Mac Speedie Mac Curtis Speedie ( January 12 , 1920 – March 5 , 1993 ) was an American football end who played for the Cleveland Browns in the All - America Football Conference ( AAFC ) and National Football League ( NFL ) for seven years , and later served for two years as head coach of the American Football League ' s Denver Broncos . A tall and quick runner whose awkward gait helped him deceive defenders and get open , Speedie led his league in receptions four times during his career and was selected as a first - team All - Pro six times . His career average of 800 yards per season was not surpassed until two decades after his retirement , and his per - game average of 50 yards went unequalled for 20 years after he left the game . Speedie grew up in Utah , where he overcame Perthes Disease to become a standout as a hurdler on his high school track team and a halfback on the football team . He attended the University of Utah , where he continued to excel at track and football before entering the military in 1942 during World War II . He spent four years in the service before joining the Browns in 1946 , where he played as an end opposite quarterback Otto Graham , fullback Marion Motley and fellow receiver Dante Lavelli . The Browns , a new team in the AAFC , won the league championship every year between 1946 and 1949 . The Browns merged into the NFL in 1950 after the AAFC disbanded , and Speedie continued to succeed as the team won another league championship . After two more years with the Browns , however , Speedie left the team for the Western Interprovincial Football Union ( WIFU ) amid a conflict with Paul Brown , Cleveland ' s head coach . He played two full seasons in the WIFU and one game in a third season before leaving professional football . Speedie was hired in 1960 as an end coach for the Houston Oilers in the American Football League ( AFL ) . The Oilers won the AFL championship that year , but Speedie left in 1961 after the head coach , former teammate Lou Rymkus , was fired . He then took a job as an assistant for the AFL ' s Denver Broncos and was promoted to head coach in 1964 . His two - year run with the team was unsuccessful , however . After his resignation in 1966 , Speedie became a scout for the Broncos , a job he kept until his retirement in 1982 . Despite lobbying by friends and former teammates , Speedie was not selected for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame . Early life . Speedie was born in Odell , Illinois , but attended high school in Utah . As a child he had Perthes Disease , a condition where growth or loss of bone mass in the hip joint affects blood supply to the area . He had to wear a brace for four years to correct the condition ; one of his legs came out shorter than the other . Despite his struggle with the disease , Speedie became a star athlete at South High School in Salt Lake City , playing football , basketball and track . He was the center on the school ' s basketball team and was named to a list of Salt Lake ' s best athletes as a halfback on the football team . Getting out of the braces " was like turning a frisky colt out to pasture after a year in a box stall , " Speedie once said . " I had such a backlog of athletic ambition that I wanted to play football , basketball , and track all at one time . " College and military career . After graduating from high school , Speedie attended the University of Utah , where he majored in geology and continued to excel as an athlete . He played football and basketball and was a top college hurdler in track . As an end on the Utah Redskins football team He won all - conference honors in 1939 , 1940 and 1941 . In track , he finished second in a high hurdles event where the winner , Rice University ' s Fred Wolcott , set a NCAA record . Like many college athletes , Speedie joined the military as America ' s involvement in World War II intensified following the attack on Pearl Harbor at the end of 1941 . He entered the U . S . Army after graduating in 1942 . Speedie was stationed at Fort Warren in Wyoming and played for the base ' s Broncos military team . Professional career . Cleveland Browns . Speedie was drafted by the National Football League ' s Detroit Lions in the late rounds of the 1942 draft . Fred Mandel , the owner of the Lions , visited him at Fort Warren and offered a contract worth $ 2 , 800 a year . Speedie wanted to sign immediately , but Mandel preferred to wait until after the war . By the time the war drew to a close in 1945 , however , Speedie was considering signing with the Chicago Rockets , a team in the new All - America Football Conference ( AAFC ) . He was pursued by the Rockets after playing well against a team at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro from which many of the Rockets ' players were drawn . Speedie was also spotted by Paul Brown , who had been the head coach of a military team at Great Lakes Naval Station that played against the Broncos . Brown , who was starting a new AAFC team called the