Jim Graner
Encyclopedia
James R. "Jim" Graner was the weeknight sports anchor
for Cleveland NBC
affiliate WKYC TV-3 beginning in 1957, and also the color commentator
for the Cleveland Browns
radio network — twice — most notably alongside Cleveland sportscaster Gib Shanley
. He served in both capacities for nearly twenty years until brain cancer
took his life in 1976.
, Ohio
, but grew up in its neighboring suburb
of Stow
. After graduating from Stow High School
in 1937, he attended Ohio Wesleyan University
, but left after two years to work at a Cleveland railroad
office. Graner also served in the U.S. Army
during World War II
, and upon his return, went into broadcasting
as a radio announcer
. He later married and had a son, Lou.
for KYW TV-3 (later WKYC) — Cleveland's NBC
affiliate
— beginning in 1957, working alongside the likes of weathermen
Joe Finan
, Dick Goddard
and Wally Kinnan
; occasionally, he would also fill in for fellow sportscaster Bob Neal
.
Graner was known for his "dry wit" and "unflappable" personality, to the point where his fellow broadcasters would often attempt to shake his on-air persona. During one such instance, weatherman Joe Finan placed a woman wearing a raincoat in front of Graner during one of their nightly broadcasts. As soon as Graner began, the woman took off the raincoat and revealed that she was wearing nothing underneath: " 'I had the Browns
playing the Indians
,' Graner quipped later." Joking aside, Jim Graner was considered "dignified, low-key... the thinking fan's broadcaster." The "silver-haired" and "gentleman" sportscaster with "matinee idol
looks" also hosted his own summer series, Golf with the Pros.
Both his colleagues and viewers were shocked and saddened by his early death in 1976. His absence was felt for years to come: Channel 3 sports became a "musical chair" over the next decade, as at least six replacements came and went until another "Jim" — Jim Donovan
, who joined the station in 1985 — finally took over.
for the Cleveland Browns
from 1955-1960, working for radio stations WTAM 1100 AM
and WGAR 1220 AM
alongside Bill McColgan. He is best remembered, however, for his work alongside Cleveland play-by-play announcer Gib Shanley
: the two paired-up as the voices of the Browns radio network from 1963-1974, working for stations WERE 1300 AM
, and later WHK 1420 AM. Among their highlights: coverage of the 1964 NFL Championship Game, the last major title won by a professional
sports team in Cleveland. Immediately following Cleveland's upset
victory over the Baltimore
Colts
at Municipal Stadium
, Graner was the man on the field who interviewed franchise owner Art Modell
(who, ironically, later moved the team to Baltimore in 1995 — much to the ire of Cleveland Browns fans).
Jim Graner is still considered among the greats of Cleveland sports radio
. In his memoir, former Cleveland Brown legend Lou Groza
lists Graner first among his favorite Cleveland broadcasters. Dick Lebeau
— currently the defensive coordinator
for the Browns' archrival, the Pittsburgh Steelers
— fondly recalls listening to Graner on the radio during his youth in Ohio
.
. He was healthy enough to return for radio commentary during six summer exhibition games of the Cleveland Browns
, but was unable to continue on through the regular season. By December of that year he had been readmitted to the Cleveland Clinic Hospital
. He then fell into a coma
and died on January 15, 1976.
The Jim Graner Memorial Pro-Am Golf Tournament was named in his honor; the first of these annual events was held in June 1976 at the Tanglewood Country Club of Chagrin Falls, Ohio
and was attended by Cleveland native Bob Hope
, among other "well known entertainers." Soon the tournament moved to the Silver Lake
Country Club near Graner's hometown of Stow, Ohio
.
Sports commentator
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
for Cleveland NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WKYC TV-3 beginning in 1957, and also the color commentator
Color commentator
A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
for the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
radio network — twice — most notably alongside Cleveland sportscaster Gib Shanley
Gib Shanley
Gib Shanley was a sports anchor/reporter for ABC-TV affiliate WEWS-TV, Channel 5 in Cleveland, Ohio.- Biography :Shanley grew up in Shadyside, Ohio, attended Shadyside High School...
. He served in both capacities for nearly twenty years until brain cancer
Brain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
took his life in 1976.
