<P> The Browns' origins date to 1944, when taxicab magnate Arthur B. "Mickey" McBride secured the rights to a Cleveland franchise in the newly formed All - America Football Conference (AAFC). The AAFC was to compete with the dominant National Football League (NFL) once it began operations at the end of World War II, which had forced many professional teams to curtail activity, merge, or go on hiatus as their players served in the United States Armed Forces . </P> <P> Early in 1945, McBride named 36 - year - old Ohio State Buckeyes coach Paul Brown as the team's head coach and general manager and gave him a share in its profits . The move surprised and upset Buckeye fans, who had hoped he would resume his successful run at the school after the war . Brown, who had built an impressive record as coach of a Massillon, Ohio, high school team and brought the Buckeyes their first national championship, at the time was serving in the U.S. Navy and coached the football team at Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago . </P> <P> The name of the team was at first left up to Paul Brown, who rejected calls for it to be christened the "Browns". The franchise and the local newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, then held a naming contest to publicize the team, promising a $1,000 war bond to the winner . In June 1945, a committee selected "Panthers" as the new team's name, named after a failed American Football League (AFL) franchise in Cleveland which only lasted part way through that professional league's single season in 1926 (although as a semi-professional team the Cleveland Panthers existed between 1919 and 1933). It is unclear whether "Panthers" was the highest vote - getter, or if it was second - highest behind "Browns", which was again rejected by Paul Brown . George T. Jones, who been the secretary for the Panthers under the AFL team owner General Charles X . Zimmerman (who died in November 1926), had become manager of the re-established semi-professional Cleveland Panthers in 1927 and had the rights to the name . Jones apparently demanded several thousand dollars from the new franchise owner, Arthur McBride, for the use of the name . McBride refused to pay, reopened the contest, and selected the Browns name for his team . At this point, Paul Brown bowed to popular sentiment and agreed to the "Browns" name . </P> <P> Brown remained uncomfortable with the idea of the team being named after him . For some time after, he would occasionally cite an alternate history of the team name, claiming that they were actually named after boxer Joe Louis, whose nickname was "The Brown Bomber". This alternate history of the name was even supported by the team as being factual as recently as the mid-1990s, and it continues as an urban legend to this day . However, Paul Brown never held fast to the Joe Louis story, and later in his life admitted that it was false, invented to deflect unwanted attention arising from the team being named after him . The Browns and the NFL now both support the position that the team was indeed named after Paul Brown . </P>

How did the cleveland browns get its name
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