Cliff Lewis ( quarterback ) Clifford Allen Lewis ( March 22 , 1923 – July 24 , 2002 ) was a professional American football player for the Cleveland Browns of the All - America Football Conference and National Football League . He was the team ' s first quarterback . Lewis attended Lakewood High School in Lakewood , Ohio , and Staunton Military Academy in Virginia . He went to Duke University , where he played football as a back . He was a member of the Duke Blue Devils basketball team during the 1944 – 1945 season . Lewis joined the Browns after graduating from college and spent his entire professional career with the team , playing primarily as a defensive back . He left the game after the 1951 season to concentrate on his insurance business . Lewis died in 2002 . High school and college career . Lewis grew up in Lakewood , Ohio and attended Lakewood High School . He played football and baseball , and was on a Lakewood basketball team that reached the state high school championship game in 1941 . Lakewood ' s football team tied for the Lake Erie League championship in 1940 and 1941 , when Lewis played left halfback . Lewis later transferred to Staunton Military Academy in Virginia , and in 1942 set a school scoring record in football with 14 touchdowns and 282 total points . After graduating , Lewis attended Duke University in Durham , North Carolina and played as a back on the school ' s Blue Devils football team . Lewis was Duke ' s second - string tailback as a sophomore in 1944 , but he took over starting duties after the original first - stringer , Allen Elger , suffered a knee injury . Lewis , however , broke his elbow in the team ' s second game of the season against the University of Pennsylvania and had to sit out . He returned for a November game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets , and in a 34 – 0 victory on November 11 against the previously undefeated Wake Forest University he passed to receiver Clark Jones for a touchdown . Later in November , he passed to Harold Raether for the final touchdown in a 33 - 0 win over the University of North Carolina that gave Duke a second consecutive Southern Conference title and a spot in 1944 ' s Sugar Bowl game against the University of Alabama . Lewis ' s passing helped Duke drive the ball 64 yards in the third quarter against Alabama , leading to a touchdown by All - America n Tom Davis . Duke won 29 – 26 . While football was Lewis ' s main sport , he also played basketball at Duke in the 1944 – 1945 season . Professional career . Lewis entered the U . S . Navy in 1945 and was a triple threat player and alternate quarterback for the Fleet City , California Bluejackets , a military team . The Bluejackets won the national service title that year . The Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League ( NFL ) selected Lewis with the 200th pick in the 1946 NFL Draft , but NFL commissioner Bert Bell ruled him ineligible under league rules . The Rams took Lewis thinking he was in the 1946 graduating class , but he had one more year of eligibility left as an athlete who entered college in 1943 . The decision delayed Lewis ' s professional career for a year ; in 1946 he signed with the Cleveland Browns of the new All - America Football Conference ( AAFC ) . Lewis started at quarterback for the Browns in their first three games in his first season , sharing duties with Otto Graham . After Graham took over as the starting quarterback , he became a defensive back who also returned punts and kickoffs . Lewis had five interceptions in his first season , when the Browns won the AAFC championship . Cleveland won the league championship in each of the ensuing three years before the AAFC dissolved and the Browns were absorbed into the more established NFL . The Browns beat the Rams to win the NFL championship in 1950 , the team ' s first year in the league . The following year , Lewis returned a Bob Waterfield interception for 12 yards to the Cleveland 32 - yard line during the Browns ' 24 – 17 loss to the Rams in the NFL title game at the Los Angeles Coliseum . After the 1951 season , Lewis retired from the Browns to devote himself full - time to his insurance business . Later life and death . Lewis worked in 1961 and 1962 as a color commentator on Browns television broadcasts , and became vice president of insurance administration for the New York Yankees following the team ' s purchase by George Steinbrenner in 1973 . He participated in the retired players division of the NFL players ' golf tournament in Hollywood , Florida , in January 1961 . He was inducted into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 1976 . Lewis died at the age of 79 in Tampa , Florida following an extended illness in 2002 .