Tim Ryan

Proud dad and husband, Ohio native, die-hard Browns fan.

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

Amazing life and story.

[the Sports ON Tap @thesportsontap]

The Cleveland Browns have not won a championship since 1964.

The quarterback who won that one had a PhD in mathematics.

And after he retired, he built the first electronic voting system the United States Congress ever used.

December 27, 1964. The Browns were underdogs against the Baltimore Colts and Johnny Unitas, who was the best quarterback alive and about to be a Hall of Famer.

Cleveland won 27-0.

Shut them out. In a title game.

Frank Ryan threw three touchdown passes to Gary Collins that afternoon. Jim Brown was in the backfield pulling every defender in Ohio toward him, and Ryan picked the rest of the field apart.

That is still the last championship Cleveland has.

Sixty-one years and counting.

Now here is the other life he was living at the same time.

Ryan was working on a doctorate in mathematics at Rice while he was starting at quarterback in the National Football League. He finished it in 1965, the year after the title.

Not an honorary degree. Not a nice gesture from an alma mater. An actual PhD in math, earned during NFL seasons.

He was a three-time Pro Bowler. He went 52-22-2 as a starter. He threw at least 25 touchdown passes in three different seasons, which in the 1960s was an enormous number.

And he was doing something else that nobody in football was doing yet.

Ryan was charting where defenders lined up and calculating which plays worked best against which alignments. He was building a predictive model out of index cards and film, decades before anybody used the word analytics in a football building.

"The positions and locations of players on the other side, and which plays would have more success based on the information about where the defense lined up."

That is a 1960s quarterback describing modern football.

When he got to Washington in 1969, his head coach was Vince Lombardi.

Lombardi did not tell him to knock it off and study the playbook. Lombardi gave him funding and computer equipment and told him to keep going.

Ryan retired after the 1970 season.

Then the math career took over completely.

He taught at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland. He spent 10 years as the athletic director at Yale, where he also taught mathematics, because of course he did.

And he became the director of information services for the United States House of Representatives.

In that job he dragged Congress into the computer age. He helped develop the first electronic voting system the House ever had, the one that replaced clerks calling out 435 names one at a time.

So the next time you see a vote tally flash up on a screen from the House floor, understand who helped build the thing underneath it.

A Cleveland Browns quarterback.

The honest part.

Ryan spent his last years with Alzheimer's disease. His son confirmed the diagnosis. A man whose entire identity was built on the sharpest mathematical mind in the sport lost pieces of it at the end, and it is impossible to read that and not think about what the sport takes.

He died on January 1, 2024, in a nursing home in Connecticut. He was 87.

Cleveland has been waiting for another one since the day he walked off that field.

Sixty-one years later, the last quarterback to do it is still a guy with a doctorate in mathematics and a seat in the history of American government.

They do not make them like that anymore. They basically never did.

For more stories like this, follow us on any platform @thesportsontap

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

This is what Ohio looks like in mid September.

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

AI is going to reshape the American workforce in profound ways. I’m honored to be part of this bipartisan commission working to make sure workers, manufacturers and communities have a real voice in what comes next.
Thanks @10TV for covering.
https://t.co/FAHGS6SGTB

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

Life is suffering. But suffering is also where we build grit, resilience and compassion. Our suffering can divide us, or it can connect us. The challenge is to take the pain we’re experiencing and use it to build something better together.
New Spiritual Citizenship: “Life is Suffering.”
https://t.co/FCvRaJVlR7

[Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future @Natural_Allies]

🎙️⚡ It’s time to switch up the energy conversation.

Introducing Switchboard, our new podcast bringing 5 Democratic leaders together to discuss how more practical “all of the above” positions are good policy & good politics.

Tune in to Episode 1: https://t.co/524NLDGjvv

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

Incredible story.

[Alvin Foo @alvinfoo]

Alexander Zverev just won the US Open, in his speech, he didn’t talk about tactics or ranking points, he talked about walking out of a doctor’s office at age 4 after being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and being told his life and sport would be “very, very limited.”

His mother refused that script.

“My son will be wherever he wants to be. This illness will not define us.”

That single act of defiance, repeated over 25 years of insulin, early mornings, setbacks and doubt, produced a two-time Grand Slam champion.

The most powerful limits are rarely the ones written in medical notes, they are the ones we quietly accept.

Someone’s belief in you or your own refusal to accept a reduced version of your life, can change the entire trajectory. ❤️

[Sally @MustangSally_12]

@Mal_Baffa

[Mark Hyman, M.D. @drmarkhyman]

Our brains are on overload.

Bombarded by endless notifications, doomscrolling, and heated debates—especially with politics dominating social media.

This constant stimulation floods your system with stress hormones like cortisol, over-activating your amygdala (the brain’s fear center) and leaving you feeling anxious, irritable, and exhausted.

Research shows that chronic exposure to this kind of stress impairs focus, disrupts sleep, and even weakens your immune system.

Step away.
Let your brain reset.
Take a walk in nature, practice breathwork to calm your nervous system, or simply embrace moments of boredom where creativity and problem-solving thrive.

Disconnecting from the noise is essential for your mental and physical health.