Early life
Graner was born in AkronAkron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, but grew up in its neighboring suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Stow
Stow, Ohio
Stow is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 32,139 at the 2000 census and 33,899 as of 2008. It is a suburban community that is part of the Akron metropolitan area. Stow is located adjacent to several other suburban communities in Summit and Portage Counties...
. After graduating from Stow High School
Stow-Munroe Falls High School
Stow-Munroe Falls High School — often referred to as Stow High School — is a public high school located in Stow, Ohio, a suburb of Akron in Northeast Ohio. With an enrollment of nearly 2,000 students and a staff of more than 160, it is the only high school in the Stow-Munroe Falls City School...
in 1937, he attended Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five — a consortium of Ohio liberal arts colleges...
, but left after two years to work at a Cleveland railroad
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
office. Graner also served in the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and upon his return, went into broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
as a radio announcer
Radio personality
A radio personality is a person with an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality can be someone who introduces and discusses various genres of music, hosts a talk radio show that may take calls from listeners, or someone whose primary responsibility is to give news, weather,...
. He later married and had a son, Lou.
WKYC TV-3
Jim Graner served as the daily evening sports anchorSports commentator
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
for KYW TV-3 (later WKYC) — Cleveland's NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate
Network affiliate
In the broadcasting industry , a network affiliate is a local broadcaster which carries some or all of the television program or radio program line-up of a television or radio network, but is owned by a company other than the owner of the network...
— beginning in 1957, working alongside the likes of weathermen
Weather forecasting
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since the nineteenth century...
Joe Finan
Joe Finan
Joseph Albert Finan was an American radio show host, Finan was born in 1927 in Butler, Pennsylvania. He served in the United States Navy 1944-45 and attended Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, Dick Goddard
Dick Goddard
Richard D. "Dick" Goddard is an American television meteorologist, author, cartoonist, and animal activist. For over four decades, he has served as the evening meteorologist at WJW , the Fox Broadcasting Company-affiliated television station in Cleveland, Ohio...
and Wally Kinnan
Wally Kinnan
Henry Wallace "Wally" Kinnan who was a decorated World War II hero, also was one of the first well known U.S. pioneer television broadcast meteorologists. Kinnan held American Meteorological Society Television Seal #3...
; occasionally, he would also fill in for fellow sportscaster Bob Neal
Bob Neal (Cleveland sportscaster)
Bob Neal was an American sportscaster who worked primarily in Cleveland, Ohio. He broadcast the Cleveland Indians on radio 1957–1961 and 1965–1972, and on television 1952–1953 and 1962–1964. He was also the original broadcaster for Cleveland Browns football games on radio and television starting...
.
Graner was known for his "dry wit" and "unflappable" personality, to the point where his fellow broadcasters would often attempt to shake his on-air persona. During one such instance, weatherman Joe Finan placed a woman wearing a raincoat in front of Graner during one of their nightly broadcasts. As soon as Graner began, the woman took off the raincoat and revealed that she was wearing nothing underneath: " 'I had the Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
playing the Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
,' Graner quipped later." Joking aside, Jim Graner was considered "dignified, low-key... the thinking fan's broadcaster." The "silver-haired" and "gentleman" sportscaster with "matinee idol
Matinee idol
Matinée idol is a term used mainly to describe film or theatre stars who are adored to the point of adulation by their fans.The term almost exclusively refers to male actors. Invariably the adulation was fixated on the actor's looks rather than performance...
looks" also hosted his own summer series, Golf with the Pros.
Both his colleagues and viewers were shocked and saddened by his early death in 1976. His absence was felt for years to come: Channel 3 sports became a "musical chair" over the next decade, as at least six replacements came and went until another "Jim" — Jim Donovan
Jim Donovan (sportscaster)
Jim Donovan is an American radio and television personality who serves as sports director for WKYC channel 3 in Cleveland, Ohio, a post he has held since 1986....
, who joined the station in 1985 — finally took over.
