Frank Beall Ryan is a retired American football quarterback in the National Football League who played for the Los Angeles Rams , Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins . Although he led the Browns to their last National Football League title in 1964, Ryan is best remembered for being perhaps the only Ph.D. in mathematics to play in the league, completing a doctorate at Rice University. After attending R. L. Paschal High School in Fort Worth, Texas, Ryan went to Rice University, but was unable to establish himself during the course of his collegiate career, splitting time behind center... with King Hill, who was receiving most of the snaps. Given his desire to continue toward a Ph.D., Ryan originally decided not to play professional football after the Rams chose him in the fifth round of the 1958 NFL Draft. However, he changed his mind after he was able to enroll at both UCLA and University of California, Berkeley in pursuit of the advanced degree.
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