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- Updated: Jun. 18, 2024, 11:18 a.m. | Published: Jun. 18, 2024, 10:40 a.m.
Former Cleveland Browns kicker Phil
Dawson smashes a San Francisco 49ers styled guitar, October 15, 2023, at
Cleveland Browns Stadium.
John
Kuntz, cleveland.com
By Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Phil Dawson’s Browns career began with
former coach Chris Palmer warning him, “we’re going to start with you” and see
how it goes, to Dawson being immortalized in team history as a member of the
2024 Class of Legends.
The Browns announced the honor on Tuesday, and he’ll be
inducted during a halftime ceremony in Week 3, when the Browns host the Giants
at Cleveland Browns Stadium on Sept. 22.
“I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t ever dream about
it,” Dawson said in a release. “You see these things through the years, and you
get to know some of these former players, and you look up to them, and you
start dreaming like, man, I want to be one of those guys someday. And that
certainly was me. And it’s not about me. I want to represent the Browns and to
have a chance to come back home and be recognized like this is about as
humbling recognition as I’ve ever received, and it’s all because of the way I
love Cleveland and I love the Browns organization. So, it’s as impactful of
recognition as I’ve ever received and it just kind of blows me away, to be
honest.”
In his 14 seasons
with the Browns, Dawson was voted the 2012 Browns Player of the Year by the
local PFWA chapter, the 2007 Dino Lucarelli “Good Guy” Award honoree by the
PFWA, the 2006 Ed Block Courage Award winner by his teammates and the 2006
winner of the Doug Dieken Humanitarian Award for his charitable and community
efforts.
“I was very fortunate that I had a long run in one
place,” Dawson said. “A lot of guys in the league these days don’t have that.
So, because of my 14 years there, I was really able to build relationships and
develop a love for the city of Cleveland. It became a home for my family. We
were plugged in. And so, as I look back on the whole thing, just the
relationships I was able to build and then my love for the city – I really felt
a connection with the people of Cleveland. I was one of them. It was my home. And
I was very fortunate to be able to be in one place long enough for those things
to happen.”
Signed by the Browns during their expansion season of
1999, Dawson won the job during training camp and held onto through the 2012
season, retiring as a Brown in 2019. He holds team records for most career field goals (305), highest career
field goal percentage (84 percent) and highest field goal percentage in a
season (93.5 percent in 2012). He also holds team records for most field goals
in a game with six on Nov. 5, 2006, most consecutive field goals made with 29,
and most consecutive games with a field goal at 23.
His 1,271 points
are second-most by a Brown, and his 215 games are the third-most in club
annals. His 14 seasons with the Browns are tied for second-most in club history.
“I had a very kind of a boutique role on the team,”
Dawson said. “I got a handful of plays a game. It was an opportunity for me to
go on the field and help my team. I wanted to be a guy that could be counted on
at any moment, at any time, to do his job. And so, I really took a great deal
of satisfaction – whether it was a long game winner that everyone remembers, or
a nothing burger of a kick early in the game that really didn’t have an impact
on the outcome – I’ve looked back really fondly on just knowing I was able to
do my job meant a lot to me.”
Two of his most memorable kicks came during the 10-6
season of 2007, one in which they narrowly missed the playoffs. His 51-yard
attempt bounced off the stanchion in Baltimore, and was originally ruled no
good. But they overturned it, and Dawson went on to kick the game-winning field
goal in overtime. His two field goals in a blizzard to beat the Bills 8-0 are
among his favorites.
“That one means a lot to me, because on face value
looking back on it, I had no business making those kicks,” Dawson said. “But
somehow, someway, in that moment, was able to figure out a way to just kind of
get the ball through the uprights. That’s one I really look back on.”
In 2008, he denied the Bills again, this time on Monday
Night Football, when he boomed a 56-yard game winner with less than two minutes
remaining.
“Playing on Monday Night Football and being a Texas kid –
even though I’m at home in Cleveland – just chance for everybody back home kind
of see what I’m up to,” Dawson said. “And so that was a big win for our team.
It was a big personal moment for me, because anytime you can hit a long one on
Monday Night Football at the end of the game, that’s pretty cool.”
But his most cherished memory, as he stated during his
retirement press conference, was his love affair with the fans. He felt it
again in full force when he served as Dawg Pound Captain last season and
smashed the guitar to the roar of the crowd.
“The connection that I had and still have to the City of
Cleveland is my most cherished accomplishment of my career,” he said.
