Jim Donovan, known for a generation as the ‘Voice of the Cleveland Browns,’ died on Saturday following a battle with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). He was 68.
“This is an incredibly difficult day for us and the entire Cleveland Browns organization,” Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam said in a statement from the team. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Jim Donovan. His impact as the Voice of the Browns for 25 years is immeasurable as he touched the lives of our fans each and every Sunday with his love for the Browns and his brilliance at his craft.”
Donovan was diagnosed with the disease in 2000. He underwent a bone-marrow transplant in the summer of 2011, but Donovan announced the cancer returned in May 2023, which led him to step away from broadcasting for a time for treatment. He returned in November, but the leukemia returned again this year, leading him to retire from the broadcast booth in late August.
“He will be greatly missed, but he cemented a legacy that will live on forever. The only thing that outweighed his love for this city and this team was the love he had for his family. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Cheryl, his daughter, Meghan, and everyone who was fortunate enough to call Jimmy family or friend.”
Donovan’s calls of Browns games were often among the highlights from what has otherwise been 25 years of mostly losing football. However, while he was never afraid to tell it as it was regardless of whether it made the team look bad, his enthusiasm in the big moments was hard to miss.
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“That’s it!,’ Donovan exclaimed as the final second ticked off in the Browns’ playoff-clinching win over the New York Jets on Dec. 28. ‘The Browns are going to the playoffs! The postseason is back in Cleveland!”
“He waited so long to get a play-by-play job, he never took it for granted,” Doug Dieken, former Browns offensive tackle and Donovan’s longtime radio partner from 1999-2000, told Cleveland.com’s Terry Pluto in August. “He loves every minute of doing the Browns. That’s why you know this is so hard for him.”
The Browns inducted Donovan in the Cleveland Browns Legends along with former placekicker Phil Dawson before their Week 3 home game against the New York Giants. He was not able to make it to the ceremony due to his health issues.
“He had the uncanny knack to remain accurate and true in everything he said, yet still supportive,” Dawson said in a Zoom call on Sept. 19. “I don’t know how he found that balance. So whether it was coming off a devastating loss, I’d watched some of his stuff postgame, kind of wanted to know what was swirling around, and Jim just had a knack for, ‘Here’s what happened.’ He’d inform the public what he saw, yet he did so with such class, and I know I appreciated it.
“He understood Cleveland, and so he could bring an element to what the city was feeling, what the city was frustrated with, what the city was ready to celebrate. So he just somehow mixed that all together, and, man, what an honor to have one guy calling every game I played as a Brown.”
The final public statement Donovan released to the fans came through the Browns after he retired from the booth on Aug. 29. It was in the form of a letter released by the team.
Most of the letter addressed the health battle Donovan was undergoing. There was also the usual Donovan optimism about the opener against the Dallas Cowboys and the season as a whole.
However, it was the third paragraph that summed up the relationship between Donovan and the legion of Browns fans.
‘I have called Browns games for 25 years,’ the letter read. ‘Not a day has gone by when I haven’t paused and been so proud to be ‘The Voice of the Browns.’ Cheryl, Meghan and I thank you for all the love, support and prayers during my rough patches. It’s like having a huge family around us. And that’s what makes the Cleveland Browns so special. You do. … It’s been an honor, Jim Donovan’
Donovan was hired as the Browns’ radio broadcaster when the expansion franchise began play in 1999, the eighth full-time radio broadcaster in team history dating back to the original franchise. As was the case with many of the others, including Nev Chandler, Casey Coleman and Gib Shanley, he was already established in the Cleveland market as the sports director at WKYC-TV Channel 3.
He’s survived by his wife, Cheryl, and daughter, Meghan.
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ.