Frank Ryan, a star quarterback and noted mathematician who led the Cleveland Browns to their last NFL title in 1964, died on Monday, the team announced. He was 87.
Ryan threw for 206 yards and three touchdowns in the 1964 NFL championship game, sparking the host Browns over the then-Baltimore Colts 27-0 two seasons before the first Super Bowl was played.
No Cleveland team in any sport won another major professional crown until LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the 2016 NBA title.
The Browns have never played in the Super Bowl but they have clinched a berth in this season’s playoffs, only their second post-season appearance since 2002.
Ryan went 52-22 in seven seasons with the Browns and over 13 NFL seasons with the Browns, Washington and the Los Angeles Rams threw for 16,042 yards and 149 touchdowns. He also ran for 1,358 yards and six touchdowns before retiring in April 1971.
In 1965, Ryan earned his doctorate in mathematics from Rice University and later served as a teacher at Rice and Case Western Reserve in Cleveland.
Ryan later worked for the US House of Representatives in Washington, helping establish its first electronic voting system, and became both athletic director and a math lecturer at Yale University in 1977.
