Browns to unveil honor roll at game on Sept. 19

Associated Press

BEREA

When he coached in Green Bay, Mike Holmgren would point to the names ringing the upper deck facade at Lambeau Field.

Ray Nitschke. Vince Lombardi. Bart Starr. Paul Hornung.

Those Packers set the standard.

“I could say, ‘Look up at those names. Know who they are. Study them,”’ Holmgren, now the Browns president, said Thursday. “For the young players coming into the league, there’s no better example than the men who are going to be in our ring of honor.”

The Browns, with a history rivaling any NFL franchise, will unveil a ring of honor with the names of their great players during a halftime ceremony on Sept. 19.

They’re hoping the greatest one of all shows up.

Jim Brown, stripped of his senior advisor title by Holmgren, has not committed to attending the event. Brown is one of 16 Hall of Famers whose names will be permanently displayed on the facing of the stadium’s upper deck — an honor Holmgren feels is long overdue.

Following a report that Brown intended to skip the ceremony, Holmgren said he called the legendary running back and that the two had a “great conversation.”

Holmgren now believes Brown may attend.

“I’m hopeful that he’ll be there,” Holmgren said Thursday at a news conference attended by Hall of Famers Paul Warfield and Joe DeLamielleure. “Jim Brown is synonymous with the Cleveland Browns. It’s going to be a great celebration for all of us and the 16 families, and I trust he’ll be part of that. He’s going to holler back at me.”

Speaking to WSKO, a sports radio station in Syracuse, N.Y., Brown wouldn’t say if would attend the ceremony or not. “I’m a very sensitive person. I do like to be respected. I’m very loyal. I like it to be a two-way street,” he said.

“I don’t really need to comment on where I go, why I go, why I don’t go,” he added.