After the war, despite still being Ohio State's head coach in absentia, Brown chose instead to go to Cleveland as part-owner, vice president, general manager and head coach for Arthur B "Mickey" McBride's entry in the upstart All-America Football Conference. He signed his contract February 8, 1945, while still in the Navy.[8] A name-the-team poll taken in the Cleveland Plain Dealer initially yielded the nickname "Panthers." However, Brown found out that the "Panthers" name had previously belonged to a semipro team in Cleveland with a long history of losing. At his suggestion, the team sponsored another name-the-team contest which resulted in the name "Brown Bombers," after heavyweight champion Joe Louis. The name was quickly shortened to "Browns," which led to speculation that the team was named after Paul Brown himself--a myth which persists to this day.
