The Band – "Look Out Cleveland" (1969)

Look out, Cleveland

Storm is comin’ through

And it’s runnin’ right up on you

A number of very accomplished people have graduated from my alma mater, Rice University.  But the late Dr. Frank Ryan – who was not only a star NFL quarterback but also a world-class mathematician and computer scientist – was in a league of his own.

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After graduating from Rice with a mathematics degree in 1958, Ryan was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams.  During the next several years, Ryan split his time between quarterbacking in the NFL and doing the work required to earn his master's and doctorate degrees.  

He was awarded his Rice Ph.D. six months after leading the Cleveland Browns to their 1964 NFL championship.  (His dissertation was titled “A Characterization of the Set of Asymptotic Values of a Function Holomorphic in the Unit Disc.”  If you have any idea what that means, maybe you can explain it to me.). 

Ryan then joined the faculty of Case Western Reserve University, where he taught advanced mathematics electives at the same time he was quarterbacking the Browns. 

You read that correctly: Ryan was a star NFL quarterback and a mathematics professor simultaneously.  

Professor Ryan in the classroom

Here’s what a former student of his wrote about Ryan:

Ryan was not only a professor at Case Western Reserve, where I was an undergraduate in the ’60’s, but he was at the same time the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.  The starting quarterback for a NFL football team, and a professor with a full teaching load.  

During the football season he taught his class early in the week, and then on Sundays he was behind the center taking the ball. Handing it off, throwing passes, and getting sacked – like any other quarterback in the league.  He was one of the best quarterbacks of his day, and had great successes.  For example, he appeared in three straight Pro Bowls.

I still remember listening to him explain a fine point in complex analysis on Tuesday, and then watching him on TV getting tackled on Sunday.  It was hard to believe, even though I knew it was the same person, the player being taken hard to the ground was my professor.  The player being tackled knew how to throw a perfect spiral 40 yards, and also could go to the board and prove Picard’s Little Theorem.  Amazing. . . .

I still recall wincing when he got sacked during one tough game. Then, a few days later I saw him in class, with his arm in a sling . . . . Sling or not we pushed on, deeper into the beautiful structure of complex analysis.

I think it’s safe to say that there will never again be a star professional athlete who is simultaneously a full-time college professor.

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Ryan was an NFL quarterback for 13 seasons and a three-time Pro Bowl selection.  He led the Cleveland Browns to their last NFL Championship, and compiled a 48-17-1 (.727) record in the five seasons in the 1960s when he was the starting signal-caller for that team.  

During that same five-year time span, no NFL quarterback – not Johnny Unitas, not Sonny Jurgensen, not Don Meredith, not Fran Tarkenton – threw more touchdown passes.

Frank Ryan on the cover of Sports Illustrated

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After leaving the Case Western Reserve mathematics faculty, Ryan became the Director of Information Services for the U.S. House of Representatives, where he supervised a staff of 225 and was primarily responsible for the creation of an electronic voting system for the House.  

After a decade as Yale’s athletic director – he was a lecturer in mathematics at Yale as well – Ryan returned to Rice, where he not only taught mathematics and computer science but also served as the school’s vice president for external affairs.  During his tenure in that post, annual giving to Rice increased some 50 percent.

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Frank Ryan was 87 when he died from Alzheimer's disease this past New Year’s Day – exactly 65 years after throwing a touchdown in the Cotton Bowl matchup between Rice and Navy.  

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) may have played a role in the progression of Ryan’s disease.  Later in life, Ryan spoke out about the risks of concussion and other injury risks associated with football.  He donated his brain to the Boston University CTE Center, which is studying the effects of repetitive brain trauma on the human nervous system.

Like other prominent athletes, Ryan received many fan letters and autograph requests.  “He appreciated his fans enormously, and he kept every fan letter that he received,” according to a statement issued by his family after his death.  “Frank fulfilled each and every autograph request that was sent to him, until he became physically unable to do so.”

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“Look Out Cleveland” was released on the Band’s eponymous second album in 1969.

You’re probably assuming that the song refers to the large Ohio city located on the shore of Lake Erie, but my theory is that is it’s about Cleveland, Texas.

That Cleveland is located just northeast of Houston – the home of Rice University – and the lines that follow the ones quoted at the beginning of this post mention Houston:

Look out, Houston

There’ll be thunder on the hill

But for purposes of this post, let’s say that the song is about Cleveland, Ohio and Houston, Texas – the two cities where Frank Ryan distinguished himself on the football field and in the classroom.

Click here to listen to “Look Out Cleveland.”

Click here to buy the record from Amazon.