Gaylon Smith Gaylon Wesley Smith ( – ) was a professional American football fullback and defensive end who played five seasons for the Cleveland Rams in the National Football League ( NFL ) and one season for the Cleveland Browns of the All - America Football Conference ( AAFC ) . Before entering professional football , Smith starred as a halfback at Rhodes College and led the country in scoring in 1938 . He was selected by the Rams in the second round of the following season ' s NFL draft and played for the Cleveland team until deciding to retire from the sport in 1943 . After taking a job as a personnel director and playing on a regional basketball and baseball teams based in the Cleveland area , Smith joined the U . S . Navy in 1944 during World War II . He was discharged two years later and signed with the Browns , then a new team in the AAFC . Smith was a second - string player with the Browns , but substituted for an injured Marion Motley late in the season as the team won the AAFC championship game . Smith retired after the 1946 season , but stayed in Ohio to raise his family and work as a manufacturer ' s representative . He died in 1958 at the age of 41 . College career . Smith grew up in Beebe , Arkansas and attended Rhodes College in Memphis , Tennessee starting in 1935 . He played baseball , basketball and track in college , but he was best known as a star halfback on the school ' s football team . While Rhodes was a small college , Smith led the country in scoring for two weeks in 1938 and finished the season in third place . He was named to All - Dixie teams in 1937 and 1938 , and was named a Little All - America n in 1938 . The Cleveland Rams selected him in the second round of the NFL draft that December . Professional career . Smith played for the Rams beginning in 1939 . He started out as a halfback , but was shifted to quarterback and then tailback in the 1940 season before moving back to quarterback . He then served primarily as a fullback in 1941 and 1942 , and like many players of his era was assigned to both the offensive and defensive units . Smith retired from football after the 1942 season and took a job as personnel director of Thompson Products , Inc . , an aerospace , automotive and financial conglomerate based in Ohio . Smith played amateur baseball as a catcher and regional professional basketball in 1943 . He also boxed in an amateur tournament organized by the " Cleveland Plain Dealer " . The following year , Smith joined the U . S . Navy during World War II . He reported in May for training at the Great Lakes Naval Station outside of Chicago . At Great Lakes , he played for a military football team coached by Paul Brown . Following his discharge from the service in early 1946 , Smith was signed by Brown to play for the Cleveland Browns , a team under formation in the new All - America Football Conference . The Rams had moved to Los Angeles after the 1945 season , and Smith was one of five former Rams players to stay in Cleveland with the Browns , alongside Tommy Colella , Mike Scarry , Don Greenwood and Chet Adams . He joined the Browns despite a lawsuit filed by the Rams against Adams in which the Rams contended he was still under contract with the team . Smith said he had signed with the " Cleveland Rams " and that the contract said nothing about a move to Los Angeles . " After the Rams moved to the coast , they sent me another agreement specifying a raise in pay , but I didn ' t sign it , " he said . " I decided that if I couldn ' t play football in Cleveland , I wouldn ' t play at all . " A federal judge eventually ruled in favor of Adams , clearing the way for former Rams players to join the Browns . Smith was not a regular starter for the Browns when the team started play in 1946 , but he got additional playing time toward the end of the season after fullback Marion Motley suffered injuries to his feet . Smith ran for 240 yards and scored five touchdowns as the Browns won the first AAFC championship that year . He retired from professional football for good after the season . Later life . Smith was associated in the mid - 1950s with a company started by Browns quarterback Otto Graham and Cleveland Indians catcher Jim Hegan that sold gift items including trophies , watches and jewelry to companies for presentation to clients . He also worked for Thompson Products and the National Screw Company as a manufacturer ' s representative . Smith died in 1958 in Ohio , where he had remained with his family after retiring from football . He had four children with his wife Carol . Two years after his death , Rhodes College dedicated the Gaylon Smith Memorial Gateway in his honor . He is considered one of the best football players Rhodes has produced . He was inducted into the Rhodes College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996 .