Frank Ryan (American football)
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Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||
Born: | Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. | July 12, 1936||||||||||||
Died: | January 1, 2024 Waterford, Connecticut, U.S. | (aged 87)||||||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||
Weight: | 199 lb (90 kg) | ||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||
High school: | R. L. Paschal (Fort Worth) | ||||||||||||
College: | Rice | ||||||||||||
NFL draft: | 1958 / Round: 5 / Pick: 55 | ||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Player stats at NFL.com |
Frank Beall Ryan (July 12, 1936 – January 1, 2024) was an American professional
Early years
Ryan played football while attending
Given his desire to obtain a Ph.D., Ryan originally decided not to play
NFL career
Los Angeles Rams
Ryan spent the first four years of his career primarily in a reserve capacity, making $12,000 per year.
Cleveland Browns
1962–1963
Acquired to back up starting
1964
In
Ryan was rewarded for his performance with the first of three straight Pro Bowl appearances. Unfortunately, on the first play of the second half, he suffered a severe shoulder injury in the game after the combined 800-pound trio of Packer Willie Davis, Lion Roger Brown and Colt Gino Marchetti converged on the signal caller. Speculation persists to this day that Marchetti went out of his way to injure Ryan due to the perception that the quarterback ran up the score in the championship, with Marchetti's statement that he wanted "one more shot" at Ryan also fueling the rumors. However, a study of the film by Cleveland coaches in the weeks after the game exonerated Marchetti.
After winning the championship, Art Modell raised his salary to $25,000, up from about $18,000 per season.[3]
1965
Ryan's numbers dropped in
1966
In 1966, he bounced back with a superb season, leading the league with 29 touchdown passes and finishing second with 2,976 yards despite playing with intense pain. Ryan's output helped alleviate the absence of the legendary Jim Brown, who had retired prior to the start of training camp. His 29 touchdown passes in 14 games ranks second in Browns franchise history to Brian Sipe, who got 30 in a 16-game 1980 season.[5]
1967
On January 25, 1967, Ryan underwent an operation to repair the remaining effects of his injury. The surgery eliminated the pain, but also affected his throwing motion. In the
1968
Ryan's tenure as the Browns' starting quarterback came to an abrupt end following a 1–2 start to the 1968 season. Browns' head coach Blanton Collier replaced Ryan with Bill Nelsen, who went on to lead the team to a division title. The official conclusion of Ryan's time with the Browns came on September 9, 1969, when he was released, but new Redskins' coach Vince Lombardi quickly signed Ryan as a backup.
Washington Redskins
Despite throwing only one pass during the 1969 season, Ryan returned for the last of his 13 years in the NFL in 1970 before officially announcing his retirement on April 13, 1971. With his accurate throwing arm, his 14.7 yards per completion still ranks as one of the all-time leaders.[5]
Academic career
Ryan attended graduate school during the first part of his playing career, and in 1965, he earned his Ph.D. from Rice.
Ryan received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1965.[8]
Ryan started teaching at Rice during his career and, during his time with the Browns, he became an assistant professor at the
Ryan learned computer programming and software through the Chi Corp., Case Western Reserve's then newly launched private computer company. He compiled advanced statistics to apply what he learned to football. The Browns were shown his results and liked the project but didn't offer the extra cash to move it forward.[3]
Ryan's second career was fodder for many jokes by sportswriters. Red Smith wrote that the Browns' offense consisted of a quarterback who understood Einstein's theory of relativity and ten teammates who didn't know there was one. Ryan was somewhat put off by the focus on his academic life, as he considered himself to be a regular football player.
Ryan considered Sir Edward Collingwood, an expert in meromorphic function and the theory of cluster sets, and Arthur J. Lohwater, the former editor of Mathematical Reviews, as mentors.[13] Ryan had an Erdős number of 3.[14]
Post-NFL career
Soon after his retirement from the Redskins, Ryan remained in the
Ryan resigned that post to become athletic director and lecturer in mathematics at Yale University on March 7, 1977. Ryan served in that position for ten years before resigning to become the school's associate vice president for institutional planning.
