Sport: Success Story of the Year

Story of the Year In the aftermath of a loss, the Browns learn how to win

Maybe the success story of the year came out of the horror of the football season: a death by cocaine. On June 27, the free safety of the Cleveland Browns, Don Rogers, died at 23. In the first assembly of training camp, Coach Marty Schottenheimer observed simply, "Life is a fragile thing," and charged each player with applying the lesson "in his own way." No one noticed at the time, but the Browns set about becoming a team.

Already the stuff of a pretty good team had been gathered by Ernie Accorsi, the general manager since 1984, when Schottenheimer replaced Sam...

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