Cleveland’s Finest: Sports Heroes from the Greatest Location in the Nation
Copyright © 2016 by Vince McKee
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the copyright holder, except for brief quotations used in reviews.
Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals. All factual information was verified through baseball-reference.com, pro-football-reference.com, and basketball-reference.com, as well as with the athletes, coaches, and announcers themselves.
For further information, please contact the publisher:
CLERISY PRESS
An imprint of Keen Communications, LLC
306 Greenup St.
Covington, KY 41011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McKee, Vince.
Cleveland’s finest : sports heroes from the greatest location in the nation / Vince McKee. — First edition.
pages cm
“Distributed by Publishers Group West”—T.p. verso.
ISBN 978-1-57860-573-6 — ISBN 1-57860-573-3 — ISBN 978-1-57860-574-3 (eISBN)
1. Sports—Ohio—Cleveland—History. 2. Athletes—Ohio—Cleveland. 3. Sports teams—Ohio—Cleveland. I. Title.
GV584.5.C58M35 2015
796.09771’32—dc23
2015020432
Distributed by Publishers Group West
Editor: Vanessa Lynn Rusch
Cover design: Scott McGrew
Text design: Annie Long
Cover and interior photos: © Vince McKee, except as noted
Copyeditor: Emily C. Beaumont
This book is dedicated to my beautiful wife, Emily, and my incredibly adorable daughter, Maggie. I love you both deeply, and you remain the best reason to wake up every morning and come back home from work every day. My life is better because of you.
Contents
6. Cleveland Crunches the Drought
10. Bonus: Soccer Returns to Cleveland
Acknowledgments
I want to thank my wife, Emily, for providing me the time to work on this book and always being 100 percent supportive. I want to thank my parents; my brother, Don; and my sister, Abbie: You all have always been my biggest fans. Most importantly, thank you to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through whose light all work is done.
Introduction
No one can measure the heart of a champion. It is the one distinct quality that can make any challenger a champion. Cleveland has been a part of some of the greatest moments in sports history. The city produced a football dynasty in the 1940s and 1950s and won two World Series (and came within a few outs of winning a third). The basketball franchise has risen from the ashes to produce a miracle—a Chosen One. Cleveland has had rookie sensations offering near perfection from the mound and has produced a soccer team that electrified the world of indoor soccer with multiple championships. The loyalty of Cleveland’s fans is unfailing, as they have stuck by their teams in good times and bad. The fighting spirit of Cleveland can never be denied—offering the finest in all of sports cities.
This book highlights the best moments, players, and media members in Cleveland sports history. It has in-depth interviews with some of the top names in Cleveland sports. Each interview is a no-holds-barred tell-all of the most intimate and sometimes controversial details of the largest impact moments in Cleveland sports. This is the first book written from the players’ points of view combined with media coverage and perspectives from fans. This book will change the way the entire sports nation perceives Cleveland, as finally its true sports stories are told!
George Lilja came to Cleveland in 1984 and was the starting left guard on the 1985–86 Browns teams that won the AFC Central Division championship.
CHAPTER ONE
The Golden Years
There was a time in Cleveland sports when winning wasn’t just hoped for—it was expected. There have been those in the sports media across the country who have made the mistake in recent years of mocking Cleveland’s teams for not winning a world-championship title in over 49 years. What those pundits don’t realize is that this city was built on winning and that its fans can and will survive anything.
Cleveland is a blue-collar city with hardworking people who support their hardworking teams. No matter the previous season’s record, the loyal fan base in Cleveland is confident that the current season will be their season. Times have been tough for Cleveland sports teams, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, from the late 1940s through the early 1960s, Cleveland served as the marquee sports city on the planet.
Joe DeLuca, who grew up in Cleveland, has many stories about the winning years of the past. Things were much different then, when winning wasn’t a gift but a birthright. Born in 1933, Joe had the incredible opportunity to watch the first-ever Cleveland Browns football game in person. Throughout the first 15 years of his life, he witnessed multiple championship seasons, not only in football but also in hockey and baseball.
The Cleveland Barons were a professional minor-league team in the American Hockey League who