Ryan was a member of the Rice board of governors from 1972 to 1976 and was recognized as a distinguished alumnus in 1987. Ryan became vice president for external affairs at Rice in August 1990, increasing annual gifts to the university to a three-year average of $32.8 million for the fiscal years 1992–94 from $21.4 million for the fiscal years 1988–90. In 1995, he resigned his post as vice president for external affairs at Rice, owing to differences with President Malcolm Gillis concerning the future course of external affairs. Ryan ended his institutional career as a professor of mathematics, and professor of computational and applied mathematics at Rice.[16]
Ryan was president and chief executive officer of Contex Electronics, which designed and manufactured cable and interconnect products for the computer and communications industries. Ryan also served as director for America West Airlines, Sequoia Voting Systems,[17] and of Danielson Holding Corporation. He was an advisory director of United Medical Care Inc.
In retirement, he ran a self-designed program that helps micro-analyze statistical behavior of the up-and-down pricing movement that underlies the pricing behavior of the futures market. He also worked on
Personal life
Ryan lived on 78 acres of heavily forested land[18] in Grafton, Vermont, with his wife, Joan, a retired sportswriter and nationally syndicated columnist for The Washington Post.[3] His wife was one of the first female sportswriters to ever grace a locker room (not to be confused with another sportswriter named Joan Ryan)[19][20] and also wrote a book on women in sports. The two Texans met in college, fell in love with Vermont while Ryan was on staff at Yale, and had been married since their senior year at Rice.[13]
Ryan died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at a nursing home, in Waterford, Connecticut, on January 1, 2024. He was 87.[21]
NFL career statistics
Ryan ranks fourth all-time among Browns quarterbacks with 13,499 passing yards and second behind Brian Sipe with 134 touchdowns. His 81.43 passer rating is fifth-best, behind Milt Plum, Baker Mayfield, Otto Graham, and Bernie Kosar.
Ryan's career numbers (including years with the Rams and Redskins) were 1,090 completions in 2,133 attempts for 16,044 yards, 149 touchdowns and 111 interceptions. Ryan also rushed for 1,358 yards and six touchdowns on 310 carries.
Legend | |
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Won the NFL championship
| |
Led the league | |
Bold | Career high |
Regular season
Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||||
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GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
1958 | LAR | 5 | 0 | – | 5 | 14 | 35.7 | 34 | 2.4 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 28.6 | 5 | 45 | 9.0 | 12 | 0 |
1959 | LAR | 10 | 3 | 0–3 | 42 | 89 | 47.2 | 709 | 8.0 | 67 | 2 | 4 | 63.4 | 19 | 57 | 3.0 | 13 | 1 |
1960 | LAR | 11 | 5 | 3–1–1 | 62 | 128 | 48.4 | 816 | 6.4 | 61 | 7 | 9 | 57.9 | 19 | 85 | 4.5 | 24 | 1 |
1961 | LAR | 14 | 3 | 2–1 | 72 | 142 | 50.7 | 1,115 | 7.9 | 96 | 5 | 7 | 68.3 | 38 | 139 | 3.7 | 28 | 0 |
1962 | CLE | 11 | 7 | 3–3–1 | 112 | 194 | 57.7 | 1,541 | 7.9 | 65 | 10 | 7 | 85.4 | 42 | 242 | 5.8 | 39 | 1 |
1963 | CLE | 13 | 13 | 10–3 | 135 | 256 | 52.7 | 2,026 | 7.9 | 83 | 25 | 13 | 90.4 | 62 | 224 | 3.6 | 25 | 2 |
1964 | CLE | 14 | 14 | 10–3–1 | 174 | 334 | 52.1 | 2,404 | 7.2 | 62 | 25 | 19 | 76.7 | 37 | 217 | 5.9 | 19 | 1 |
1965 | CLE | 12 | 12 | 10–2 | 119 | 243 | 49.0 | 1,751 | 7.2 | 80 | 18 | 13 | 75.3 | 19 | 72 | 3.8 | 18 | 0 |
1966 | CLE | 14 | 14 | 9–5 | 200 | 382 | 52.4 | 2,974 | 7.8 | 54 | 29 | 14 | 88.2 | 36 | 156 | 4.3 | 17 | 0 |
