CLEVELAND (WJW) — During halftime of this Sunday’s Browns game, Jim Donovan, the “Voice of the Cleveland Browns,” will be honored in a special way.

The Browns organization announced Thursday morning that Donovan will be inducted into the 2024 class of Cleveland Browns Legends, a program that honors the team’s all-time greats.

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Donovan will join former Cleveland Browns kicker Phil Dawson in this year’s class. In fact, it was Dawson who called Donovan to tell him the news.

“I get the honor to inform you that you will be joining me in this year’s class, you will officially be a Cleveland Browns Legend,” Dawson said on the call to Donovan, according to a release from the Browns.  “And I can think of no better honor than to get to make this phone call.”

Both Dawson and Donovan came to the Browns in 1999, when Dawson signed with Cleveland and Donovan became the “Voice of the Cleveland Browns.”

Donovan called all of Dawson’s kicks over his 14-year career with the Browns, the team said.

Donovan recently announced he was stepping away from the Browns Radio Network after 25 years to focus on his battle with cancer.

“To be able to go into the class with Jim, it’s a guy I know,” Dawson said. “It’s a guy I have a relationship with. It’s a guy that I look up to. And so, it just adds an extra layer to this. It would be awesome to go in with anyone, but a guy that you came in together with, a guy that you consider a friend, a guy that you appreciate, a guy you respect, a guy that you benefit from what he did.”

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Dawson said as he prepares to be officially be inducted into the Browns Legends at Huntington Bank Field, he’s hoping the focus is not on him, but rather Jim Donovan.

“What I’m hoping to communicate this weekend is, this is a ‘we’ award,” Dawson said. “It’s not a me award. And I think it’s incredible in light of that Jim’s going to go in with me, and I sincerely hope that people will focus on Jim and celebrate what he’s done for the Browns. I was just one of many players trying to do his job. There was only one Jim Donovan. So, I’m thrilled that he’s going to be going in with me.”

This will be the first time someone other than a player will be inducted. Not even coaches get that honor.

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