Paul Eugene Brown was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference and National Football League. Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Cleveland Browns, a team named after him, played a role in founding the Cincinnati Bengals, his teams won seven league championships in a professional coaching career spanning 25 seasons. Brown began his coaching career at Severn School in 1931 before becoming the head football coach at Massillon Washington High School in Massillon, where he grew up, his high school teams lost only 10 games in 11 seasons. He was hired at Ohio State University and coached the school to its first national football championship in 1942. After World War II, he became head coach of the Browns, who won all four AAFC championships before joining the NFL in 1950. Brown coached the Browns to three NFL championships – in 1950, 1954 and 1955 – but was fired in January 1963 amid a power struggle with team owner Art Modell. Brown in 1968 was the first coach of the Bengals.
He retired from coaching in 1975 but remained the Bengals' team president until his death in 1991. The Bengals named their home stadium Paul Brown Stadium in honor of Brown, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967. Brown is credited with a number of American football innovations, he was the first coach to use game film to scout opponents, hire a full-time staff of assistants, test players on their knowledge of a playbook. He invented the practice squad and the draw play, he played a role in breaking professional football's color barrier, bringing the first African-Americans to play pro football in the modern era onto his teams. Despite these accomplishments, Brown was not universally liked, he was strict and controlling, which brought him into conflict with players who wanted a greater say in play-calling. These disputes, combined with Brown's failure to consult Modell on major personnel decisions, led to his firing as the Browns' coach in 1963. Brown grew up in Massillon, where he moved with his family from Norwalk when he was nine years of age.
His father, was a dispatcher for the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad. Massillon was a shipping and steel town obsessed with its high school and professional football teams, both called the Tigers. Massillon's main rival at both levels was nearby a bigger and richer city; when the professional teams folded in the 1920s, the rivalry between the high school teams took center stage. Brown entered Massillon Washington High School in 1922. Although he played football as a child, Brown was undersized for the game at less than 150 pounds and at first focused his athletic energies on the pole vault. Harry Stuhldreher, who went on to be one of Notre Dame's legendary Four Horsemen, was the high school quarterback, but Massillon coach Dave Stewart saw Brown's determination to be a good vaulter despite his small size and brought him onto the football team. Massillon posted a win-loss record of senior years as the starter. Brown graduated in 1925 and enrolled at Ohio State University the following year, hoping to make the Buckeyes team.
He never got past the tryout phase. After his freshman year, he transferred to Miami University in Oxford, where he followed Weeb Ewbank as the school's starting quarterback. Under Coach Chester Pittser, Brown was named to the All-Ohio small-college second team by the Associated Press at the end of 1928. In two seasons at Miami, Brown guided the team to a 14–3 record, he was a member of the Kappa chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon. He married his high school sweetheart Katie Kester the following year. Brown had taken pre-law at Miami and considered studying history on a Rhodes Scholarship, but after college he instead took his first job as a coach. On Stewart's recommendation, Severn School, a private prep school in Maryland, hired him in 1930. Brown spent two successful years at Severn; the team won the Maryland state championship. In 1931, the team's win-loss-tie record was 5–2–1. Brown's overall record was 12–2–1. After his second year, Massillon's head coaching job became available, Brown took the position.
Brown returned to Massillon in 1932, when he was 24 years old and two years out of college. His assignment was to turn around a Tigers team that had fallen into mediocrity over the six seasons since the departure of Stewart, Brown's old coach. In 1931, the year before Brown arrived, the Tigers finished with a 2–6-2 record. Brown's strategy was to build up a disciplined, hard-working team, he fired an assistant early on for arriving at a practice late. No Tigers player was allowed to sit on the bench during a game. At Massillon, Brown put in an offense and blocking scheme he learned from Duke's Jimmy DeHart and Purdue's Noble Kizer, he emphasized quickness over strength. In his first season at Massillon, Brown's team posted a 5–4–1 record, better than the previous year but far from Brown's exacting standards; the Tigers improved again in 1933, ending with an 8–2 record but losing to their chief rivals, the Canton McKinley High School Bulldogs. In 1934, Massillon won all of its games until a 21–6 defeat to Canton in the final game of the season.