1967 | CLE | 13 | 13 | 9–4 | 136 | 280 | 48.6 | 2,026 | 7.2 | 49 | 20 | 16 | 72.7 | 22 | 57 | 2.6 | 12 | 0 |
1968 | CLE | 7 | 3 | 1–2 | 31 | 66 | 47.0 | 639 | 9.7 | 57 | 7 | 6 | 79.0 | 11 | 64 | 5.8 | 19 | 0 |
1969 | WAS | 1 | 0 | – | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 4 | 4.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 83.3 | – | – | – | – | – |
1970 | WAS | 1 | 0 | – | 1 | 4 | 25.0 | 3 | 3.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 | – | – | – | – | – |
Career | 126 | 87 | 57–27–3 | 1,090 | 2,133 | 51.1 | 16,042 | 7.5 | 96 | 149 | 111 | 77.6 | 310 | 1,358 | 4.4 | 39 | 6 |
Postseason
Legend | |
---|---|
Won the NFL championship
|
Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
1964 | CLE | 1 | 1 | 1–0 | 11 | 18 | 61.1 | 206 | 11.4 | 51 | 3 | 1 | 117.1 | 3 | 2 | 0.7 | 4 | 0 |
1965 | CLE | 1 | 1 | 0–1 | 8 | 18 | 44.4 | 115 | 6.4 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 44.7 | 3 | 9 | 3.0 | 8 | 0 |
1967 | CLE | 1 | 1 | 0–1 | 14 | 30 | 46.7 | 194 | 6.5 | 75 | 2 | 1 | 76.2 | 2 | 14 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 |
1968 | CLE | 2 | 0 | – | 2 | 6 | 33.3 | 19 | 3.2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 43.1 | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
Career | 5 | 3 | 1–2 | 35 | 72 | 48.6 | 534 | 7.4 | 75 | 6 | 4 | 78.1 | 10 | 25 | 2.5 | 8 | 0 |
References
- Rice Institute) [For more details, see pages 220 and 221 (internally labeled "Chapter 9" and "[page] 197") of this archival document
- ^ Hank Gola (November 13, 2010). "A stroll down memory lane with brainy Cleveland Browns quarterback Frank Ryan". New York Daily News.
- ^ a b c d e f g Jonas Fortune (Fall 2012). "A Man of Two Worlds". art | sci magazine.
- ^ "Championship - Cleveland Browns at Green Bay Packers - January 2nd, 1966". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
- ^ Cleveland Plain Dealer.
- ^ "Frank Ryan – The Mathematics Genealogy Project". genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
- ^ Mihai Caragiu (February 16, 2010). "Ph.D. mathematician and NFL champion".
- American Academy of Achievement.
- ^ Dick Lipton (March 18, 2010). "The Quarterback and the Professor".
- ^ Dolgan, Bob (September 12, 2004). "Quarterback had brains, but game still smarted". Cleveland Plain Dealer. pp. S22.
- ^ Mathematical Reviews profile, Author ID=530280
- ^ Mike Lesko (December 19, 2012). "Teacher dons No. 13 jersey in honor of Frank Ryan". Aurora Advocate.
- ^ a b Peter Richmond (July 3, 2013). "Ryan's Search". Sports On Earth.
- ^ "MR: Collaboration Distance".
- Nashua Telegraph. July 19, 1977.
- ^ "Frank Ryan Resigns as VP for External Affairs at Rice" (Press release). February 15, 1995.
- ^ "Frank Ryan named to board of directors of Sequoia Systems Inc" (Press release). March 18, 1996.
- ^ Richard Deitsch (April 20, 2000). "Frank Ryan, Intellectual Quarterback January 4, 1965". Sports Illustrated.
- ^ Megan Schneider. "About Joan Ryan". Shirley Povich Center.
- ^ Joan Ryan. "Joan Ryan... in her own words". Shirley Povich Center.
- ^ Terry Pluto (January 2, 2024). "Frank Ryan passes away at the age of 87, last Browns QB to win a title". Cleveland.com. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
Other sources
- Grossi, Tony (2004). Tales from the Browns Sideline. (Champaign, Ill.): Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1-58261-713-9
- Stewart, Todd, ed. (2004) Cleveland Browns 2004 Media Guide. New York: National Communications Group
External links
- Career statistics and player information from NFL.com · Pro Football Reference
- Frank Ryan at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Frank Ryan's dissertation