Covering The Lakefront

THOUGH IT HAS BEEN NEARLY 43 YEARS SINCE CLEVELAND LAST TOASTED A CHAMPION, the city has been well covered by SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. Many local sports luminaries have had a brush with front-page fame (and the cover jinx)—from Al Rosen, the Indians' iconic slugger of the 1950s, to Grady Sizemore, their throwback star of today; from Jim Brown, the Browns' titanic rusher of the '60s, to Jamal Lewis, their incumbent big back—but the man who has appeared most often in the spotlight is LeBron James, who has five cover appearances as a Cavalier. ( Frank Ryan and Bernie Kosar are next, with two apiece.) Here are Cleveland's cover boys.

APRIL 18, 1955
SLUGGER AL ROSEN TOOK AIM AT ANOTHER ALL-STAR SEASON.

MAY 30, 1955
ROOKIE HERB SCORE STARTED UP HIS INDIANS CAREER.

OCTOBER 8, 1956
DYNAMIC DUO: PAUL BROWN AND GEORGE RATTERMAN.

SEPTEMBER 26, 1960
FEW CUT A MORE IMPRESSIVE FIGURE THAN JIM BROWN.

JUNE 3, 1963
FOR HIS HOMETOWN TEAM, THERE WAS ALWAYS HOPE.

JANUARY 4, 1965
FRANK RYAN HELPED WIN THE BROWNS' FOURTH NFL TITLE.

SEPTEMBER 27, 1965
A MATH Ph.D., RYAN HAD A HIGH FOOTBALL IQ TOO.

MAY 23, 1966
SUDDEN SAM WAS A PITCHER ON THE RISE FOR THE TRIBE.

NOVEMBER 21, 1966
ROSS FICHTNER RANKED AMONG THE GAME'S BEST DBs.