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Reaction to Art Modell’s death [Pictures]

"He was a special guy to me. I call him a very close friend. We came into the league together in 1961. What he's done for football can't be measured. This man deserves to be in the Hall of Fame." -- Tom Matte Former Browns G John Wooten "First and foremost, our relationship goes back to the 1960s when he first bought the Cleveland Browns. He was one of the great, great owners in the NFL. He was a man that sacrificed and did the things to make the NFL what it is today. He was an owner who excelled in dealing with players, working with the public and making sure that our game was growing. He sacrificed. "He worked alongside Lamar Hunt, Tex Schramm, Well Mara and Art Rooney -- and all of those men are in the Hall of Fame. He worked with them in all of those meetings. He was there. It is indeed a shame that he is not in the Hall of Fame. "I can't tell you how bad I want Art to be in the Hall of Fame." -- John Wooten

“He was a special guy to me. I call him a very close friend. We came into the league together in 1961. What he’s done for football can’t be measured. This man deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.” -- Tom Matte

Former Browns G John Wooten

“First and foremost, our relationship goes back to the 1960s when he first bought the Cleveland Browns. He was one of the great, great owners in the NFL. He was a man that sacrificed and did the things to make the NFL what it is today. He was an owner who excelled in dealing with players, working with the public and making sure that our game was growing. He sacrificed.

“He worked alongside Lamar Hunt, Tex Schramm, Well Mara and Art Rooney -- and all of those men are in the Hall of Fame. He worked with them in all of those meetings. He was there. It is indeed a shame that he is not in the Hall of Fame.

“I can’t tell you how bad I want Art to be in the Hall of Fame.” -- John Wooten   (Gene Sweeney Jr. / The Baltimore Sun)

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See quotes from Ravens officials, NFL coaches and players and other notable personalities on the passing of former Ravens owner Art Modell.

Quotes provided by the Baltimore Ravens and other outlets.

Ohio native and former Baltimore Colts LB Stan White

“I feel like I’ve known Art Modell and his family my whole life, growing up around Cleveland and growing up watching the Cleveland Browns as a kid. Playing in the NFL, my association with Art grew as I became involved with the league through the Players Association. Then, I represented [former Browns DB] Frank Minnifield, one of his players, and got to know Art even better at that point. Of course, when he brought the team to Baltimore, I got to know him -- I wouldn’t say intimately -- but I got to know him fairly well. “Art, to me, is just one of the great men of football, along with the Rooneys and the Maras. The men like that built this game for everybody that ever played, particularly the guys that are playing today. We all know his involvement in getting television involved with the NFL, with Monday Night Football. But more so, with the way he ran a football team, he treated his players as men and really cared about them. It’s a cruel business at times, but it’s always how you do things, and Art always did it with class and dignity, and you couldn’t say more about a person than you can say about Art. “I coached his grandson at Gilman [School], and I got to know Art a little bit more through that. The whole Modell family has been such a gift to Baltimore, and Art Modell has been a gift to anybody who has ever been associated with football on any level -- but particularly with the National Football League. Art Modell is a giant, and he will be missed.” -- Stan White   (Colby Ware / For The Baltimore Sun)

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