Michael Lionel Howell (born July 5, 1943) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who played with the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

and the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pl ...

. Howell was drafted by the Browns in the eighth round of the

1965 NFL Draft The 1965 National Football League draft was held at the Summit Hotel in New York City on Saturday, November 28, 1964. The first player selected was Tucker Frederickson, back from Auburn, by the New York Giants. The draft was marked by the fail ...

out of Grambling State. A college quarterback,Peticca, Mike
"Cleveland Browns' 100 best all-time players: No. 89 -- Mike Howell (video)"
''

Cleveland Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

'', August 16, 2012. Retrieved on May 11, 2013. Howell converted to defensive back in the NFL. Howell felt he had no chance playing quarterback in the NFL due to his race. At the time African-Americans were stereotyped as not being able to successfully play the position. "I know I'm not going into the NFL as a black quarterback," is what Howell told his coach, the legendary Eddie Robinson. So, he changed to cornerback, winning a starting job in 1966, and moved to free safety in 1968. Howell did not miss a league game during his career in Cleveland, and intercepted 27 passes during his NFL career.Neft, David S. & Cohen, Richard M. ''The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of Professional NFL Football from 1892 to the Present,'' p. 478. St. Martin's Press, 1991. . In 2012, the

selected Howell as one of the 100 best players in Browns history.

References

1943 births Living people People from West Monroe, Louisiana American football cornerbacks American football safeties Cleveland Browns players Miami Dolphins players Grambling State Tigers football players {{defensiveback-1940s-stub