1946 Sears Browns Football Cards
The Cleveland Browns were one of the eight original members of the All America Football Conference (AAFC). In 1946, the AAFC's first year, Cleveland's Sears stores and WGAR radio station sponsored a set of eight Browns cards. The cards are slightly bigger than standard sports cards, at about four inches tall. Three of the eight players in the set--Otto Graham, Dante Lavelli, and Frank Gatski--went on to Hall of Fame careers. Though these were the players' first cards, they are not considered rookie cards, because they were a minor set, distributed regionally. You can see many more such pre-rookie cards on my pre-rookie card page.
Hall of Famers Marion Motley, Lou Groza and Bill Willis were also members of the 1946 Browns team. The Browns dominated the AAFC, winning the championship all four years of its existence. The Browns also won the NFL championship in 1950, the year that the AAFC folded and three of its teams (Cleveland, Baltimore, and San Francisco) joined the NFL.
To see a large picture of any card, pick the small picture or the card title.
| Picture | Set | # | Card | Team | Position | College | Honors | Notes | Est. NM Value (?) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1946 Sears Browns | 1 | Ernie Blandin | Cleveland Browns | tackle, defensive tackle | Tulane | |||
 | 1946 Sears Browns | 2 | Jim Daniell | Cleveland Browns | tackle | Ohio State | College Hall of Fame 1977 | ||
 | 1946 Sears Browns | 3 | Fred Evans | Cleveland Browns | halfback | Notre Dame | Playing for the Bears in a game in 1948, Evans recovered 2 fumbles for touchdowns. That is still an NFL record. | ||
 | 1946 Sears Browns | 4 | Frank Gatski | Cleveland Browns | center | Marshall | Browns Ring of Honor 2010, Hall of Fame 1985 | Gatski was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. | |
 | 1946 Sears Browns | 5 | Otto Graham | Cleveland Browns | quarterback | Northwestern | Browns Ring of Honor 2010, College Hall of Fame 1956, Hall of Fame 1965 | ||
 | 1946 Sears Browns | 6 | Dante Lavelli | Cleveland Browns | end | Ohio State | Browns Ring of Honor 2010, Hall of Fame 1975 | ||
 | 1946 Sears Browns | 7 | Mel Maceau | Cleveland Browns | center | Marquette | |||
 | 1946 Sears Browns | 8 | George Young | Cleveland Browns | end, defensive end | Baldwin-Wallace |
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