Love this post by @tjpower

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

Got to read this. Powerful way to go through life. @DailyDadEmail

[Daily Dad @DailyDadEmail]

Let this always be the answer

[Daily Dad @DailyDadEmail]

We have to remember that as parents we are always planting seeds. A comment here, a book we have them read there. A documentary we watch together, an example we set, a person we introduce them to.

[McNeil @REFLOG18]

and we got the Browns tomorrow

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

I agree. Amazing moment.

[BaseballHistoryNut @nut_history]

President Bush throws the first pitch of Game 3 of the 2001 World Series after 9/11

As silly as it sounds, it was important for him to throw a strike. No matter what you think of him, that was clutch/badass. Used the regulation rubber as well. Big time...

25 years later and I still think this is the greatest ceremonial first pitch ever

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

Incredible. Heroes. All of them.

[Sterling Snow @sterlingmsnow]

I reread this every year.

I cry like a baby every year.

Todd Beamer died a father, husband, and hero.

Todd: Hello… Operator… listen to me. I can’t speak very loud. This is an emergency. I’m a passenger on a United flight to San Francisco. Our plane has been hijacked.

Lisa: I understand. Can they see you?

Todd: No. There are three that we know of. They have knives — razor knives, like box cutters. Someone announced from the cockpit there was a bomb. It sounded fake.

Lisa: Your name?Todd: Todd Beamer. United Flight 93.Todd: They killed one passenger in first class. They forced most of us back. Fourteen of us here. Five flight attendants. The guy with the bomb ordered us to sit on the floor.

Lisa: Are you okay?

Todd: We’re going down… wait. No. We’re leveling off. We changed directions. We’re flying east again.

Todd: A guy named Jeremy called his wife. She told him two planes hit the World Trade Center. Lisa, is that true?

Lisa: I have to tell you the truth. It’s very bad. Both towers are gone. A third plane hit the Pentagon. Our country is under attack. I’m afraid your plane may be part of their plan.

Todd: Oh God. Lisa, will you do something for me? Call my wife and my kids. Promise me you’ll call.

Lisa: I promise.

Todd: Our home number is… You have the same name as my wife. Lisa. We’ve been married ten years. She’s pregnant with our third child. Tell her I love her. I’ll always love her. We have two boys — David, he’s 3, and Andrew, he’s 1. Tell them their daddy loves them and he is so proud of them. The baby is due January 12th. I saw an ultrasound. We still don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy.

Lisa: I’ll tell them. I promise, Todd.(Lisa patches in the FBI.)

Agent: Todd, your plane is on a course for Washington. Best guess is the White House or the Capitol.

Todd: I understand. I’ll be back.

Todd: Everyone knows this isn’t a normal hijacking. We have decided we will not be pawns in their plot.

Lisa: What are you going to do?

Todd: Four of us are going to rush the one with the bomb. Then the cockpit. A stewardess is getting boiling water. We’ll take them out.

Todd: Would you pray with me?They pray the Lord’s Prayer. Then: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

Todd: God help me. Jesus help me.Are you guys ready? Let’s Roll.

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

Love is medicine. Great stuff @drmarkhyman

[Mark Hyman, M.D. @drmarkhyman]

Did you know this? ⬆️

The field of sociogenomics reveals how positive relationships influence gene expression, turning on genes that repair cells and turning off genes associated with inflammation and disease.

When you experience love and connection, your body releases hormones like oxytocin and endorphins, which calm the nervous system, lower cortisol levels (the stress hormone), and promote anti-inflammatory pathways.

These hormonal shifts signal your genes to activate cellular repair and longevity mechanisms. Even physical touch, like cuddling, can boost oxytocin and enhance your immune system.

On the flip side, chronic stress, isolation, or conflict triggers the expression of pro-inflammatory genes, accelerating aging and increasing your risk of chronic illness.

Love and connection are powerful for health and longevity.

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

Loved every second of it @cjanderson1988 Thank you so much for having me. Very impressive candidates. Especially @Russo4Ohio and Still the best Italian food in America is in the Mahoning Valley! Let bring home some big wins in Ohio this year!

[Chris Anderson @cjanderson1988]

Always great to welcome my former boss, friend and mentor, @TimRyan home - especially when it's keynoting our annual Hall of Fame dinner.

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

Honored to join the National Commission on AI and the Future of the American Workforce alongside @SpeakerRyan and Secretary Gina Raimondo. AI will reshape our economy in profound ways. We need bipartisan solutions that harness its potential while making sure workers have a real voice in what comes next. Looking forward to getting to work.

https://t.co/ysiqE1VkNQ

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

Incredible trip to Toulouse, France, to visit I-Pulse. I love seeing cutting edge technologies that are solving big challenges.
Companies like @IPulseGroup and iTerra are bringing products to market that improve lives, preserve nature and build an economy that benefits all. These companies are the tip of the spear of a new capitalism. Excited to watch them continue to grow.

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

This is awesome

[CrowdHealth @JoinCrowdHealth]

Washington's dream for healthcare (inspired by Nate Bargatze).

[Tim Ryan @TimRyan]

Where would we be without this guy. The best.

[The Daily Show @TheDailyShow]

Trump's trade war strategy against Canada? Troll them into submission