25 Facts About Jim Ninowski

Jim Ninowski played college football for the Michigan State Spartans and was selected in the fourth round of the 1958 NFL draft.

Jim Ninowski was selected as offensive captain of the North team for the Christmas Day North-South Shrine Game played in Miami's Orange Bowl.

Jim Ninowski was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fourth round of the 1958 NFL draft.

Jim Ninowski teamed with fellow Browns' draftee and future Hall-of-Famer Bobby Mitchell for touchdown passes of 84 and 18 yards.

The teammates were named co-Most Valuable Players for the game, with Jim Ninowski setting All-Star game passing records with 14 completions in 20 attempts and 244 total passing yards.

Jim Ninowski was among a group of Browns' quarterbacks that included Milt Plum, John Borton and Bobby Freeman competing for the starting job left open after the 1957 starter, Tommy O'Connell, had been cut prior to the opening of training camp.

Paul Brown chose Plum as the starter and Jim Ninowski saw spot duty as the backup in the 1958 and 1959 seasons, starting just one game, a 1958 midseason loss to the Lions.

On July 10,1960, Jim Ninowski was traded to the Detroit Lions for linebacker Bob Long and the Lions' 1961 first round draft choice, with which the Browns selected Bobby Crespino.

Finally getting a chance to start, Jim Ninowski started 10 of 12 regular season games for Detroit in 1960, posting a record of five wins and five losses as the Lions tied with the San Francisco 49ers for second place, one game behind the Green Bay Packers.

Jim Ninowski threw for 1,921 yards and seven touchdowns, sharing quarterbacking duties with Earl Morrall.

Brown flew to Detroit on the day after the trade was announced to meet with Jim Ninowski, convincing him to return to Cleveland.

Brown expected that Jim Ninowski's running skills would allow the team to run an option-based offense that put more of an emphasis on rollout passes.

Brown claimed that Jim Ninowski had that patience and peripheral vision to maximize the team's passing patterns.

Jim Ninowski never played for the Browns and died within a year of his diagnosis.

Jim Ninowski was gang tackled by a pass rush led by defensive tackle Big Daddy Lipscomb.

Jim Ninowski was replaced by Frank Ryan, who had been obtained from the Rams to back up Ninowski prior to the start of training camp.

Jim Ninowski served as the backup quarterback for the Browns over the next four seasons, starting three games.

Jim Ninowski was a member of the last Cleveland Browns championship team in 1964.

Jim Ninowski was a holdout prior to training camp in 1967 and was placed on waivers on July 28 by the Browns, but the waivers were recalled the same day as the team sought to place the quarterback with another NFL team.

On June 20,1969, Jim Ninowski was traded to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for defensive end Dave Long and a fifth round 1970 draft choice.

Jim Ninowski appeared in four games for the Saints, backing up Billy Kilmer and completing 17 of 34 passes, including one touchdown.

On December 19,1970, The New York Times reported that Jim Ninowski told reporters, after appearing before a special Federal Grand jury investigating potential antitrust violations regarding NFL operations, that his pay was increased to $100,000 per year for four years.

Jim Ninowski claimed that this was the result of a secret settlement after Ninowski threatened an antitrust suit in 1967 against the NFL and former American Football League.

The article reported that his attorney, Jerry E Dempsey, claimed Ninowski had negotiated with the AFL's Oakland Raiders while still a member of the Cleveland Browns.

Jim Ninowski died on July 23,2024, at the age of 88.