In celebrating The Browns return to the NFL Playoffs, the CAB recognizes the last Browns radio play-by-play announcer to call their championship game, Gib Shanley. Gib was the longtime sports anchor for WEWS-TV and play-by-play announcer for the CLEVELAND BROWNS radio network for 24 years. Shanley worked over the next 11 years for several small-town Ohio stations before landing at the University of Toledo calling football and basketball games. In 1961, Shanley came to Cleveland when he was hired by WGAR Radio, the flagship radio station of the Cleveland Browns, where he did play-by-play for the Browns and The Ohio State Buckeyes. Shanley’s crisp, short and clear play-by-play style doing the Browns on the radio quickly gained him a following among Browns fans, many of whom muted the sound of televised games to listen to him on the radio as they watched the game. During his time as the play-by-play announcer on the Browns radio network, his career in Cleveland television began as a weekend TV sports anchor for WKYC. Shanley rose to prominence in Northeast Ohio when he was hired as sports director for ABC-affiliate WEWS in 1967, a position he held for nearly 20 years. Although he worked briefly in the mid-1980s in Los Angeles, Shanley was considered one of Cleveland’s best-known sports personalities rounding out his career as a sports anchor for WUAB Channel 43 from 1988-1996, and into the final decade of his life as a commentator on Sports Sunday, a sports wrap-up show produced by WEWS-TV.
Known for wearing outlandish sport jackets, Shanley had many notable moments during his broadcasting career. He was the first local TV sportscaster to do commentaries at the end of his broadcast. He called the 1964 Browns vs. Colts championship game – a 27-0 stunner the underdog Browns rallied to win.
During a remarkable 33-year sports broadcasting career, Shanley was named NSSA Ohio Sportscaster of the Year in 1968, 1970, 1971, and 1973, awarded the NATAS Silver Circle Award in 1995; was a class of 1995 Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductee; a class of 2003 Cleveland Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductee; and a class of 2006 Ohio Associated Press Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductee.
