The Monday After: Getting reacquainted with 'Brownie the Elf'

"Brownie the Elf," the mascot for the Cleveland Browns back in the 1950s and 1960s and now the midfield image for the longtime National Football League franchise, made a less public appearance in the city by the lake about 25 years ago.

Fan-favorite former player Doug Dieken was attending a Cleveland Browns reunion in the summer of 1997 when "an older gentleman," approached him, according to an article by Mark Craig, then a sportswriter for The Canton Repository. The man was one of thousands of Browns followers who had flocked to the sunny campus of Hiram College to see the players who had gathered, and Dieken, always friendly to fans, welcomed him.

The man extended his right hand, and Dieken grabbed it in a handshake. The popular player turned it over and eyed a colorful spot on the man's forearm.

"Nice tatoo," Dieken told him.

If it looked familiar to Dieken, it was because of his legendary tenure with the Browns, both as a player and a radio announcer.

"Shining in the bright light was 'Brownie,' the little elf that served more prevalently as the team's mascot," Craig wrote in the article, published in the Repository on June 9, 1997, "until shortly after Art Modell bought the team in 1961."

It is obvious to anyone attending a home game of the Browns, or following the team on television, that Brownie the Elf has returned to the field in Cleveland.

Known to generation of fans

As is the case with many fans my age, I know about "Brownie," the elf that through the years graced players' football cards, game programs, souvenir clothing, bobbleheads, helmets, cup coasters, jewelry, and an assortment of other team-related items. And those appearances by "Brownie" have carried over into current years.

Kevin Stefanski, the Browns' head coach since 2020, is known for donning hoodies and caps and the like that are graced by the elfish likeness with pointy ears and shoes that have turned-up toes.

The caricature is familiar to me, as well. I grew up with "Brownie." Granted, my childhood was spent in western New York, but with a surname such as mine − Brown − you sort of naturally develop an affinity for a team named the Browns.  Before such a team as the Buffalo Bills was formed for the sports-watching convenience of upstate New Yorkers, most of my family rooted for the Browns.

Many of us assumed the nickname "Brownie," given to us by coaches, neighbors and childhood friends.

So, "Brownie" was a rather personal mascot to me.

To many in western Stark County, though, "Brownie" was personal memory for an entirely different reason.

Even though Cleveland is located an hour to the north of the Canton-Massillon area, and the Browns were not technically a hometown team to people in either city, Brownie, the Cleveland team's mascot, appears to have been home-grown.

Origin of 'Brownie' traced

As the NFL football season opened with "Brownie the Elf" stationed on the center of  the field at the Browns' FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, many writers penned words tracing the origin of the mascot.

Some noted how the Browns legendary coach, Paul Brown, had once coached at Massillon Washington High School, and while there had hired area artist A.D. Small to create a cartoonish image for the team's nickname, the Tigers. Small drew a football-carrying Tiger who became known as "Obie." The mascot was named, as the story goes, to use the first letters of the school's colors, orange and black.

Year's later, Brown adopted "Brownie" for his professional team. An early version of the elf, some observers have noted, is posed in much the same running-back manner as Obie.

According to an article posted recently at ESPN.com, the elf in an off-field version visited Massillon initially back before the Great Depression.

"In 1929, the Atlas Beverage Company in Detroit began producing a Brownie caramel cream root beer, whose bottles were adorned with an elf," the article by ESPN staff writer Jake Trotter recalls. "The company soon put a sign advertising the soda on the side of a building in downtown Massillon, Ohio."

Quoting Browns historian Barry Shuck, Trotter speculated whether Paul Brown's "Brownie" was derived from that root beer sign, and whether Small drew the Brownie logo, as he had drawn the previous Obie charicature.

"It's the same character," Shuck told Trotter.

'Brownie' comes to Cleveland

A Twitter posting by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in September heralded the arrival of the Browns' new midfield figure by sharing an artifact from the past.

"We look back at the first time Brownie debuted," the posting said, in part. "It was the day the Browns played the first game in team history."

The words were accompanied by an image showing "Brownie" on the team program for a game in Cleveland Stadium between the Browns and the Miami Seahawks on Sept. 6, 1946.

Tradition is strong in sports. What goes around, then comes around again − like "Brownie" − most often is given a warm welcome by fans, especially Browns fans who remember fondly their team's glory years. The Browns won championships with "Brownie" as the face and figure of the Cleveland football squad.

"We're super excited about the new midfield logo," said J.W. Johnson, Browns executive vice president and partner, who noted in an article by staff writer Anthony Polsal posted Sept. 13, 2022, on the team's website, clevelandbrowns.com, that "We were able to pull off the new logo with the old school Brownie logo."

The logo was meant to engage the fans, whom he called "the best in the league...some of the best in sports."

"Brownie has been around for a long time. I think people enjoy him, and we haven't really showcased him as much as we'd like to. Between myself and (Browns Senior Vice President of Marketing & Media) Brent Rossi, we decided that we should bring him back. It's been well received."

Reach Gary at gary.brown.rep@gmail.com. On Twitter: @gbrownREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: The Monday After: Getting reacquainted with 'Brownie the Elf'