Doug Dieken
.jpg) Dieken in 2013 | |||||||||
| No. 73 | |||||||||
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| Position: | Offensive tackle | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | February 12, 1949 Streator, Illinois | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 254 lb (115 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Streator (IL) Township | ||||||||
| College: | Illinois | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1971 / round: 6 / pick: 142 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Douglas Heye Dieken (born February 12, 1949) is the radio color analyst for gameday broadcasts of the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). As an offensive tackle, he played 14 seasons with the Browns.
Playing career
In college, Doug was a tight end on an Illinois team that hardly passed at all, and so he was not taken until the sixth round of the 1971 draft.[1] His first game in a Browns uniform was an exhibition game against the Chicago Bears that happened to be the game used as a backdrop for the movie Brian's Song which was released in November 1971. After improving rapidly during his first year with the Browns, the coaches seemed to think he could take over for left tackle Dick Schafrath. He did, and became only the third left tackle in the team's history.
Excellent at both run and pass blocking, Dieken proved to be an outstanding player and an iron man. He not only went to the Pro Bowl, but he set team records with 194 straight starts and 203 consecutive games played.[2] Doug also proved to be a fine citizen, winning the NFL Man of the Year Award following the 1982 season, and adding his name and efforts to a number of worthy Cleveland area charities.[2]
Broadcasting career
Following his retirement after the 1984 season, Dieken became a color commentator on Browns radio broadcasts, a job he holds to this day. He also appears on Browns themed programming on SportsTime Ohio as an analyst.
Combining his playing and broadcasting career, he has been a part of the Browns organization for over 40 years (having played from 1971 to 1984, a radio/TV broadcaster from 1985 to 1995 and 1999 to present, and a spokesman/ambassador for the Cleveland Browns Trust during the team's "inactive" period from 1996 to 1998).[3]
Awards and honors
- 1980 Pro Bowl selection[1]
- 1982 Byron "Whizzer" White NFL Man of the Year Award[3]
- Inaugural winner of the Cleveland Touchdown Club Humanitarian Award (soon after renamed for Dieken)[4]
- 1992 Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame inductee [5]
- 2003 Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductee[6][7]
- Cleveland Browns Legends Club inductee (class of 2006)[8]
- 2012 Greater Cleveland Sports Commission Lifetime Achievement Award[3]
References
- ^ a b Dieken stats - Database Football.com Archived 2013-12-15 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Dieken bio - Cleveland Browns.com
- ^ a b c Dieken wins NFL Man of the Year award - Cleveland.com
- ^ Dieken wins Humanitarian Award - Cleveland Touchdown Club.org
- ^ Dieken inducted into Cleveland Sports HOF - Cleveland Sports Hall.com
- ^ Dieken inducted into Ohio Broadcasters HOF - Broadcasters Hall of Fame.com Archived 2014-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Dieken HOF bio - Broadcasters Hall of Fame.com Archived 2014-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Browns Legends - Cleveland Browns.com
External links
- Cleveland Browns Honor Roll
- Interview with Doug Dieken, recorded April 2, 2014, at the Cleveland Public Library's Sports Research Center.