Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 24

RAHAM'S GREATEST GAME HUMILIATES LIONS Browns Rub It 'In with Parker's Loss ors trwr While it wasn't visible, they obviously looked like a belated turkey dinner to the victory-starved Cleveland Browns. When the Browns were through with them, there was nothing left but a batch of well-picked bones. That encompassed a total of 240 minutes. BIT THIS TIME, Graham had clicked on two of them in the first 12 minutes. He added a third one via the aerial route before the Lions escaped Parker-coached team ever was cut down before.

Up to this one, no foe had scored more than 87 points on the Lions in the four years Parker has been their coach. The Browns scored 56. No team had defeated a By LYALL SMITH Frn Praw 8 port Editor CLEVELAND The Lioni sre slow in coming out on the ild to be introduced by the blio address announcer at start of the game. They must've known. from the gigantic trap set for them in Cleveland's Lakefront Stadium.

And just as if that wasn't enough, Graham also scored three more personally as he enjoyed his greatest after- Parker team by more than 28 points. The Browns did It by 46. In four previous chips-down meetings between these same two teams, the Browns had failed to see Otto Graham complete a single touchdown pass. And not too many of them. THE DETROITERS, proud possessors of two consecutive National Football League titles and four straight championship triumphs over the Browns, were cut down as no Buddy noon in his nine-year profes- sional football career.

He did let Curly Morrison score the seventh Cleveland touchdown and Chet Hanulak pick up No. 8. But if the Lions were fooled on those plays and they were It was only beaue they were so amazed by th fact that Graham dldnt have a hand in the paydirt maneuver. Only once before in the 22- year history of the title game between Eastern and Western champions has a team taken a more lopsided pasting. a THAT WAS in 1940 when the Chicago Beard hung a hor- 'I rendous 73-0 pasting on the Washington Redskins Just two weeks after the 'Skins had beaten them by four points during thr regular season.

It -was almost the same story here. For one week ago, the" Lions I defeated the Browns by four, only to come back this time to feel the results of the bombs thrown at them by Graham, and an alert, hard-hitting i Cleveland team. In no other title game, but that one 14 years ago, has a -loser lost by anything resem- bling the victory margin of the Browns. Were 'the Lions that bad? They were. But only because the Browns were that much better.

Bobby Layne had six passes Intercepted. But four of them were flip-flopping off somebody's hands when alert Cleve-and players picked them off. Layne was throwing the way he had thrown all year. But when the key breaks came, the Browns made them come to them. GRAHAM CAME out late in the fourth quarter to receive a standing ovation.

He deserved it. Time after time. Lions rushed in on him. But time after time, they overshot Otto and then looked on with disgust as he calmly recovered to pitch a telling blow. Cleveland" fans waited a long time for this one.

Less than three months ago in this same stadium SURE-FINGERED Ray Renfro, Cleve- Racing for an Otto Graham past, he I '1 land Browns halfback, is in the process of reaches out fo rit, then grabs the ball far chalking np Touchdown No. 5 against the out front of his body to go in for the score. Lions Sunday in their National Football Unable to defend against the aerial is L.t" 4llf 1 League championship game at Cleveland. Lion Halfback Jack Christiansen (24). 1 jt? MURDER OR NO Howe Gives I Layne, Buddy See Thi n.tr T)iifprtntv CLEVELAND "They just beat the hell out of us!" That was the explanation from Bobby Layne, the Detroit I Lions' veteran quarterback.

State star can't find the handle on the ball. The bobble occurred early in the first quarter and cost Detroit six sure points. OUT THERE under one of Bobby Layne's passes Is Lion End Dome Dibble, but unlike Renfro, the former Michigan BULLETIN SYDNEY, Australia (U.R) Tony Trabert, of Cincinnati, gave the United States a brilliant marathon triumph in the "key" opening match of the Davis Cup tennis challenge round Monday, defeating Lewis Hoad, of Australia, 6-4. 2-6, 12-10, 6-3. ieHs i i IxntLl KgBEgSisi' Monday, December 27, Cleveland ets Even yith Lions I Graham Pours It On 1 In 56-10 Slaughter 0 Continued from Page One Redskins in their historic 73-0 decision of 1940.

The Lions started things this time with a field goal. Then the Browns took over and cored more points in the next 26 minutes than they had scored against the Lions in the last two games. After a fumble stopped one Detroit surge, Joe Schmidt intercepted a Graham pass a few moments later and the Lions drove ti the Browns' 28 before Doak Walker came in tc kick a field goal from the 36. A roughing-the-kicker penalty against Harley Sewell helped the Browns set up their first touchdown at the six-minute mark of the first quarter. THE BALL was on the Cleveland 49 with fourth down and long yardage when the foul occurred.

