Every Cleveland Browns fan has a favorite player. Actually, every follower of the team has two favorite players: one current, and one from the past.
Of course, many fans have many favorite players. Which
is fine and dandy. But those two are the ones remembered most.
RELATED: BERNIE KOSAR HEALTH UPDATE
Then there are the retired ones who are followed the most, who are perched on the upper tier. Guys such as Jim Brown, Bernie Kosar, Leroy Kelly, Gene Hickerson, Otto Graham, Clay Matthews, Brian Sipe, Joe Thomas, Lou Groza, and Ozzie Newsome.
If the “Browns Mount Rushmore” has room, that would have to be the 10. These can be referred to as the “Cleveland Beloved.” No matter who you discuss with, their favorite Browns players are such-and-such, plus these 10. And at some point, one will be picked off once Myles Garrett hangs up his cleats.
Kosar has been battling liver failure. He has been on a donor list for several years, and the past two weekends he thought he was about to have his long-awaited transplant.
He got the news on Saturday that a new donor organ had arrived, and he is set to have his transplant surgery on Monday, very early:
We’ve also learned a bit about the donor and his family:
Kosar grew up in Ohio and was a lifelong Browns fan. The quarterback was drafted in the first round of the 1985 NFL Supplemental Draft out of the University of Miami. He played nine years with Cleveland and was part of five playoff years that included three AFC Championship Game appearances. Kosar played for four head coaches: Marty Schottenheimer, Bud Carson, Jim Shofner, and Bill Belichick.
His NFL career lasted 12 years, which included winning one Super Bowl while with the Dallas Cowboys in that Jimmy Johnson/Emmitt Smith/Troy Aikman heyday. He threw for 23,301 career yards with 124 touchdowns and 87 interceptions with a career 59.3% completion average.
His best season was in 1987 with the Browns. Kosar passed for 3,033 yards with a career-high 22 touchdowns against just nine interceptions, a 62.0% completion average, sacked 22 times, 140 first down conversions, and played in just eight games. He was named to the Pro Bowl that season.
Kosar’s highest numbers were 3,854 passing yards (1986), 68.5% completion average (1995), 172 first down conversions (1986), and a 95.4 QB rating (1987).
He was inducted into the Browns Legends Program in their maiden class of 2001.
That was then. What is happening with Kosar now is a grave issue. In 2024, he was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Basically, cirrhosis of the liver is the fancy term for chronic liver failure. This is the most serious situation currently. The disease is a slow-moving ailment and develops over years. It is detected with blood tests, a biopsy of the liver, and through medical imaging. The most common symptoms are pain in the right upper region of the abdomen.
The liver plays a vital role in many metabolic processes in the body, including protein synthesis. The most accurate test to detect cirrhosis is a liver biopsy. Once cirrhosis of the liver gets to a certain stage, it cannot be reversed or cured. There are treatments, but this only delays the inevitable. The liver must be extracted, and a donor liver will need to be inserted through surgery.
A liver transplant.
This is where Kosar is. He has been on the donor liver list for over two years. And the transplant is very successful. The five-year survival rate is up to 80%, depending largely on the severity of the disease and other medical risk factors in the recipient.
Last weekend, Kosar was getting ready for transplant surgery. But there were complications with the donor liver. Doctors found an infection, which was then deemed unusable. Then last Monday, Kosar began to have some pain. He went to University Hospital in Cleveland, and they found he was bleeding internally. Doctors scheduled a procedure, and then another—a few days later, yet two more procedures on Thursday.
All the while, he waited for a good organ to become available.
That opportunity arrived this morning when Kosar was scheduled to have a liver transplant early Monday morning.
As with any medical procedure, the costs aren’t cheap. His family has set up a GoFundMe page for Browns fans who wish to assist with his efforts:
LINK: BERNIE KOSAR GO FUND ME ACCOUNT
Before Kosar learned that another donor liver was available for his operation on Monday, Dawgs by Nature’s Barry Shuck spoke with Kosar between sessions with his doctors this past weekend.
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Shuck: After this third procedure, how are you feeling?
