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Ohio coaching legend Paul Brown said he wanted to create "the New York Yankees of pro football" when he assembled the Cleveland Browns from scratch in 1946. Not even the future Hall of Fame coach, however, could have foreseen 10 league championship appearances and seven titles in the team's first 10 years. That excellence and professional dominance cultivated a national fan base that has since crossed international boundaries. Elvis Presley, President John F. Kennedy, and Hank Aaron counted themselves as Browns fans. More than 50 years later, Browns Backers Worldwide is the largest organized fan club in professional sports, with over 265 chapters and 27,000 members worldwide. In Tales from the Cleveland Browns Sideline, Cleveland native and veteran football writer Tony Grossi recalls the personalities that sowed one of the NFL's proudest traditions and the characters who have continued to grow it.