That moved the ball to tha Detroit 35 and, after Maurice Bassett lost two yards, Graham tossed a perfect pass to Ray Renfro, who beat Bill Stits and Carl Karilivacz on the run for sin points. Lou Groza made the first of his conversions a' id the Browns were in front, 7 to 3. Next came an Interception by Don Paul, who scampered from the Browns' 43 to the Detroit '8 before being brought down. Graham lost to the 10 on a fumble, but hit Darrell Brewster with a touchdown pass on the next play. Groza again con- verted and the score was 14 to 3.

SHORTLY afterward Billy Reynolds barely missed going all he way on a punt return as Jug Girard made the tackle on the Detroit 12. After picking up a first down on the one-foot line, the Browns clicked for the TD on a sneak by Graham four seconds in the second quarter. Groza again converted and the scoreboard read: Cleveland 21, Detroit 3. The Lions bounced back to pick up their only touchdown when they marched 80 yards in nine plays with Bill Bowman carrying over on a five-yard smash. Walker converted and the core was 21 to 10.

Two breaks helped the Browns hike the score to 28-10 a few momenta later. Mike McCormack picked up Layne's fumble first and then the ball took a perfect bounce out of Karilivacz's hands on an interception into the waiting arms of Renfro. That gave the Browns a first down on the Detroit 7. Graham worked a bootleg perfectly two plays later and scampered five yards into the end zone. Walt Michaels intercepted another Layne pass on the 50 and returned to the Detroit 31.

On the first play Renfro beat the defense again and Graham passed perfectly for tally that made it 35 to 10. DETROIT started a march after the kickoff which carried to the Browns' 15 before Girard fumbled a pass and Michaels recovered for the Browns on the 15. That's the way the half ended. The Browns didn't let up in the second half. They took the kickoff and drove from their 31 to a touchdown with Graham again toting Into the end tone.

Two minutes after that tally Curly Morrison made the score 49-10 with a 12-yard dash into paydirt after Ken Konz had intercepted a pass and returned it to the Detroit 13. LENNY FORD ended the only Detroit threat of the period by intercepting Layne's pass on the six and returning to the Detroit 45. The Browne were content to rest on their laurels until late in the fourth quarter. Konz again intercepted and returned 10 yards to the Detroit 40. Chet Hanulak sprinted for a first down on the 16 and two plays later went over the middle on a quick opener for the final score.

i Groza added his eighth con-j vcrcion aruj tiie huinilidtion was complete. In the statistics the Lions didn't fare badly, but they payi off on points. i The Lions outgained Cleveland, 231 yards to 303. but the Browns' success in intercepting' six passes and recovering two Detroit fumbles was the difference plus guv railed' they slunk home and hid after the New York Giants had handed the Indians four straight defeats in the World Series. But they had something to cheer about this time.

And they did. Fact, is, there's a rumor that Coach Paul Brown actually smiled. For the mauled Lions, and the 2,000 Detroitcrs who fok lowed them over to the debacle, the trip home was a long one. Never realized it was so far from Cleveland to Detroit. right even Santa makes 1954 25 if your u'lfl isn't let's chanqc it LUCK? He sat in front of his dressing-room locker wearily slumping his shoulders but relaxing with a cigaret.

The Cleveland Browns had just humiliated his team, 56 to 10, for the National Football League championship. Coach Buddy Parker had an other explanation. I "Our luck ran out," ha aald calmly, "The good Lord just wasn't with us. They got every break in the world we just weren supposed to win." NEITHER Layne nor Parker would go into the details of what went wrong. "We moved the ball all right in the first half," Parker said.

"We just got knocked out of the ball game early. That was the trouble." The rest of the Lions went about their dressing quietly. Only a few fans stood around tneir dressing room door, mostly visitors from Detroit but including a few fans from Cleveland who booed the Lions' players as they slipped past. Fans jammed so tightly around the victorious Browns' dressing room that newspapermen had to make a detour and enter from the playing field dugout tunnels. INSIDE, Star Quarterback Otto Graham confirmed his in tention of quitting football, but not until after next August's All-Star game In Chicago.

"That's the way to quit go out on top," remarked the ace passer who hit nine out of 12 for 16S yards and three touchdowns, not to mention three he scored on his own account. Beating the Lions, Graham continued, was a "thrill," but there was one victory even sweeter the 30-28 victory over lk)s Angeles in 1950, the first the Browns played in the National League. "Detroit has a terrific team, but got the breaks in those two other championship playoffs. This time we got them," Graham said. Detroit won the playoffs from Cleveland in 1952 and 1953.

COACH PAUL Brown, who declared that "on any given day this was the best football team I ever saw," expressed hope Turn to Page 26, Column 8 Jter after missing the last four games because of a back injury. TOM DUBLINSKI also was in hospital for X-rays of an injured ankle. Dr. Richard A. Thompson, the team physician, feared the ieserve quarterback Jacl Christiansen, who missed the last half of the game, was hurt in a pjieup nd suffered a hack injury.

