George Young ( American football ) George Donald Young ( – ) was an American football defensive end who played eight seasons in the All - America Football Conference ( AAFC ) and in the National Football League with the Cleveland Browns . He later was an umpire officiating in the American Football League ( AFL ) for its entire existence , from 1960 through 1969 . He officiated in the first AFL championship in 1960 and the first Super Bowl after the 1966 season . Young grew up in a poor family outside of Wilkes - Barre , Pennsylvania . He was a star athlete in high school , playing on his football team and winning a state heavyweight title in wrestling as a senior . Young attended the University of Georgia and was on the Bulldogs football team in 1941 and 1942 , when the school won the Rose Bowl . He then spent three years in the military during World War II and played service football as he trained in the U . S . Navy . He played in 1944 for Paul Brown , then the head football coach at a Naval facility outside Chicago . After the war , Brown became head coach of the Cleveland Browns in the AAFC and signed Young . He played on the defensive line for the Browns until his retirement in 1953 , a span during which the team won five league championships . After his playing career , Young worked as an executive at a utility in Illinois and officiated in the AFL . He died of a brain tumor in 1969 . Early life and college career . Young grew up poor in Forty Fort , Pennsylvania , a suburb of Wilkes - Barre . His mother died when he was 10 years old , and dinner often consisted of canned beans or soup . Despite a bad diet , Young grew to six feet , three inches and more than 200 pounds . He played three years as an end on his Forty Fort High School football team and was also a wrestler , winning the state heavyweight title as a senior . The head of a soft drink bottling company in Wilkes - Barre helped Young get into the University of Georgia , where he played football on the varsity team starting as a freshman . He was on a Georgia Bulldogs football team that won the Rose Bowl after the 1942 season . Soon after the game , Young entered the U . S . military as America ' s involvement in World War II intensified . He was sent as a Navy cadet to Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago and played on a service football team there coached by Paul Brown in 1944 . The following year , he was transferred to Fleet City , a complex of Naval bases in California , and played on a Fleet City Bluejackets team that won the service national championship . At Fleet City , doctors discovered Young had a large growth of calcium on his right thigh bone . They wanted to operate and thought it would grow larger , but told Young he would lose significant use of his leg after surgery . He elected not to have the operation and hope for the best . The deposit grew to 9 1 / 2 inches before it stopped ; it did not affect his ability to run . Cleveland Browns . After the war , Paul Brown became the head coach of the Cleveland Browns , a professional team under formation in the new All - America Football Conference . He invited Young to try out for the squad . Young barely made the team and played sparingly in the Browns ' first season in 1946 , when the team won the first AAFC championship . Young almost failed make the roster again in 1947 , but thereafter became a stalwart on the Browns ' defensive line as a defensive end whose job it was to disrupt opponents ' running and passing attacks . The Browns won the following three AAFC championships , helped by a staunch defense and a high - scoring offense featuring quarterback Otto Graham and fullback Marion Motley . Young continued his academic studies during the offseason – his career at Georgia was cut short by the war – and received a degree from Baldwin - Wallace College in 1949 . The AAFC disbanded after the 1949 season and the Browns were absorbed by the more established National Football League ( NFL ) . Young continued to play for the Browns as the team won the 1950 NFL championship and advanced to the championship but lost in each of the ensuing three years . Young announced his retirement after the 1953 season , when he shared playing time with rookie Doug Atkins at left defensive end . Later life and officiating career . Young worked during the off - season in his last two years with the Browns at the Public Service Company of Northern Illinois in its personnel department . He took a full - time job with the utilities company after leaving football and settled in Waukegan , Illinois . " I liked the work from what I saw of it the last couple of years and I ' ve decided to devote full time to it now , " he said . Young came back to professional football in 1960 , when he was hired as an official in the new American Football League ( AFL ) . He continued his regular job as an area manager for the utility in Illinois while officiating games part - time . He served as the umpire in the AFL ' s first championship between the Houston Oilers and the Los Angeles Chargers . In 1966 , he was the umpire in Super Bowl I , the first inter - league title game between the champions of the AFL and NFL . Young died suddenly in 1969 of a brain tumor at 45 . He was an AFL official for the league ' s entire existence ; the AFL and NFL formally merged starting in the 1970 season .