CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Over the last 51 years generations of players, coaches and executives have blown through the Browns organization but the one constant has been Doug Dieken.
Sunday, Dieken’s magnificent run will come to an end.
The former left tackle turned broadcaster will hang up his headset following the season finale against the Bengals.
“It’s been a great ride” Dieken said. "I want to thank the Browns’ fans for accepting me first as a player and then as a broadcaster. I’ve had the most fantastic teammates on the field, in the radio booth, and in the community to make the last 50 years fun. We didn’t get the wins we all hoped for, but I feel like I’m leaving a winner because of my association with the organization and the great fans who listen to our broadcasts.”
Ironically, Dieken’s 14-year playing career also came to a close against the Bengals.
The Browns plan to honor Dieken Sunday afternoon at FirstEnergy Stadium.
“Doug has that uncanny ability to connect with people,” Dee and Jimmy Haslam said. “He did it on the field and in the locker room with his teammates, he’s done it in the community with the people of Northeast Ohio, and he did it so well on the airwaves with Browns fans. Doug is the consummate professional. He is the Cleveland Browns, and his legacy will not be forgotten.”
Dieken, the ultimate story teller, was always willing to pass on nuggets of knowledge from his playing days or tell a good joke – especially at yours or his expense.
Dieken has shared the radio broadcast booth with Jim Donovan, who is also WKYC-TV 3’s sports director and anchor, since the franchise returned in 1999.
“It's hard to think of a Cleveland Browns game without Doug Dieken being a part of it, and it'll be very difficult for me to look to my right and not see him there,” Donovan said. “For 23 years, it's been amazing having him alongside to call games on the Browns radio network. He was a great player, and he's a Browns legend, and he's a great broadcaster that fits so well with what the Cleveland Browns are all about. He's connected with their fans, and it's going to be a big adjustment for all of us come next season when he's not there.”
Dieken joined the Browns in 1971 as a sixth-round pick out of the University of Illinois. and he went on to play 203 consecutive games – starting an NFL record for offensive tackles 194 of them in a row – over 14 seasons.
A tight end in college, then Browns head coach Nick Skorich told Dieken after drafting him that he would be moved to tackle in Cleveland. He worked behind and eventually took over for seven-time Pro Bowler Dick Schafrath during the second half of his rookie season to become just the third left tackle in the franchise’s history.
Dieken was named to the Pro Bowl in 1980 and in 1983 he was awarded the Byron “Whizzer” White NFL Man of the Year Award for his efforts on behalf of his teammates and community.
“He's the only left tackle I ever knew,” former Browns quarterback Brian Sipe, the NFL’s MVP in 1980 who played behind Dieken from 1974-83, said.
“He won that job before I got there, and he was there when I left. He was dependable. That's the thing about Doug. I never had to think twice about what was happening on that left edge. He just got the job done. He was a fierce competitor. We kidded him a lot. He relished the fact that there were always arguments on the field because of his holding, which I personally was grateful for. He was proud of it. It's a testament to his effectiveness. He just frustrated people, and that's how good he was.”
When his playing career ended, Dieken seamlessly moved upstairs to the broadcast booth.
He replaced longtime Browns broadcaster Gib Shanley and was paired with a rotating play-by-play team of Nev Chandler and Jim Mueller for the 1985 season. Chandler took over the play-by-play role full-time in 1986, and he and Dieken called games together until 1993, when Chandler, who died of cancer one year later, needed to step away from the booth. Dieken and Casey Coleman called games together for the franchise’s final two seasons before its move to Baltimore following the 1995 season.
During the three-year hiatus, Dieken remained active for the franchise where he served as an ambassador for the Cleveland Browns Trust before reclaiming his analyst role when the team retook the field in 1999.
“Doug Dieken has been such an integral part of the Cleveland Browns organization, back from when he was a player to when he moved into the role of a media member and being the color broadcasting guy for all those years,” former Browns left tackle Joe Thomas, who wore the same No. 73 as Dieken did, said. “He's exactly the type of person you want representing the Cleveland Browns organization because he does everything right when he was a player, and he did everything right when he was in media. He was such a joy to work with, and he was such a joy to listen to now that I get to sit at home and listen to the Browns on the radio when I'm watching on TV.”
In his 34 seasons as the Browns’ radio color analyst, Dieken, a fixture inside the locker room, press boxes across the league and on the field in Berea, missed just two games.