Beloved Doug Dieken will call his final game in Cleveland against the Bengals

By STEVE KING

The long and iconic tenure of Doug Dieken with the Browns — in fact, the lengthiest in club history for any individual — is coming to an end.

Dieken, who is in his 34th season (1985-95 and 1999-present) as the color analyst on the team’s radio network, and his 51st year overall with the club, will retire at the end of the regular season, which will come next Sunday when the Browns, who were eliminated from playoff contention last Sunday, host the AFC North champion Cincinnati Bengals at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Browns, who play the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field on Monday Night Football tonight in Dieken’s last road game, are expected to make the announcement on Tuesday.

Dieken, who will turn 73 on Feb, 12 — “Me and Abe Lincoln,” he has always said with a laugh about his birthday — also wore jersey No. 73 during his 14 seasons (1971-84) as the Browns’ left tackle. He made one Pro Bowl, is a member of the Cleveland Browns Legends, the team’s hall of fame, and set an NFL record for offensive tackles by starting in 194 consecutive games, including the last 203 he spent with the the club after taking over for fellow Legend Dick Schafrath from Wooster High School and Ohio State.

“It seems fitting, retiring at 73 after having worn that number,” he said in an exclusive interview during last training camp after he had all but decided to retire at the end of this season.

Dieken declined comment for this story.

Dieken, who spent three years (1996-98) working with the Browns Trust after the original Browns franchise left for Baltimore to become the Ravens and before the expansion-era franchise first took the field, has battled some health issues in recent years, including having two knee replacements, two hip replacements and some heart issues, said in that aforementioned interview that it had become harder for him to get around.

“Just the distance from the parking lot at the stadium to the press box is now a real hike,” he pointed out. “It wears me out as if I were still playing.”

That, plus the fact that, “My son and my daughter both live a mile from me, and I love spending time with them and my grandchildren,” the longtime Rocky River resident said then, had combined to make it clear to him that it was time to retire.

“It’s a great gig doing these games. I’ve had the pleasure of working with three tremendous play-by-play announcers — real pros, some of the best in the NFL — in Jim Donovan, Nev Chandler and Casey Coleman. It’s the play-by-play guy’s booth. It is their broadcast. I’m just helping them and trying to stay out of their way.

“I’m sure I will miss it, just like I missed playing after I retired. I never dreamed when I came to Cleveland (as a sixth-round choice in the 1971 NFL Draft out of Illinois, where he set a school receptions record for tight ends) that I would play as long as I did, and I never thought I’d last this long on the radio. It’s been a tremendous run. It’s been a great run.

“I imagine I will tune in next season and listen to the games on the radio while I watch on TV. But I will be doing it while I’m with my grandchildren, which will be a lot of fun.”

But it won’t be fun for Browns fans, including the sizable portion who, for years, have turned down the sound on their TVs and listened to Dieken and Donovan, arguably the best radio announcing team in the NFL, call the games. It is truly the end of an era, as Dieken is the last remaining link to the days of the original Browns franchise.

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