As the pressure on Brown grew to turn the tables on Canton, Massillon accomplished the feat the following year in an undefeated season, the first of several with Brown at the helm. By Brown had put his system into place: a strict, systematic approach to coaching combined with a well-organized recruitment network that drew promising young players from Massillon's junior high school footb
Sophora chrysophylla, known as Māmane in Hawaiian, is a species of flowering plant in the pea and bean family, endemic to Hawaii. It is polymorphic, growing as a shrub or tree, able to reach a height of 15 m in tree form. Yellow flowers are produced in spring. S. chrysophylla has ridged golden brown branches. The tree has pinnately compound leaves with 6 to 10 pairs of leaflets; each leaflet is 0.3 to 2.3 cm wide. Leaves are smooth, or with yellow hairs on the underside; the specific name is derived from the Greek words χρυσός, meaning "gold," and φυλλον, meaning "leaf." Flowers are found at the bases of leaves or the ends of branches in clusters – that is, they occur in axillary or terminal racemes. The corolla is yellow; the petal size ranges from 11.5 to 21 mm long, 8 to 20 mm wide. The tree blooms in spring; the height of the flowering season is in mid-spring. Māmane wood is dense and durable. Seedpods are persistent, remain on the tree for most of the year, they are twisted, brown to brownish-gray, have four wings and are 2 to 16 cm long and 1.5 cm wide.
Seedpods are constricted around the yellow-orange or brown to grayish-black seeds, which are 6.35 mm long. Untreated, the seeds have germination rates of less than 5%; the tree is perennial and polymorphic. Māmane is an endemic species of Hawaii, can be found on all main islands except Niʻihau and Kahoʻolawe, it inhabits low shrublands, high shrublands, dry forests, mixed mesic forests, wet forests. It can grow at elevations of 30–2,900 m, being limited by the tree line. Māmane is most common and grows the tallest in montane dry forests at elevations of 1,220–2,440 m. Māmane and naio define a dry woodland ecotone on the subalpine areas of East Maui and the Island of Hawaiʻi; the hard, durable wood of māmane was used by the Native Hawaiians for pou and kaola up to 5 cm in diameter, ʻōʻō, kope, papa hōlua runners, papa olonā, ʻau koʻi, wahie. Cattle ranchers used it as fence posts. In herbal medicine, the flowers are used as an astringent; the wood was used in religious rituals to ward off evil. A kahuna nui would wrap a piece of māmane wood in a dark kapa cloth and hold it up to symbolize authority.
Māmane is essential for the endangered palila, which feeds exclusively on the plants' immature seeds when these are in season. It nests in the māmane branches. Caterpillars of Cydia moths eat the māmane's seeds, in turn are being eaten by the palila. Both the bird and the larvae utilize the embryo only. To other animals, māmane seeds are poisonous. House finches die within minutes after eating the seeds; the māmane employs a two-layered biochemical defence system: The seed coats contain some 4% phenolic compounds, which give them a vile taste. They are somewhat toxic and have a high fibre content. Seed predators trying to eat the seeds will not be killed but at least have a nasty experience. Should a predator be able to penetrate the seed coat, the embryo contains deadly quantities of quinolizidine alkaloids; the palila and the moths, have evolved the ability to deal with the poisonous compounds. The palila, for example, can deal with dozens of times the dose of cytisine that would kill a laboratory mouse.
Both seed predators seem to be able to recognize and avoid the most poisonous trees, which would be natural selection in action. Cydia caterpillars are able to break up the toxic compounds, they do not sequester the alkaloids for their own use, but are found to contain about as much phenolic compounds as the seed coats do. This seems not to be sufficient to deter predators however as they are cryptically colored; the palila is impervious to the phenolic aroma, discarding the seed coats due to their low nutritional value. How the palila deals with the toxins is not known. Feral goats and sheep voraciously eat the seedpods of the plant, negatively impacting the tree's population. Toxicity of the leaves is unknown; this issue requires further study. Ranch cattle can kill trees through stomping on the roots. Wildfire has destroyed some of the trees, though it is resistant to fire, can grow after one occurs; as regards diseases, the canker ascomycete Botryosphaeria mamane causes witch's broom disease, which kills heavily-infected trees.