Wings Tie With Leafs 3rd-Period Goal Earns 1-1 Deadlock BY MARSHALL DANN Gordie Howe caged another of his big goals Sunday night. This one came in sudden and unexpected fashion and brought Detroit a 1-1 tie with the Toronto Maple Leafs. For three periods the Leafs nursed a 1-0 lead gained on Rudy Migay'a freak tally. They had ideas of winning by that score just as they had taken all three of their previous victories over Detroit this season. HOWE ALTERED that plot midway in the final stanza by ending 49 minutes of frustration caused by an old fraternity brother, ex-Detroiter Harry Lumley.

Sweeping across the Toronto zone, Howe picked up a loose puck after Johnny Wilson and Vic Stasiuk had shots blocked before they reached Lumley. Howe flashed a quick backhander from 15 feet out. The puck sailed high and true, whizzing over the goalie's shoulder without Lumley ever seeing It. It was Howe's 11th of the season. The tie kept Toronto at its safe three-point distance in the scrap with Detroit for second the pacesetting Montreal Canadiens were idle Sun day; the Red Wings cut their lead to three points.

Both Detroit Montreal have played 35 games while Toronto has gone to the post 34 times. THE FIGHTING for the No. 2 spot, which opened with Detroit's triumph Saturday in Toronto, will resume here Thursday with the third straight contest be tween these clubs. Without being the least bit partisan, one could say that Detroit didn't deserve to lose by the 1-0 margin the Leafs at-! tempted to put across. Migay had no real scoring ambitions when he got his goal.

All he did was flip a high shot from about 90 out. The puck landed a foot' short of Terry Sawchuk, who wasn't too alert, took a crazy bounce to the side and slipped between his legs. But it stood as a big goal through two periods of penalty-marked play. Although Referee Frank Udvari called 13 penalties, the action was quite tame compared to Saturday's brawling contest. Udvari simply wasn't taking HknA tl.

11 hmuiico. iic caiicu iuur quicK one hefnr Mie-nv talliaH Tin I he added nine in the scoreless second period. This eliminated the rough stuff but didn't make for much of a game since sides were continually shorthanded. LUMLEY MADE 35 saves 30 of them before Howe finally nicked him. Sawchuk, who had his toughest work in the first two periods, turned back 26 shots.

The tame start of the third period provoked one spectator into tossing a firecracker on the ice to get action. The 13,105 fans started stamping their feet for excitement. They jnt it with Howe's goal and bKo saw plenty in Turn V', (uliimn 1 AND AWAY he goes. How far Lion Fullback Bill Bowman went we know. To see what happened turn the page.

Hockey GF GA Montreal 21 9 5 47 110 74 DETROIT 20 1 1 4 44 88 89 Toronto 16 9 9 41 80 57 Boston 10 14 7 Vt 73 88 New York 8 18 10 26, 79 104 Chicago 20 7 19 72 109 SATURDAY'S RESULTS DETROIT 3, Toronto 2. Montreal 4, New York 1. Boston 3, Chicago S. SUNDAY'S RESULTS DETROIT 1, Toronto 1. Chicago 4, New York 4.

WEDNESDAY'S GAME Montreal at Toronto. THURSDAY'S GAMES Toronto at DETROIT. Chicago at Montreal. Boston at New York. Middies-Arrive For Boivl Date NEW ORLEANS (P) The coaching staff and members of Navy's Sugar Bowl football team began arriving Sunday to open final practice sessions for the Middies New Year's Day game against Mississippi.

Head Coach Eddie Erdelatz, his wife and sor; were among the early arrival. In spite of people's best Intentions, gifts go wrong. Aunt Susie, who remembers you as a little boy, may think a size 14 collar is just right. And you have grown over the years and find a l7'2 more comfortable. Or maybe Uncle Ezra sent you a bright green tie, and green makes you look bilious.

Anyway, whatever the reason, if the gift came from Hughes Hatcher and it isn't just right bring it back and exchange it for something you really like. We want everyone who wears our merchandise to be completely happy. Just one thing though please bring it back before the end of the year. DVB, CHRISTIANSEN HURT, TOO Lions' Miketa, Stanfel Suffer Concussions Losing the championship game to the Cleveland Browns was a physical beating as well as on the scoreboard for the Lions. i Andy Miketa.

offensive center, was taken to the Detroit Osteopathic Hospital for treatment of a severe concussion. He was one Picture on Next Page. of four regulars injured in the Fifi tn 1ft rnnr hr th. "'loi-l A Browns I Dick Stanfel uf feted mild rof.fjissinn He played one quar-: WOODWARD MONTCALM.