Otto Graham at Cedar Point – June 17, 1955

Remember when famous professional athletes from your favorite local team used to make personal appearances at shopping centers and fast food drive-ins? You actually had a chance to meet them and get an autographed photo.

I've written about a few of these events, including this promotion for Casey's Drive-in that featured several Cleveland Indian ballplayers, and this one at Sears that featured several Cleveland Browns players.

Otto Graham and Cleveland Browns
Head Coach Paul Brown

Well, at the top of this post is an ad that appeared in the Lorain Journal seventy years ago today on June 17, 1955. It was announcing an appearance the next day at Cedar Point by Cleveland Browns quarterback Otto Graham, sponsored by Esmond Dairy. As the ad notes, you could shake hands with him and get an "ottograph" from Otto.

As his Wiki entry notes, "Otto Everett Graham Jr. (December 6, 1921 – December 17, 2003) was an American professional football quarterback who played for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. 

"Graham is regarded by critics as one of the most dominant players of his era and one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, having taken the Browns to league championship games every year between 1946 and 1955, making ten championship appearances, and winning seven of them. With Graham at quarterback, the Browns posted a record of 105 wins, 17 losses, and 4 ties, including a 9–3 win–loss record in the AAFC and NFL playoffs. He holds the NFL record for career average yards gained per pass attempt, with 8.63. He also holds the record for the highest career winning percentage for an NFL starting quarterback, at 81.0%."

Also on the bill that day at Cedar Point was Casey, the Homer Hitting Hen. Here's a promotional ad for the the plucky pullet from the March 7, 1955 issue of the Food Field Reporter.

So how did it work? According to another article in the same issue, there were four trained Caseys. "The birds are taught to peck at a rubber loop which operates an electric switch. The switch swings a small baseball bat that backs a small rubber ball through what looks like a pinball machine. If the ball bounces around the rubber baseballl figures and hits the fence at the back of the field, it creates another electrical contact. This causes lights to go on, a buzzer to sound, and a few grains of chicken feed to drop in a cup at the end of a runway.

"As soon as the ball hits the homerun contact, the chicken knows it will receive food and rushes down the runway to get it. If then comes back to pluck at the rubber loop again. If the ball does not reach the back fence, the chicken knows it. If the lights do not go on and the buzzer does not sound, the chicken knows there will be no food, and so pulls on the loop again to try for a homer.

Casey's owner, Keller Breland Associates, distributed a list of rental rates for their various attractions. One found online and dated 10/1/55 noted that to rent Casey for a week cost $400, with a 20% discount for each additional week.

That ain't chicken feed.