Kosar: The doctors trying to control to stop the bleeding were really challenging. I thought I was going to have a liver two weekends ago, and was getting ready this past Saturday morning. It has been tough from that perspective.
Shuck: You sound like a true football player with your optimism.
Kosar: Early on, I had coaches who kept me from getting down and not dwelling on things. Whether it is was Jimmy Johnson or Howard Schellenberger while I was at Miami, or growing up. Things happen out of your control. What does it take to make it work? Jimmy, in every game, would say, “Somehow, some way, do what you can to make a play to win the game.” So, in football, that is how you think. That DNA is the foundation that they put you in. Now it’s a 61-year-old who is thinking that there is somehow, some way. The only way to be positive and be healthy is to know that this will work out.
Shuck: Any other words of wisdom from coaches?
Kosar: Don Shula would say, “How you do little things, is how you do all things. And each day we wake up, you never stay the same. You either get better, or worse.”
Shuck: Have there been other symptoms?
Kosar: I have early signs of dementia also with Parkinson’s senior symptoms. I have been blessed and thankful. I have continued to try to save myself and get my brain back.
Shuck: It’s my understanding you were on the list for a liver, found one, but something was wrong. What happened?
Kosar: The doctors found an infection, and there wasn’t anything that could be done. I was getting ready to be prepped for surgery.
Shuck: How long have you been on a liver donor list?
Kosar: A little over two years.
Shuck: Beginning on Monday, you had some internal bleeding. How many procedures did it take to stop that?
Kosar: In less than a week, I had five procedures. They couldn’t stop the bleeding. I was trying to stay positive, and hopefully, a good donor liver will come through. I really got a lot of love and support from fans and former teammates. I look forward to getting out of IV tubes and pic lines and all these other things hooked up to me.
Shuck: What did these procedures accomplish?
Kosar: They tried to stop the internal bleeding. It kinda slowed it down, but it didn’t completely stop. Hopefully, now, there’s another weekend where I can prepare for a transplant. That is kind of my Nostradamus wish list.
Shuck: Your family set up a site for folks to help you offset your medical expenses?
Kosar: Well, first and foremost, I am just blessed with the amount of outpouring support. Here I am, waiting for a liver transplant. I have been ready for three weekends now. I have been in this situation weekly, and I am still genuinely positive. Am I going to get better? Or feel sorry for myself and get worse? As a 20-year-old football player, you take your health for granted. Tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that, could be the day that the doctors come around that corner and tell me they are ready to perform a liver transplant. My family set up a page because medical costs are huge.
Shuck: Once you receive your transplant, what is the healing time?
Kosar: Two weeks staying in ICU, then I would be moved to a regular hospital room. They use staples to close up the wound, so I am not sure if they come out while I am still here at University Hospital or will have to come back.
Shuck: What type of reaction have you had from former teammates?
Kosar: I am going to say 400 guys who reached out. Players that I won a Super Bowl with, or played with the Browns. Guys that I haven’t heard from since college.
Shuck: I was talking with a guy the other day, and he said he can’t remember when the Browns were any good. I told him that, for most of the 1980s, the Browns had great teams. Coach Marty Schottenheimer never had a losing season while coaching Cleveland and went to the playoffs every year and several AFC Championship Games. Would things have turned out differently if Marty had stayed as head coach?
Kosar: I love Marty. He made those teams great, and we were very successful while he was here. Then he left and made Kansas City successful, so it was much more than a system that worked; it was Marty’s presence and coaching. He gave us the tools to be successful. We came close several times, and I wish things had been different. But that is playing sports. You can learn some valuable lessons from losing games.
Shuck: What was your fondest moment of being a Cleveland Brown?
Kosar: It always seems to get to me that I can be somewhere or at a function, and Browns fans will come up to me and tell me their Bernie Kosar story. I love that. I haven’t played in what, 30 years? And they remember the game, who we were playing, and even stuff like down-and-distance. Then they tell me about what happened and what play I made or a pass I threw. And that is one of their favorite memories of their devotion to this team. Something I did that I might not even remember. But it made them more of a Browns fan. I always say: You matter.
Thomas Moore assisted with this interview