Māmane grows well in areas where there are no sheep or goats, cattle populations are limited. The plant is being reforested in order to increase the population of both the tree itself and the palila, revive the indigenous ecosystem. Banko, P.. L.. Journal of Chemical Ecology 28: 1393–1410. Doi:10.1023/A:1016248502927 PDF fulltext Gardner, D. E.: Botryosphaeria mamane sp. nov. associated with witches'-brooms on the endemic forest tree Sophora chrysophylla in Hawaii. Mycologia 89: 298–303. Doi:10.2307/3761086 Plant Profile General Information Plants of Hawaii Volcano
Drake's Leat known as Plymouth Leat, was a watercourse constructed in the late 16th century to tap the River Meavy on Dartmoor, from which it ran 17.5 miles in order to supply Plymouth with water. It began at a point now under water at Burrator Reservoir, from which its path now emerges some 10m lower than the typical reservoir water level, it was one of the first municipal water supplies in the country. The leat was first not surveyed until 1576 when the route was decided. Due to the necessity of following the contours the length of the leat was seventeen and a half miles. In 1581, Sir Francis Drake became Mayor of Plymouth and it was at this time that the idea for the leat was considered by the Corporation of Plymouth; when Elizabeth I called a parliament in 1584, the Water Bill for Plymouth was prepared for presentation. The bill had the following clauses: To provide a supply of water for merchant shipping. To provide water for fire fighting in Plymouth. To scour Sutton Harbour of silt. To improve the poor quality of land on Dartmoor adjacent to the proposed leat.
The bill was passed to a Select committee chaired by Sir Francis Drake for consideration. Drake proposed an additional clause stating that mills could be erected and operated on the banks of the leat, it gained royal assent and was passed as an Act in 1585 "For the Preservation of the Haven of Plymouth". The town was authorized:"... to digge and myne a Diche or Trenche conteynenge in Bredthe betwene sixe or seaven ffoote over in all Places throughe and over all the Lands and Grounds lyeing betweene the saide Towne of Plymmowth and anye parte of the saide Ryver Mewe als Mevye, to digge, breake and caste vpp and all maner of Rockes Stones Gravell Sande and all other Letts in anye places or Groundes for the conveyant or necessarie Conveyange of the same River to the saide Towne..." Due to lack of funding caused by the war with Spain and the Armada, construction was not started until 1590 and completed in 1591. The construction of the leat was by means of a simple ditch and bank which measured six feet at its widest and was two feet deep.
Its course was deliberately meandering and sloping so that the water would not flow too fast and erode the banks. It was estimated that it took some thirty five men just over four months to complete the construction. Drake took part in the ceremonial turning of the first sod in December 1590. On 24 April 1591, the supply of water first flowed to Plymouth and the leat was blessed by the rector of Meavy. A legend records that at its opening Drake rode a white horse ahead of the water all the way to Plymouth. Drake was paid £200 for the work plus another £100 for compensation to any landowners whose property the course of the leat would have to pass through. In the event he paid out only £100 for construction and £60 for compensation making a tidy £140 profit; the mill, into which the leat flowed, was leased by Drake as were all six of the new mills built in the same year. On completion of the leat it was obvious that little heed had been paid to the original clauses as the leat did not flow to the naval victualling yard at Lambhay until 1645.
It can therefore be seen that the primary purpose was to enable Drake to capitalise on his milling operations. Some of the excess water was made available to the public after it had driven the mill wheels but by 1600 only 30 homes had been connected. Around 1600 an acrimonious dispute arose over the diversion of water from the leat for use in tin mills on Roborough Down. On one side was Thomas Drake, brother of the deceased Francis, who now owned the corn mills lower down the leat; the dispute went to the Star Chamber, the outcome of the proceedings was that in 1603 the tinners were permitted to abstract water for their "two tynne milles knocking mills or classe milles". Harsh winters and a general decline in the condition of the leat brought the feasibility of its continued existence into question; the ever-growing population, the increasing demand on the water supply in Plymouth, meant that a more reliable source and supply of fresh water had to be found, this led to the creation of Burrator Reservoir in 1891.
So, three hundred years after its construction, the upper part of Drake's Leat was lost as the valley was flooded, although lower sections remained for some years. Despite many considerations and plans to put the leat to good use, little has been preserved; the leat was restored during the Second World War, should it have been needed if the city's new supply was damaged. Parts of the leat are still visible on the moor near Clearbrook. Devonport Leat Brian Moseley. "Water Supply to Plymouth". The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History. Plymouth Data. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2015. "Drake's Leat". CorboyWeb. Archived from the original on 14 August 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2007. - a detailed article about Drake's Leat