Jim Donovan, who has been the Browns’ radio voice since the team resumed playing in Cleveland in 1999, is retiring because his health has taken a turn for the worse amid a decades-long battle with cancer.
“I have called my last Browns game,” Donovan wrote in a letter to fans. “As many of you know I have been dealing with cancer for many years. I’ve gone through every treatment imaginable. But my cancer is a defiant opponent and has returned and very aggressively. 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. I have called Browns games for 25 years. Not a day has gone by when I haven’t paused and been so proud to be ‘The Voice of the Browns.’”
Donovan was first diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2000, and he announced in May 2023 that he had a relapse of the leukemia and needed more aggressive treatment. He missed several games last season because of cancer treatment.
The 68-year-old Donovan also called national NFL games and Olympics broadcasts for NBC in the 1980s and 1990s.