Cleveland Browns , sent a friend named Jackie Ranen to sign Speedie for $ 7 , 000 in 1946 . With the Browns , Speedie quickly became an important part of an offensive attack that featured quarterback Otto Graham , fullback Marion Motley and fellow receiver Dante Lavelli . He was enthusiastic , energetic and fast , posing a challenge for defenders assigned to cover him . He had an unusual running style because of his bout with Perthes Disease , which Lavelli said " gave him an odd gait in which he could fake plays without even trying " . Speedie caught the first touchdown in the AAFC ' s existence in the Browns ' opening game against the Miami Seahawks , a 44 – 0 win . The Browns ended the regular season with a 12 – 2 record , winning the AAFC West division and earning a spot in the league championship . During the week before the championship game against the New York Yankees , Speedie and two teammates , Lou Rymkus and team captain Jim Daniell were arrested after an argument with Cleveland police . Daniell was driving a car with Rymkus and Speedie as passengers as they waited for Speedie ' s wife to return on a flight from Utah . A police car was blocking Daniell ' s way , and he honked the horn , leading to the confrontation and arrests . Brown kicked Daniell off of the team , but Speedie and Rymkus were not punished by the team ; they were , however , held in custody for several hours and charged with creating a disturbance . The Browns went on to win the championship game in 1946 , helped by Speedie ' s six catches for 71 yards . Speedie led the league in yards per catch , with 23 . 5 , and scored seven touchdowns . After the season , he was named along with several teammates to the AAFC ' s all - league team . The 1947 season was another strong one for Speedie . In a game against the Buffalo Bills , he tied a professional football record by catching a throw from Graham and running 99 yards for a touchdown . He finished the season as the league leader in receptions and receiving yards as the Browns won another championship . His 67 catches and 1 , 146 receiving yards , in fact , were the second - best in pro football history after Don Hutson of the Green Bay Packers , who caught for 1 , 211 yards in 1940 . Speedie was named by news outlets as a first - team All - Pro . Speedie ' s success in 1947 came as he , Graham and Lavelli gelled as a passing and receiving unit , having studied hours of tape and worked on their technique and coordination . Speedie studied how defensive backs moved their feet and tried to break into the open by exploiting mis - steps . They experimented with screen pass es and made modifications to common receiving routes to exploit the weaknesses of defenses . The Browns had a perfect season the following year , winning the championship for a third straight time . Speedie led the league in receiving and was named an All - Pro again . The 1949 season brought another championship and another All - Pro season for Speedie , who led the league in receptions for the third year in a row . He had 228 receiving yards in a game against the Yankees , which remains a Browns record . Tom Landry , a Yankees cornerback who went on to coach the Dallas Cowboys , was assigned to cover Speedie and called it " the most embarrassing athletic performance of my entire life " . The AAFC dissolved after the 1949 season and the Browns , along with two other teams , were absorbed by the more established NFL . Speedie was the AAFC ' s all - time leader in receptions and receiving yards , with 3 , 554 . Cleveland ' s success continued in the NFL in 1950 , silencing skeptics who thought the team stood out only because of the poor quality of competition in the AAFC . After beating the defending NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles in the first game of the season , the Browns advanced to the championship game , where they beat the Los Angeles Rams 30 – 28 on a last - second Lou Groza field goal . Speedie had 548 receiving yards during the season and was selected for the NFL ' s first - ever Pro Bowl . The Browns reached the NFL championship game in 1951 and 1952 , but lost both times . Speedie led the NFL in receiving in 1951 and was named a first - team All Pro , but he did not play in the championship game due to an injury . He was selected for the Pro Bowl for a second time in 1952 . After that season , however , he left the Browns to join the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Western Interprovincial Football Union under acrimonious circumstances . Speedie had an independent streak that did not sit well with Brown , whose domineering coaching style grated against many of the men who played for him . " He was one of the ones that Paul Brown picked on quite a bit , " recalled former teammate Ken Carpenter . " He ' d get on Speedie ' s case for no particular reason . " Speedie showed his displeasure by bringing a skunk to training camp in 1952 and calling it " Paul " . Brown told Speedie he did not think it was very funny , to which Speedie responded that it was a nocturnal animal and was named after Paul Revere . The Roughriders offered Speedie double his Browns salary as the Canadian leagues tried to make names for themselves by signing top - level NFL players . Paul Brown refused to match the offer , and Speedie , who was making $ 11 , 000 per year with the Browns , joined the Canadian team for the 1953 season . Brown then threatened to sue Speedie for violating his existing contract with the team , saying the Browns had exercised an option to extend the deal after it expired in the summer of 1953 . " This was a case of jumping a contract , pure and simple , as this young man morally and ethically had a contract with us , " Brown said at the time . Speedie later said that Brown " told me when I jumped leagues that he was going to get even with me " . Western Interprovincial Football Union . Speedie , by then 33 years old , joined the Roughriders despite the threat of legal action . Speedie had a league - leading seven touchdowns in 1953 , and 576 receiving yards the following season . He was sent to the WIFU ' s BC Lions in 1955 , but played only one game for the club . Speedie hurt his left knee and was declared out for the season . He had suffered a hairline leg fracture and underwent surgery on torn ligaments in his knee and ankle . He was expected to scout for the Lions as he recovered . After the injury , Speedie was cut from the Lions ' roster and did not play professional football again . At the end of his career , Speedie was one of the most prolific receivers of his era . He averaged more than 800 receiving yards a season during his seven years in the AAFC and NFL , a mark that was not surpassed for 20 years after he left the game . His career receiving yards average of 49 . 9 per game stood for 25 years . He was named to the National Football League 1940s All - Decade Team and was selected by news outlets as a first - team All - Pro six times . The authors of the official NFL encyclopedia named him one of the league ' s 300 greatest - ever players . Coaching career . Speedie resurfaced in 1960 , when he was named the end coach for the new American Football League ' s Houston Oilers under former teammate and Oilers head coach Lou Rymkus . The Oilers won the AFL championship in 1960 , but Rymkus was fired after the team got off to a slow start the following year . Team owner Bud Adams urged Speedie to stay on the staff , but Speedie resigned out of loyalty to Rymkus . The AFL ' s Denver Broncos hired Speedie the following year as an end coach . He served under head coach Jack Faulkner , who replaced Frank Filchock that season and was voted AFL Coach of the Year for turning the team around and posting a 7 – 7 record . Faulkner led the team to a 2 – 11 – 1 season in 1963 , however , and Speedie replaced him the following year as the Broncos went on a 14 - game losing streak . In Speedie ' s first game leading the team , the Broncos ended the losing streak with a 33 – 27 upset victory over the Kansas City Chiefs . Two weeks later , Speedie suspended placekicker Gene Mingo and defensive back Willie West for " conduct detrimental to the club " , reportedly as a result of a late - night party at a hotel . The team posted a 2 – 7 – 1 record under Speedie , and he was signed to a two - year contract after the season . In his first full season as the Broncos ' coach in 1965 , Speedie ' s team posted a 4 – 10 record . After two losses to begin the 1966 season , Speedie resigned and assistant Ray Malavasi took over . He said the move was in the best interest of the club . Speedie had a 6 - 19 - 1 record as the Broncos ' coach . He then accepted a scouting position with the organization and was based out of his home in Laguna Hills , California . He held the post until his retirement in 1982 . Later life and death . Speedie had a brief and cold reunion with Brown in 1977 , when the two met at the annual East – West Shrine Game , a college all - star game . Speedie introduced himself to Brown , only to be told , " Yes , I know . You ' re the one who went to Canada . " Speedie ' s friends and former teammates lobbied repeatedly for his inclusion in the Pro Football Hall of Fame , but Speedie believed that his conflict with Brown was keeping him out even as numerous former teammates , including Otto Graham , Dante Lavelli and Marion Motley were inducted . He was placed on an old - timers ' list of nominees for induction into the hall in the mid - 1980s , but ultimately was passed over . " Quite honestly , I think Paul Brown is the reason " for Speedie ' s exclusion , Graham said in 1991 . " Paul wasn ' t the type of guy you crossed . He would never forget it . " While was passed over for professional football ' s hall of fame , Speedie was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 1972 and the University of Utah ' s Crimson Club hall of fame in 1986 . He died in California in 1993 . External links . Bleacher Report article on Speedie ' s Hall of Fame credentials