RIP Browns LB Vince Costello...

[ballpeen]

87 is a grand life span.  Well done Vince.  R.I.P.

[mjp28]

@canton-mike said:

Sadly, the Browns' players I watched as a child are passing away.

RIP Vince.

Mike

Oh yes. They were bigger than life back then. The 64 championship was when I was 14.

God bless them all.

[gumby73]

@mjp28 said:

The 64 championship was when I was 14.

I was age one & missed the whole thing. I was the kid, looking for some meat & potatoes, not in a jar...Did you all have moving video of this guy back in the stone ages? All I see is still photos & one HOF speech video...btw, RIP to the unknown Vince #50...  Edit--and Get Well yourself mjp28 ?

[mjp28]

@nickers said:

We're past long overdue...

We had exciting chances in the Sipe and Kosar eras hopefully the group and coaches on the field now can be serious contenders in this century.

GO BROWNS forever!

[JPPT1974]

Way before my time. But may he RIP!

[The Gipper]

The thing is, the Browns have never had a Hall of Fame caliber  MLB.....and no LB at all that had played for the Browns has ever made the HOF. (overlooked Clay Matthews played OLB)

Costello may in fact have been the best MLB we have ever had.  Are there any other candidates? Who would they be?

[nickers]

@the-gipper said:

The thing is, the Browns have never had a Hall of Fame caliber  MLB.....and no LB at all that had played for the Browns has ever made the HOF. (overlooked Clay Matthews played OLB)

Costello may in fact have been the best MLB we have ever had.  Are there any other candidates? Who would they be?

I always loved Eddie "The Assassin" Johnson and Mike Johnson respectively...

[Tour2ma]

I meet Vince, and a number of other '64 Browns, at their Hiram reunion back in '96. Biggest names, i.e., JB, were in the Gym and charged for autographs. "Other" Browns, including Costello, were scattered outside in pairs at tables around the athletics complex.

Talked with Vince the longest of any of them.

[Dutch Oven]

@the-gipper said:

The thing is, the Browns have never had a Hall of Fame caliber  MLB.....and no LB at all that had played for the Browns has ever made the HOF. (overlooked Clay Matthews played OLB)

Costello may in fact have been the best MLB we have ever had.  Are there any other candidates? Who would they be?

I know defenses were different back in the day but didn't Bill Willis play MLB? (or the version of it back in the 40s and 50s?)

Edit: Willis was a middle guard, which was another name for nose tackle. When defenses went from a 5-2 front to 4-3, the middle guard moved off the line and became the middle linebacker. 

So I'd go with Mike Johnson being the best MLB besides Costello. 

[The Gipper]

@dutch-oven said:

I know defenses were different back in the day but didn't Bill Willis play MLB? (or the version of it back in the 40s and 50s?)

Edit: Willis was a middle guard, which was another name for nose tackle. When defenses went from a 5-2 front to 4-3, the middle guard moved off the line and became the middle linebacker. 

So I'd go with Mike Johnson being the best MLB besides Costello. 

Compare that with the Bears, who have had 4 MLBs make the HOF:   Bill George,   Butkus, Singletary, Urlacher.

Can Schobert hang with the likes of  Costello, and Johnson and Johnson?

Of course, we did have Tom Cousineau.