after the combined 800 - pound trio of Packer Willie Davis , Lion Roger Brown and Colt Gino Marchetti converged on the signal caller . Speculation persists to this day that Marchetti went out of his way to injure Ryan due to the perception that the quarterback ran up the score in the championship , with Marchetti ' s statement that he wanted " one more shot " at Ryan also fueling the rumors . However , a study of the film by Cleveland coaches in the weeks after the game exonerated Marchetti . After winning the championship , Art Modell raised his salary $ 25 , 000 , up from about $ 18 , 000 per season . 1965 . Ryan ’ s numbers dropped in 1965 , throwing for only 1 , 751 yards and 18 touchdowns . While his shoulder had completely healed , a sore elbow in training camp and an injured arch early in the regular season played a role in his completing fewer than half of his passes during the campaign . Those struggles resulted in a continuing cool relationship with Browns ' fans , who booed him often during home contests . Part of Ryan ' s decline can also be traced to the absence of second - year wide receiver Paul Warfield , who missed much of the season after suffering a double fracture of the collarbone in the team ' s first exhibition game . 1966 . In 1966 , he bounced back with a superb season , leading the league with 29 touchdown passes and finishing second with 2 , 976 yards despite playing with intense pain . Ryan ' s output helped alleviate the absence of the legendary Jim Brown , who had retired prior to the start of training camp . 1967 . On January 25 , 1967 , Ryan underwent an operation to repair the remaining effects of his injury . The surgery eliminated the pain , but also affected his throwing motion . In the 1967 season opener , Ryan ' s injury woes continued as he sprained both ankles in a 21 – 14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys . Battling through that malady , along with shoulder and knee troubles , Ryan led the team to a 9 – 5 record to reach the playoffs . 1968 . Ryan ' s tenure as the Browns ' starting quarterback came to an abrupt end following a 1 – 2 start to the 1968 season . Browns ' head coach Blanton Collier replaced Ryan with Bill Nelsen , who went on to lead the team to a division title . The official conclusion of Ryan ' s time with the Browns came on September 9 , 1969 when he was released , but new Redskins ' coach Vince Lombardi quickly signed Ryan as a backup . Washington Redskins . Despite throwing only one pass during the 1969 season , Ryan returned for the last of his 13 years in the NFL in 1970 before officially announcing his retirement on April 13 , 1971 . Academic career . Ryan attended graduate school during the first part of his playing career , and in 1965 , he earned his Ph . D . from Rice . He worked for seven postgraduate years under Dr . G . R . MacLane , one of the best geometric - function theorists , and produced the dissertation " Characterization of the Set of Asymptotic Values of a Function Holomorphic in the Unit Disc . " In 1966 , Ryan published two fundamental papers on the set of asymptotic values of a function holomorphic in the unit disc in Duke Mathematical Journal . He started teaching at Rice during his career and , during his time with the Browns , he became an assistant professor at the Case Institute of Technology in February 1967 . Ryan had a full teaching load , which includes undergraduate and graduate courses , and conducting research in complex analysis . While at training camp , Ryan taught math in the morning and went to football practice in the afternoon . Ryan taught his last course at Case Western Reserve in the spring of 1971 . He was promoted to associate professor that summer . After taking a leave of absence for the next three years , he resigned his faculty position in 1974 . Ryan learned computer programming and software through the Chi Corp . , Case Western Reserve ’ s then newly launched private computer company . He compiled advanced statistics to apply what he learned to football . The Browns was shown his results and liked the project but didn ' t offer the extra cash to move it forward . Ryan ’ s second career was fodder for many jokes by sportswriter s . Red Smith wrote that the Browns ' offense consisted of a quarterback who understood Einstein ’ s theory of relativity and ten teammates who didn ’ t know there was one . Ryan was somewhat put off by the focus on his academic life , as he considered himself to be a regular football player . Post - NFL career . Soon after his retirement from the Redskins , Ryan remained in the nation ' s capital when he was named Director of Information Services for the U . S . House of Representatives . While there , he helped advance the computer age in politics by playing an integral role in establishing the body ' s first electronic voting system . This enabled voting procedures that usually ran for 45 minutes to be shortened to around 15 minutes . By the time he left the post , the office had an annual budget of eight million dollars with a staff of 225 . Ryan resigned that post to become athletic director and lecturer in mathematics at Yale University on March 7 , 1977 . Ryan served in that position for ten years before resigning to become the school ' s Associate vice President for Institutional Planning . He was a member of the Rice Board of Governors from 1972 to 1976 , and Ryan was recognized as a distinguished alumnus in 1987 . Ryan became vice president for external affairs at Rice in August 1990 , increasing annual gifts to the university to a three - year average of $ 32 . 8 million for the fiscal years 1992 – 94 from $ 21 . 4 million for the fiscal years 1988 – 90 . In 1995 , he resigned his post as vice president for external affairs at Rice , owing to differences with President Malcolm Gillis concerning the future course of external affairs . Ryan ended his institutional career as a professor of mathematics , and professor of computational and applied mathematics at Rice . Ryan was president and chief executive officer of Contex Electronics , which designed and manufactured cable and interconnect products for the computer and communications industries . Ryan also served as director for America West Airlines , Sequoia Systems , and of Danielson Holding Corporation . He was an advisory director of United Medical Care Inc . Now retired , Ryan lives on 78 acres of heavily forested land in Grafton , Vermont with his wife , Joan , a retired sportswriter and nationally syndicated columnist for the Washington Post . In retirement , he now runs a sophisticated self - designed program that helps micro - analyze statistical behavior of the up - and - down pricing movement that underlies the pricing behavior of the futures market . He is also doing work on Oppermann ’ s conjecture about the distribution of prime numbers . Another Browns quarterback received a " professional doctorate " ; Dr . Dave Mays , DDS , played for the team in 1976 and 1977 . Statistics . Ryan ranks fourth all - time among Browns quarterbacks with 13 , 499 passing yards and second behind Brian Sipe with 134 touchdowns . His 81 . 43 passer rating is third - best , behind Milt Plum and Bernie Kosar . Ryan ' s career numbers ( including years with the Rams and Redskins ) : 1 , 090 completions in 2 , 133 attempts for 16 , 044 yards , 149 touchdowns and 111 interceptions . Ryan also rushed for 1 , 358 yards and six touchdowns on 310 carries .