Derrell Palmer

Derrell Palmer (August 27, 1922 – February 22, 2009) was an American football offensive tackle and defensive tackle who played eight seasons in the All-America Football Conference and in the National Football League, mainly with the Cleveland Browns.

Born August 27, 1922 in Breckenridge, Texas, Palmer played college football for the Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Palmer played for TCU in the 1942 Orange Bowl, making what The New York Times called "a number of fine defensive plays" in a game the Horned Frogs lost 40–26 to the University of Georgia Bulldogs.

Palmer signed with the New York Yankees of the All-America Football Conference in 1946, a team which shared Yankee Stadium, but not ownership, with their baseball namesakes. He started a single game for the Yankees in 1946, becoming a regular left tackle for the team in the 1947 and 1949 seasons. The team made it to the AAFC Championship Game in both 1946 and 1947, falling to the Cleveland Browns in both seasons.

Traded to the Browns before the 1949 season, he was part of the team that won the AAFC title that season. The AAFC folded after that season, with the Browns, Baltimore Colts and San Francisco 49ers added to the National Football League. In their first NFL season, the Browns continued their winning ways, taking the NFL championship in 1950, their first in the league. The Browns won the league's East Division each year from 1951 to 1953, his last in professional football, but lost the NFL Championship Game each of those seasons.

At Cleveland, Palmer played with Otto Graham, Lou Groza, Dante Lavelli, Marion Motley and Mac Speedie, with head coach Paul Brown calling Palmer one of the two best defensive tackles he ever coached.

A resident of Cleburne, Texas, Palmer died at age 85 on February 22, 2009.