Bob Cowan Robert George Cowan ( January 2 , 1923 – January 20 , 2004 ) was an American football halfback who played three seasons in the All - America Football Conference ( AAFC ) between 1947 and 1949 . Cowan played for the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Colts . Cowan was a standout track and football athlete at his Fort Wayne , Indiana high school . He attended Indiana University and starred as a halfback for two years , interrupted by service in the Army Air Force during World War II . Cowan joined the Browns in 1947 , when the team won the AAFC championship . Cleveland won all of its games in 1948 and beat the Buffalo Bills in the championship game . Cowan was sent to the Colts for the 1949 season , but he was slowed by a knee injury and left the game a year later . He became a high school principle in Fort Wayne after his playing career . High school and college career . Cowan grew up in Fort Wayne , Indiana and was a star athlete at the city ' s North Side High School . He failed to place first just once in the 220 - yard dash during his high school track career . Cowan came in second in his only loss at a state track meet in his sophomore year . He had times of 9 . 9 seconds in the 100 - yard dash , under 22 seconds in the 220 and 49 seconds in the 440 . Cowan ' s football team lost only twice in four years at North Side . The team went unbeaten in his senior year , and Cowan broke a state high school scoring record with 155 points playing as a right halfback . Cowan attended Indiana University starting in 1941 . He became the football team ' s starting right halfback in the middle of the following year , his sophomore season . Cowan also played basketball at Indiana , and was spotted during a state tournament in 1941 by Blanton Collier , who went on to become an assistant coach for the Cleveland Browns of the All - America Football Conference ( AAFC ) . Cowan joined the Army Air Force in 1943 and served in World War II as part of the ground crew at various military bases and at Okinawa . He played in 1944 for the service basketball team at a Salt Lake City , Utah base called the Air Base Wings . After the war , he returned to Indiana and played part of the 1946 season at right halfback . His best game for Indiana came against the Rose Bowl champion Illinois , when he caught a pass for a 37 - yard touchdown and helped set up a second touchdown with a run as the Hoosiers won by seven points . Professional football career . Cowan was selected by the Chicago Cardinals in the 1945 NFL Draft . The war delayed his professional career , however , and he signed in 1947 with the Browns , who selected him in the AAFC player draft . Cowan won a spot on the roster alongside fellow Fort Wayne native and Indiana graduate Bill Boedeker . The Browns finished the season with a 12 – 1 – 1 record and won the AAFC championship game against the New York Yankees . After the season , he returned to Indiana to finish his final semester and get a degree . Cowan returned to the Browns in 1948 . The team won all of its games that year , beating the Buffalo Bills in the championship game . Cowan , however , lost his job as the starting right halfback late in the season to Dub Jones . He was sent to the Baltimore Colts before the 1949 season . Bothered by a knee injury , Cowan left football after a year in Baltimore . Later life and death . Cowan returned to Fort Wayne after his playing career and became a high school principal . He died in 2004 .