Don Fleming ( American football ) Donald Denver Fleming ( June 11 , 1937 – June 4 , 1963 ) was an American college and professional football player who was a defensive back in the National Football League ( NFL ) for three seasons during the early 1960s . Fleming played college football for the University of Florida , and thereafter , he played professionally for the Cleveland Browns of the NFL . His professional football career was cut short by his accidental death in 1963 . Early life . Fleming was born in Bellaire , Ohio in 1937 . He attended Shadyside High School in Shadyside , Ohio , where he was a standout prep player for the Shadyside Tigers high school football team . College career . Fleming attended the University of Florida in Gainesville , Florida , where he played for coach Bob Woodruff ' s Florida Gators football team from 1956 to 1958 . Fleming was the Gators ' team captain in 1958 , and he finished his college football career as a first - team All - Southeastern Conference ( SEC ) selection . Woodruff ranked him as the Gators ' best receiver of the 1950s . The Chicago Cardinals drafted Fleming following his senior football season , but he chose to remain in school and exhaust his remaining NCAA baseball eligibility playing for coach Dave Fuller ' s Florida Gators baseball team from 1958 to 1960 . He was the captain of the Gators baseball team , and led the Gators in home run s and stolen base s . Professional career . Fleming was selected by the Chicago Cardinals in the twenty - eighth round ( 327th pick overall ) of the 1959 NFL Draft , but he remained at the University of Florida and did not play during the NFL season . He successfully urged Chicago management to trade him to the Cleveland Browns before the start of the season . Fleming was a close friend of another Browns defensive back , Bernie Parrish , a fellow Florida graduate , and the two were said to be almost inseparable during the NFL season . Over the following three years , Fleming played regularly at safety , intercepted ten passes , recovered four fumble s , and made " The Sporting News " All - NFL team in . Accidental death and legacy . Fleming , his wife Rosalie and their son Ty lived in his hometown of Shadyside , Ohio during football season , and in Winter Park , Florida during the NFL off - season . As a 25 - year - old NFL All - Conference selection , Fleming was already planning ahead for the day when his professional football career ended . He had majored in building construction at the University of Florida , and had been working as a foreman for a Central Florida construction company during the off - season to stay in shape and gain industry experience . On June 4 , 1963 , Fleming and a co - worker were operating a crane on a construction site west of Orlando , Florida , when the boom of the crane brushed an overhead 12 , 000 - volt high - tension electrical transmission line . Fleming and his co - worker were electrocuted , and attempts to revive them at the hospital failed . Earlier the same day , the Browns had announced that Fleming had signed his contract for the 1963 season . His death came only seventeen days after that of Ernie Davis , the overall No . 1 pick in the 1962 NFL Draft , whom the Browns had acquired in a trade . The Browns retired both Davis ' uniform number No . 45 and Fleming ' s No . 46 in memory of the players . Fleming Field at Shadyside High School , Fleming ' s alma mater , is named in his memory . When the Browns practiced at Western Reserve Eclectic Institute ( Hiram College ) , the field house they used also carried Fleming ' s name . Fleming was nominated for the Florida Sports Hall of Fame within days of his death , and he was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a " Gator Great . "