Cleveland Browns have fan in former player, Edinboro great Jim Romaniszyn

Jim Romaniszyn knew the $300 fine was no coincidence.

Romaniszyn was a rookie for the 1973 Cleveland Browns.

Not only was he a rookie, but one from a small school (Edinboro State) who was selected in an NFL draft round (13th) that no longer exists.

Which meant Romaniszyn’s name probably was a random one on Cleveland’s roster as training camp approached. The Titusville native needed to make Browns coach Nick Skorich take note of him.

Romaniszyn did. Only, not in a good way.

Mike Romaniszyn offered to chauffer his younger brother to Hiram (Ohio) College the same day the Browns were to start their camp. They budgeted enough time to drive the 90-some miles from northwestern Pennsylvania to the rural campus and comfortably get Jim there ahead of the team’s initial meeting.

The duo stopped for gas about  halfway through the trip. Jim, though, knew there was still enough time to arrive ahead of schedule.

Then, thanks to Mike, he didn’t.

“My brother has always been known to be very frugal,” Jim said. “He realized he’d forgotten his S&H green stamps (at the station), so he turned around and went all the way back to get them.”

Jim Romaniszyn, by now beyond frantic, said he arrived at the Browns' designated meeting room just in time to see someone’s hand closing the main door behind him.

That hand belonged to Skorich. It was one that eventually allowed Romaniszyn to enter, but also one that wrote up his fine for being late.

The fine’s amount: $300.

The same total Cleveland gave him as a signing bonus.

“Mike never did pay me back,” Romaniszyn said. “It’s a funny story now, but it wasn’t at the time.”

Romaniszyn performed well enough during that camp to make the Browns’ roster on special teams and as a reserve linebacker. He played there for two NFL seasons, followed by a third with the 1976 New England Patriots.

However, Romaniszyn, 69, remains loyal to the franchise that drafted him. He and his wife, Linda, were decked out in orange and brown attire at their Port Orange, Florida, home for last Sunday’s AFC Wild Card game between the Browns and the rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

It marked Cleveland’s first postseason appearance since the 2002 season and only its second since the franchise’s 1999 reincarnation.

The Browns’ playoff drought, combined with some iconic losses in such games dating to the 1980s, made their 48-37 upset of the Steelers that much more memorable.

“My wife is from Pittsburgh, but I have her brainwashed,” Romaniszyn said. “She was rooting on the Browns to an incredible (playoff) win. And as we know, they don’t happen to them very often.”

The Browns now bid to prove the retired couple wrong. Their victory vs. Pittsburgh set up Sunday’s AFC divisional round playoff against the Kansas City Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champions, at Arrowhead Stadium.

Earning NFL's attention

Cleveland converted Romaniszyn to a linebacker even though they drafted him as a running back. He had a team-leading 859 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns for the 1972 Fighting Scots, who finished 3-5-1 after their 1970 and ’71 teams both finished 9-1.

Romaniszyn was an Edinboro State underclassman for those seasons, but the success of those teams warranted the attention of NFL personnel like Dan Rooney, son of Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney.

Dan Rooney thought enough of Romaniszyn to pay him a personal visit ahead of the 1973 draft.

“I was in Edinboro’s (McComb) Fieldhouse running laps for basketball practice,” Romaniszyn said. “That’s when Dan Rooney showed up and (gave) me a quick interview. It was the first indication that maybe I had a chance of being drafted somewhere.

“I never heard from the Browns, but I suspected professional scouts from other teams showed up to watch me practice. One guy even timed me running sprints in the Sox Harrison (Stadium) parking lot.”

The ‘73 NFL draft was held in late January, not late April as it is now.

That meant Romaniszyn was still several months away from receiving his Edinboro State bachelor’s degree when he learned Cleveland picked him.

“It still came out of nowhere for me,” Romaniszyn said. “Being from a small town like Titusville, and then playing at a small college like Edinboro, I was pretty surprised. Elated, but pretty surprised.”

Romaniszyn, who was listed at 6 feet 2 inches, 224 pounds, recovered two fumbles and forced a third during his brief professional career. He saw action in all 14 regular-season games for the ’73 and ’74 Browns, who didn't make the playoffs. He made two starts among the 11 games he appeared in for the 1976 Patriots.

New England won the AFC East Division that season but lost 24-21 in the division round to the Oakland Raiders. Romaniszyn didn't record any statistics in that game.

“You can’t imagine as a fan what it’s like being on (an NFL) team,” Romaniszyn said. “You don’t get the size perspective on TV. You don’t get the speed perspective. I was running 4.6 (40-yard dashes) in camp, and there were linemen who could run faster than that.

"After being in training camp for a number of weeks and then going back to the college football scene, that’s when it was all really an eye opener.”

Beyond the NFL

Romaniszyn’s NFL career consisted of 39 games. He returned to northwestern Pennsylvania in the late 1970s and coached McDowell’s boys basketball program from 1979-82.

The Trojans reached the PIAA Class 3A semifinals in his first season and were District 10 champions for the second and third.

Romaniszyn moved to Florida several years later. He resumed coaching boys basketball at Port Orange, a southern suburb of Daytona Beach, and was 124-40 overall when retirement ended his tenure.

Such accomplishments are why Romaniszyn was inducted as a charter member of the Edinboro University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Titusville Hall of Fame in 1986.

His playing and coaching career also led to induction into the Metropolitan Erie Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Pulling for the Browns

As much as Cleveland fans rejoiced in the Browns eliminating Pittsburgh from the playoffs, a victory Sunday likely would dwarf that result.

Cleveland is one of four current NFL franchises with no Super Bowl history. The Browns must upset the Chiefs in the second of what would be three road playoff victories just to advance that far.

Romaniszyn might wear his No. 56 Browns jersey Sunday afternoon as he and his wife again root for the Browns to pull off the upset.

“Kansas City is going to be quite a challenge,” he said, “but I’m hoping they can win.”

Mike Copper can be reached at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNcopper.