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50 years with Cleveland: Browns legend Doug Dieken announces retirement

Doug Dieken
Posted at 4:09 PM, Jan 04, 2022
and last updated 2022-01-04 16:09:41-05

BEREA, Ohio — Radio analyst Doug Dieken is retiring at the end of this season, the Cleveland Browns announced on their website. The former Browns offensive lineman has been with the team for five decades, first as a tackle from 1971-84 and then as a broadcaster.

“It’s been a great ride,” Dieken said in an article posted on the Browns’ official website. "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.”

After retirement, he slid right into the radio booth. Dieken worked alongside News 5 legend Nev Chandler from 1985-93.

Jim Donovan, Dieken's broadcast partner since 1999, said Browns games will never be the same.

"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 in the article. “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."

Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam said his name will live on with the team.

"Doug Dieken has been a great representative of the Cleveland Browns for more than 50 years, and all he’s done for our organization is greatly appreciated,” said Dee and Jimmy Haslam in the article. “To have a career as he did on the field with the record number of consecutive games played and then become the steady and consistent voice he has been in the radio booth is genuinely remarkable. Doug has that uncanny ability to connect with people. 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 will be honored by the Browns on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium during the team's final regular season game with the Bengals.

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