Jim Brown tribute, Browns in Hall of Fame Game, Joe Thomas make for quite a day in Canton

CANTON — With Jim Brown going out, Joe Thomas going in, and the 2023 Browns getting it on, the day of the big WOOF lasted all of Thursday.

They played it smart in introducing the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2023, bringing out Thomas last, just before the Browns and Jets kicked off the NFL preseason.

The classy Thomas — once a Brown, always a Brown — pumped his fist as the crowd at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium hailed him, an old Wisconsin guy, as way bigger than the new Land o' Cheeser, Aaron Rodgers.

How many names in sports history are bigger than Jim Brown?

Three months after his death, No. 32 was honored in a program as unique as himself in Umstattd Hall, next to the stadium. Complex and sometimes controversial, Brown was remembered by the speakers for seeking social change and trying to bring people together.

An interesting collection of Browns fans were a big part of the tribute crowd. They gave Thomas a large ovation when he walked in the room.

Big Joe was never introduced.

No. 73 was just part of the scenery in a crowd peppered with Hall of Famers and other celebrities. Early on came a speech from an community leader/ex-convict Rudolph “Rockhead” Johnson, who said he would be dead if not for Jim Brown.

As the crowd filed in, a Motown classic wafted through the room.

"I'm gonna make you love me …"

Nobody had to make anybody do anything the last time the Cleveland Browns played in Canton.

That year, 1999, a spontaneous tumult of volcanic joy washed across a week.

The Browns' comeback as an expansion team was the Hall of Fame Game in Canton. On Aug. 7, 1999, more than 20,000 stuffed Fawcett Stadium and cheered wildly at a Thursday practice.

The Browns were back three-plus years after getting unrighteously ripped away to Baltimore.

In the game two days after that astonishing practice atmosphere, with glee breaking out on every face in Fawcett, Chris Spielman, Orlando "Zeus" Brown and the starters were cheered like defending Super Bowl champions.

In the second half, when No. 1 overall pick Tim Couch threw a touchdown pass, the noise was unreal.The real games began too soon. The 1999 team went 2-14.

Years passed. Occasional progress fueled hope. Butch Davis' 2002 team made the playoffs. Joe Thomas was a rookie on a 10-6 team in 2007.

The optimism of that night ran into a decades-tall wall.

Even in 2020 when the team won a playoff game, the celebrating was odd, with COVID-19 lurking like Freddie Kreuger, as the Browns won in front of crowds near zero.

Seldom, perhaps even not at all, has a Browns moment from the last 23 years surpassed the happiness enveloping the 20-17 overtime victory over the Cowboys in that 1999 Hall of Fame Game.

The expansion years have hurt more than anyone imagined.

Pipe dream? Possibility? Maybe Friday's trip back to Canton for the 2023 Hall of Fame Game, Browns vs. Jets, changes the luck?

Yet, even the pitiful fact of just three winning seasons in the expansion era has not killed the love of the Browns.Loving the Browns, in person, is way more expensive than it was then.

On Stubhub, three hours before the Browns-Jets kickoff, two tickets turned up available on the 40-yard line, at $644 apiece, before fees.

As game time arrived, the atmosphere was strong, more so than for any Hall of Fame Game since 1999, but, unlike in '99, it fell short of priceless.

This soon after three seasons of 3-13, 1-15 and 0-16, "I'm gonna make you love me" needs a lot of work.

The Jim Brown tribute included a whole lotta love.

NBC star Mike Tirico, who emceed, called Brown "the greatest athlete of the 20th century."

Brown's relationship with the team stayed interesting into this part of the 21st century.

Some quick history …

The Browns left Cleveland 29 years after Brown helped the franchise win the 1964 NFL championship. When the team came back, Brown became a confidant of owner Al Lerner.

Lerner appreciated Brown's manta of receiving opportunity and taking advantage. Lerner was a furniture salesman who became a billionaire.

Lerner fell ill and died when the 2002 season was in progress. He was 69 years old, almost exactly the same age in years and months as current owner Jimmy Haslam is now.

Randy Lerner occupied the ownership interlude between Al Lerner and Haslam. In one-on-one interviews, Randy would speak of visits to Jim Brown's home in Los Angeles in reverent tones.

Randy Lerner valued Brown's advisory role in the organization, even as general managers came and went and generally failed.

The failures prompted Randy to hire a big name, Mike Holmgren, to become the organization's czar in 2010.

Holmgren phased out Jim Brown, and, in effect, pushed out Randy.

After two 5-11 years under Holmgren, the Lerner family, with little to do other than being grand financier, sold to the Haslams.

Haslam cut ties with Holmgren and restored a position of influence to Jim Brown. Unfortunately, he did not restore the success of the Jim Brown playing era.

Brown's widow, Monique, was full of gratitude to the Haslams as she delivered the final remarks of Thursday's tribute to her husband.

Ray Lewis spoke earlier, giving an emotional, demonstrative talk in which he called Brown "papa," pointed to the sky, and said he would see him again soon enough.

Lewis has been a lightning-rod figure.

Jim Brown and his best friend, John Wooten, were teammates on Cleveland's 1964 title team. Wooten, as soft-spoken at the podium Thursday as Lewis was boisterous, thanked Brown's widow, Monique, for the invitation to speak.

"Human dignity is what this is all about," Wooten said. "That and respect. Respect for everyone is what we have to have."

Wooten is among those who regarded Brown as the strongest voice among athletes in causes of civil rights and social justice.

During his speech, Wooten made eye contact with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and told him Lewis was Brown's hand-picked successor.

"This is the man Jim chose to be the leader of the athletes," Wooten said.

The deep subjects faded into Thursday night's practice game.

Some of us remembered the 1999 Hall of Fame Game.

In a jubilant locker room that long ago night, Al Lerner said, "This is the way it's supposed to be."

Twenty-three years later, even before the Browns fell behind 13-0 before rallying for a 21-16 win, there was no way the 2023 Hall of Fame Game was going to generate the buzz of 1999.

But, while football games aren't as important as the deeper subjects, Thursday did kick off a relevant question. Isn't it time the Cleveland Browns football team did something important?

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Cleveland Browns, Hall of Fame Game fetes Jim Brown, Joe Thomas