Cleveland Browns radio career
Graner first served as color commentatorColor commentator
A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
for the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
from 1955-1960, working for radio stations WTAM 1100 AM
WTAM
WTAM — branded Newsradio WTAM 1100 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts primarily a news/talk format...
and WGAR 1220 AM
WHKW
WHKW is an AM radio station in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, operating on 1220 kHz. The station is owned by Salem Communications and carries religious programming from the company's radio network. The bulk of WHKW's programming is simulcast on WHKZ in Warren, Ohio.The 1220 frequency in Cleveland was the...
alongside Bill McColgan. He is best remembered, however, for his work alongside Cleveland play-by-play announcer Gib Shanley
Gib Shanley
Gib Shanley was a sports anchor/reporter for ABC-TV affiliate WEWS-TV, Channel 5 in Cleveland, Ohio.- Biography :Shanley grew up in Shadyside, Ohio, attended Shadyside High School...
: the two paired-up as the voices of the Browns radio network from 1963-1974, working for stations WERE 1300 AM
WERE
WERE — branded News/Talk 1490 WERE-AM — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland Heights, Ohio broadcasting a news/talk format. The station is owned by Radio One, and has studios at 2510 St. Clair Avenue, while the transmitter is along Euclid Avenue near East 118th Street, adjacent to...
, and later WHK 1420 AM. Among their highlights: coverage of the 1964 NFL Championship Game, the last major title won by a professional
Professional sports
Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations...
sports team in Cleveland. Immediately following Cleveland's upset
Upset
An upset occurs in a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports, when the party popularly expected to win , is defeated by an underdog whom the majority expects to lose, defying the conventional wisdom...
victory over the Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
at Municipal Stadium
Cleveland Stadium
Cleveland Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in Cleveland, Ohio. In its final years, the stadium seated 74,438, for baseball and 81,000, for football. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate both baseball and football...
, Graner was the man on the field who interviewed franchise owner Art Modell
Art Modell
Arthur B. Modell is an American businessman, entrepreneur and former National Football League team owner. He owned the Cleveland Browns franchise from 1961–1995 and the Baltimore Ravens franchise from 1996–2004. Modell is the grandson of the late Morris Modell who founded the northeast...
(who, ironically, later moved the team to Baltimore in 1995 — much to the ire of Cleveland Browns fans).
Jim Graner is still considered among the greats of Cleveland sports radio
Sports radio
Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...
. In his memoir, former Cleveland Brown legend Lou Groza
Lou Groza
Louis Roy Groza was an American football placekicker and offensive tackle who played his entire career for the Cleveland Browns....
lists Graner first among his favorite Cleveland broadcasters. Dick Lebeau
Dick LeBeau
Charles Richard “Dick” LeBeau is a National Football League Hall of Fame defensive back. He is currently the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator and is considered to be one of the greatest defensive coordinators of all time. He spent 14 years in the NFL as a player with the Detroit Lions and...
— currently the defensive coordinator
Defensive coordinator
A defensive coordinator typically refers to a coach on a gridiron football team who is in charge of the defense. Generally, along with his offensive counterpart, he represents the second level of command structure after the head coach...
for the Browns' archrival, the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
— fondly recalls listening to Graner on the radio during his youth in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
.
Death
Graner became ill in the spring of 1975; surgery was performed to remove a brain tumorBrain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
. He was healthy enough to return for radio commentary during six summer exhibition games of the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, but was unable to continue on through the regular season. By December of that year he had been readmitted to the Cleveland Clinic Hospital
Cleveland Clinic
The Cleveland Clinic is a multispecialty academic medical center located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The Cleveland Clinic is currently regarded as one of the top 4 hospitals in the United States as rated by U.S. News & World Report...
. He then fell into a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
and died on January 15, 1976.
The Jim Graner Memorial Pro-Am Golf Tournament was named in his honor; the first of these annual events was held in June 1976 at the Tanglewood Country Club of Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Chagrin Falls is a village in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Cleveland in the Northeast Ohio region, the 14th largest Combined Statistical Area nationwide. The village was established and has grown around a natural waterfall on the Chagrin River. As of the 2010 census,...
and was attended by Cleveland native Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, among other "well known entertainers." Soon the tournament moved to the Silver Lake
Silver Lake, Ohio
Silver Lake is a village in Summit County, Ohio, United States of America. It is an affluent suburb of Akron and is part of the Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,019 at the 2000 census...
Country Club near Graner's hometown of Stow, Ohio
Stow, Ohio
Stow is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 32,139 at the 2000 census and 33,899 as of 2008. It is a suburban community that is part of the Akron metropolitan area. Stow is located adjacent to several other suburban communities in Summit and Portage Counties...
.