Browns' Mac Speedie clears Hall hurdle, overdue induction

CLEVELAND (AP) — Mac Speedie spent his life overcoming hurdles both physical and figurative. He's about to clear another.

A quick, sure-handed wide receiver on powerhouse Cleveland Browns teams in the 1940s and 50s, Speedie, who overcame a childhood disease and later delayed his playing career to serve in World War II, is finally being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“It’s like a dream come true,” his daughter, Rebecca Speedie Walker said from her home in Colorado. “We had all but given up hope to ever see it.”

For decades, Speedie, who died in 1993 at age 73, was overlooked for enshrinement in Canton, Ohio. But he'll soon take his place alongside teammates Otto Graham, Dante Lavelli, Marion Motley, Bill Wills and Lou Groza and their legendary coach Paul Brown — who played a role in Speedie's delayed induction.

When Speedie left Cleveland after the 1952 season to play for more money in Canada, Brown vowed revenge.

“He told me when I jumped leagues that he was going to get even with me,” Speedie said in a 1991 Los Angeles Times interview. “There was a time when it bothered me, but that was years and years ago.”

Speedie's getting the last word.

A rangy, deceptively fast receiver at 6-foot-3, Speedie played with the Browns from 1946-52. He appeared in six league championship games — four straight in the All-America Football Conference and two in the NFL after Cleveland changed leagues in 1950.

He led the AAFC in receptions three times and had the most catches in the NFL in 1952, when he had 62 for 911 yards and scored five touchdowns while being named MVP on a team loaded with stars.

Speedie finished with 349 career receptions, 5,602 yards and 33 TDs with the Browns, who went 83-13-3 during his time with them. One of Graham's primary receivers, Speedie was...