Frank Ryan, the former Cleveland Browns quarterback whose skill on the field was matched by his intellect off of it, died on Monday.
He was 87 years old.
Ryan passed away on New Year’s Day in a nursing home in Waterford, Connecticut, and had been battling Alzheimer’s disease, his son, Frank Ryan Jr., told Cleveland.com.
Ryan was the last Browns signal-caller to lead the franchise to an NFL title back in 1964 and earned his doctorate in mathematics from Rice University in Houston six months later.
The NFL championship would be Cleveland’s last title until the Cavaliers won the NBA Finals in 2016.
“Throughout his life, Frank received thousands of autograph requests from fans of all ages and backgrounds from across the country,” Frank Ryan Jr. wrote in an email to Cleveland.com. “He appreciated his fans enormously. He kept every fan letter he received and fulfilled every autograph request sent to him until he became physically unable to do so.
“Frank had a large and loving family and they were with him at the end.”
The Browns legend spent seven of his 13 NFL seasons in Cleveland, where he started 76 games and threw for 13,361 yards and 134 touchdown passes.
Ryan was 52-22-2 as the Browns’ starter and appeared in three Pro Bowls.
In the 1964 title game, Ryan led the Browns to an upset victory over Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts and threw three touchdown passes to wide receiver Gary Collins in the 27-0 win.
Impressively, Ryan was a professor of mathematics during the NFL offseason and later went on to teach at Yale and Rice.
Following his retirement from the league in 1970, Ryan worked for the U.S. House of Representatives for seven years and was their director of development of the first computer voting system that Congress ever used.
He also served as Yale’s athletic director for 10 years.
Ryan donated his brain to the Boston University Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center and was aware of the dangers of concussions and CTE from playing football, Cleveland.com reported.
NEWS CREDIT
