Summary:  We agree with The Plain Dealer editorial below that says Gib Shanley was "the greatest radio voice broadcaster in Browns history."  Shanley also was a consummate wordsmith who corrected one of my sports articles with a note saying "There is no such thing as a 'first annual' event.  An event can only be called annual if it occurs at least twice..."  It was a lesson learned.  He will be missed.  (Video above is Shanley being kidded about wearing a hairpiece with weather man Don Webster. Below is an article highlighting the night he burned the Iranian flag at the end of his broadcast.)  04-09-2008

Remembering Gib Shanley, Browns play-by-play man 
Plain Dealer Editorial, April 08, 2008
    Close your eyes and remember. The calls come flooding back as if he made them just this past Sunday afternoon.
    "Pitch to Jim Brown. He's at the 40. He's at the 45. He's at the 50. He's at the 45. He's at the 40, 35, 30, 25, 20. Jim Brown is down, at the SEVENTEEN yard line."
    Gib Shanley made a call like that on Dec. 27, 1964, the day Cleveland won its last major sports championship - a 27-0 victory over the Baltimore Colts at the Stadium. It was one of tens of thousands of plays Shanley described during his 24 years as radio voice of the Browns.
    And it was calls like that that made Shanley, who died Sunday at the age of 76, the greatest radio voice broadcaster in Browns history and one of the best play-by-play broadcasters ever to grace Cleveland's airwaves.       
    For 20 years, Shanley also doubled as sports anchor at WEWS Channel 5. And in 1985, he stunned the city's sports fans by moving to California at the height of his popularity.
    "Raking leaves on Sundays while listening to the game will never be the same," mourned this page.
    Shanley eventually returned to the Cleveland airwaves, but never to the Browns' broadcast booth. In the memories of thousands of Browns fans, though, he never left it. 
  "Collins flanked out 12 yards to the right, Warfield out five yards to the left, Brewer right. Running backs are Kelly and Green. Ryan back to pass. Collins has it. Touchdown."

Burned the Iranian flag on-air.

SHANLEY BURNS IRANIAN FLAG ON AIR
   (Excerpt from an article by Bob Dolgan in Plain Dealer, 04-10-2008)

     "...Shanley was merely a successful Cleveland sportscaster until Nov. 8, 1979. That night be burned a flag of Iran on television and became a folk hero.

     The incident took place while Iran was holding a group of Americans hostage in Tehran.

Near the end of his broadcast on WEWS Channel 5, Shanley said, "I know this isn't sports, but I'm going to do it anyway."

      He held out a 10-by-20-inch flag of Iran and set it on fire, then threw it on the floor. He said that if his gesture offended any watching Iranians, they should leave the country.

     The next day the Cleveland Press reported that the TV station received 500 phone calls, almost all of them supporting Shanley's action.

    In a front page story, Shanley said, "It was a spur of the moment thing, but I'd do it again. Somebody has to protest what's happening."

    Two hundred people marched through Public Square that day, protesting Iranian policies. One person held up a sign, "GIB'S GOT GUTS."

     Shanley was interviewed by newsmen around the nation. The NBC and CBS networks asked for a tape of the burning. Time Magazine carried an item on his performance.

    Channel 5 executives were not happy, however. The day after the burning, News Director Garry Ritchie told him his action was unprofessional. Shanley agreed.
    Under the scrutiny and direction of the station, he composed a commentary to be read on the air. "It was not the brightest thing I ever did," he told the audience. But he did not apologize and never did.

    Years later, he said the incident was blown out of proportion. "But I suppose I would do it again..."