Jim Donovan, the Cleveland Browns’ longtime radio play-by-play man, died Saturday after a prolonged battle with cancer. He was 68.
Donovan became the full-time voice of the Browns upon the team’s return to the NFL in 1999 and held the job until the start of this season when he retired to focus on his health.
He was still attending training camp practices and called the team’s preseason games the week before his retirement. Donovan was a relentless worker whose energetic calls were recognized and treasured by Browns fans throughout the country. His signature call was “Run, William, Run” as William Green helped the Browns push toward the organization’s first new-era playoff berth in 2002, and through a period of prolonged losing that followed, Donovan maintained his passion, a sense of humor and a connection with the fanbase.
“The only thing missing is you,” Donovan told Browns fans as the Browns clinched a playoff berth in the COVID-19 limited attendance 2020 season finale.
Donovan grew up in Boston an avid fan of the Bruins, Celtics, Red Sox and Patriots. His family enjoyed season tickets to Bruins games for over a decade at the old Boston Garden and he always sat in the same seat — Section 77, Row F, Seat 13. As a boy, he sat next to his father and called games into a tape recorder as practice for what eventually became a legendary career as a play-by-play voice.
“People would look around and think it’s either kind of weird or kind of cool,” Donovan once told The Athletic. “I loved Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito and Gerry Cheevers, but my real heroes were the guys calling the games from the gondola above the ice.”
Donovan attended one of Orr’s hockey camps as a 12-year-old. Along with all of his hockey gear, he brought along a few of his recordings for the Hall of Famer to hear.
“He listened to the games with me,” Donovan once told The Athletic. “At one point he was like, ‘Boy, you should really consider doing this.’”
Donovan spent nearly 40 years as a broadcaster in Cleveland. He joined WKYC in 1985 after an agent spotted him on another aspiring television anchor’s resume tape. Donovan was working in Burlington, Vt., with the dream of returning to Boston, where he was once college acquaintances with Howard Stern after the two spent time working together at Boston University’s campus radio station. But it wasn’t long before he fell in love with Cleveland and his future wife, Cheryl. They celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary in June and share a daughter, Meghan.
Donovan called NFL games for NBC from 1987-1997. He also called two Summer Olympics, a World Cup and spent three years calling Cleveland Indians baseball on WKYC when the station had the team’s local broadcast rights. He was the longtime sports director at WKYC and a staple on Browns preseason television broadcasts and local pregame and analysis shows for all three of Cleveland’s major professional teams.
Donovan was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2000 but kept it quiet for more than a decade. He snuck into doctor’s appointments through garage doors and exited through side doors to avoid being recognized. It wasn’t until his condition worsened and he needed a bone marrow transplant that he went public with his cancer fight.
“Sometimes I feel bad that I didn’t tell the story earlier,” Donovan told The Athletic in 2018. “I was so scared. I did everything wrong. I didn’t ask a lot of questions because I was afraid of the answers. And then finally you just get to the point where you just say, ‘Hey, people want to help you.’”
Donovan received a bone marrow transplant in the summer of 2011 and fought through 105-degree fevers in the days after surgery yet was adamant he would return for the start of Browns season. Just four days before the season kickoff, Donovan needed another surgery to remove one-third of his right earlobe because of melanoma. He couldn’t wear a headset, but Donovan stubbornly reached his goal: He was in the booth for the season opener and Pat Shurmur’s debut as Browns head coach.
“As gallant as it was,” Donovan told The Athletic, “it was even more stupid.”
The bone marrow transplant was a success. When Donovan cleared seven years cancer-free, doctors told him he was effectively cured.
Until he wasn’t.
Donovan announced after the Browns’ 2023 season opener he needed to take a medical leave of absence to again battle leukemia. He returned to the booth two months later. He stunned all of Cleveland when he announced his retirement in August. The cancer had returned.
“My cancer is a defiant opponent and has returned and very aggressively,” Donovan wrote to Browns fans in August announcing his retirement. “This will require me to devote everything I have in me to continue the fight and my family and I are committed to doing that.”
Last month, the Browns inducted Donovan into their 2024 Browns Legends class. Though Donovan couldn’t attend the ceremony, longtime kicker Phil Dawson, this year’s other Legends honoree, called Donovan in late September to inform Donovan he’d be inducted.
Listen in as Phil Dawson surprises Jim Donovan with a call to tell him he’ll be joining him in this year’s class of Browns Legends inductees! 🥹🧡 pic.twitter.com/2MoWI5ovZV
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) September 20, 2024
“I have called Browns games for 25 years,” Donovan wrote to fans in his August retirement announcement. “Not a day has gone by when I haven’t paused and been so proud to be the voice of the Browns.”
No service arrangements were immediately announced. The Browns will honor Donovan ahead of their home game Sunday versus the Baltimore Ravens, though exact plans were still undetermined as of Saturday afternoon.
“We have been so honored to have Jim Donovan as the Voice of the Browns since we became a part of the organization in 2012 and quickly understood why our fans have absolutely loved him for the last 25 years,” Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam said in Donovan’s retirement announcement. “He is Cleveland and represents all that is good about Cleveland.
“Jim poured everything into his craft. Whether you’ve heard him on TV, radio or have been lucky enough to engage him in person, he lights up every room and every conversation with his infectious energy. His class, professionalism and limitless care for those around him make all of us better. Words could never fully express our gratitude and admiration for Jim, how he has navigated his fight with cancer, his love for this city and most importantly, his love and dedication to his family. I know we speak for all Browns fans in saying that he is in our prayers, we are here to support him in every way possible and Jim Donovan will forever be a Cleveland Brown.”
(Top photo: David Richard / Associated Press)
