Parrish, 83, AllPro who took on the NFL, dies
Bernie Parrish, an AllPro defensive back for the Cleveland Browns in the 1960s who in retirement tried to organize NFL players into a Teamstersbacked union and wrote a book critical of the league, died Wednesday at his home in Springfield, Mo. He was 83.
The cause was metastatic prostate cancer.
The Browns were one of the best teams in the NFL when
Parrish signed in 1959. They were led by Jim Brown, arguably the greatest running back in league history. Parrish, a defensive leader, had 29 interceptions in seven full seasons with the Browns.
On the field, he called the defensive signals when he and his fellow cornerback Walter Beach throttled the Baltimore Colts’ passing attack in the Browns’ 270 victory in the 1964 NFL championship game, the city of Cleveland’s last pro championship until the Cavaliers beat the Warriors for the 2016 NBA title.
Parrish felt that the NFL exploited its players physically and financially. As a vice president of the NFL Players Association, he fought with commissioner Pete Rozelle over pensions. In 1965 he called for Rozelle to be replaced by Paul Brown, the Browns coach from 1946 to 1962. That angered the team owner, Art Modell.
While Rozelle stayed in his position until 1989, Parrish said he was forced out of Cleveland. The Browns waived him early in the 1966 season. When no other NFL team signed him, he joined the Houston Oilers of the rival American Football League and played 11 games before retiring.
He then turned to organizing a Teamsters effort to lure NFL players into a proposed union for all major sports. That effort failed in early 1968. Parrish tried to exorcise his frustrations about football in a 1971 book, “They Call It a Game.” College football: Kedon Slovis threw a 37yard touchdown pass to Michael Pittman Jr. with 2:15 left as USC beat host Colorado 3531.
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