Kaufman 1

Alex Kaufman
Racism, Fever, and Kardiac Arrest: Media Portrayal of Cleveland Sports, 1978-1987
Over the decades, Cleveland has become synonymous with heartbreak and
disappointment. It is a blue collar city that has become an afterthought amongst notable places
in America, a Polaroid of what once was. Cleveland has endured plenty of heartbreak,
deservedly earning the nickname Mistake on the Lake. Through it all, sports have captured
the citys hope and belief, becoming a microcosm of the city itself. This much was clear
between 1978 and 1987, an era that begins with a city in decline and ends with more sports
heartbreak than imaginable. As arguably the most difficult era ever for the city, this decade
could have ended with Cleveland as a complete mess. Citizens stayed strong, doubling down on
their support of the Cleveland spirit and the Cleveland sports teams, even as the population and
economic status were in constant freefall. This mindset was understood locally, but, like
Cleveland as a whole, the mindset was overlooked nationally on many occasions. Clevelanders
have always turned to sports in times of struggle, never more so than this era. Just as the citizens
of Cleveland rallied around the local political failures of the era to overcome major political
issues in the city, these same people rallied around the local sports teams, regardless of
performance. This helped the Cleveland ethos hit a high point as the era came to a close, an era
that is ingrained in Clevelanders to this day.
To properly dive into the era of focus, the lead in of the 1960s and 1970s must be put into
both local and national perspective. Between the civil rights movement and overall economic
growth, the national perspective is already understood. Cleveland experienced this era
differently. Race was, of course, a hot-button issue, which culminated in the Hough riots, an
event that saw four deaths in the impoverished neighborhood that also happens to house League

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Park, the former home stadium of the Indians.i Tensions cooled alongside the mayoral election
of Carl Stokes in 1967, an event that marked the first time a major US city had elected an
African-American mayor. Sports-wise, the Cleveland Browns won the NFL Championship in
1964, a win that still stands as the last time a Big Three Cleveland sports team won a title.
These supposed high points for the city came tumbling down in 1969, when the
Cuyahoga River famously caught fire.ii This fire, along with the aftermath of said environmental
embarrassment, earned Cleveland a new nickname, Mistake on the Lake, which is still used
today.iii Of course, the river was not the only issue Cleveland dealt with as the 1960s ended and
the 1970s progressed. The revolutionary sheen of Mayor Carl Stokes wore off as his
replacements ran the city into the ground. A declining population, teamed with rising
unemployment rates, led to a city that became known for a racial divide and overall poverty
rather than the revolutionary and industrial power of decades prior. In sports, all of the teams
continued to lose, including the expansion Cleveland Cavaliers, who started play in the NBA in
1970.iv By the time this era begins, one of the proudest cities in America is in so much debt that
it is backed into a financial corner under a mayor who had to inherit and clean up a mess larger
than the burning Cuyahoga.
The mayor tasked with cleaning up this mess was Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich was
elected as the youngest mayor of Cleveland, in 1977, at just 31 years of age.v He was becoming
a minority in the inner city, as white flight led to a severe decrease in urban population.vi
Cleveland, once a city squarely in the population top 10, fell to 18th, according to the 1980
census.vii This decentralization and suburbanization of the greater Cleveland area was also due
to a near-20 percent drop in manufacturing employment.viii Production and employment in the
steel industry, one of the largest in Cleveland, fell by nearly 50 percent, with merges and

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economic decline leading to the closure of 24 mills between 1975 and 1985.ix An overall peak in
unemployment, of 13.8 percent, occurred in 1983.x
In an attempt to stop the bleeding, the city of Cleveland took out numerous bank loans.xi
Greed from these banks led to blackmail at its highest form, backing Kucinich into a corner.xii
On December 15th, 1978, the era of focus truly begins as the city of Cleveland defaulted on $14
million in loans.xiii This created a hole that took years for the city to get out of, with the city
finally getting out of its hole under Kucinichs successor, George Voinovich.xiv Once Cleveland
had gotten out of debt and default, the city was on a path of significant economic prosperity that
was not covered nationally.xv
At this point, the racial divide between urban and suburban Cleveland had grown even
stronger, with this divide even influencing local politics. Cleveland City Council President
George Forbes was accused by the Cleveland police department, backed by mayor Kucinich, of
exaggerated charges that were eventually dismissed.xvi The mayor and police department wanted
a lynch mob trial that would easily convict Forbes, but the judge, George Tyack, saw through
this overt racism and dropped the charges.xvii Besides the case study with Forbes, the city of East
Cleveland had to deal with an increasingly segregated population. By 1981, the city had the
second-largest black population by percentage, at 86.5 percent, while the suburbs were mostly
white.xviii Though racism was nothing new in America, the strength of racism in Cleveland in
this era was larger than expected for a city known as ahead of the times racially just a generation
prior.
During this era, sports popularity was on the rise nationally. Football was the most
popular sport in America, as evidenced by television ratings.xix Games were mainly televised on
networks because cable was not the society-permeating power it is today, which meant only the

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most important events of the year were aired.xx ESPN launched during this era, giving sports
fans their constant fill of sports programming, including highlights. However, ESPN was not
nearly as powerful then, with just one channel and fewer major league contracts. There was an
attempt at a 24/7 national sports radio network during the era courtesy of Enterprise Radio, but
this attempt ultimately proved unsuccessful, which should not come as a surprise when
considering that there was just one sports-only talk show on the air in Cleveland then a large
market at this time.xxixxii Sports talk was simply not a hyper-popular medium during this era.
Cleveland is a city where sports have been ingrained in citizens for generations. During
this era, the Browns, to the surprise of no one, were the most popular team.xxiii That said, each of
the three teams had some sort of local television contract along with strong radio broadcasting
ties, which included popular play-by-play talent. These men gained a following and became
local celebrities for their work, which allowed the more audacious of these broadcasters to have
leeway in terms of spreading non-sports opinions to their viewers and listeners.
When it came to basketball, Joe Tait was the radio voice of the Cavaliers from their
inception until 2011, save 1980-1982, though the circumstances for this temporary change had
little to do with Tait.xxiv He also did TV work for a lot of years, though the Cavaliers were on
local TV for just a fraction of their games.xxv When he was not the play-by-play voice of the
Cavs, Taits replacements were Paul Porter on radio and Bruce Drennan on television.xxvi The
Cavaliers played their games in the Richfield Coliseum, which was built as a midpoint between
Cleveland and Akron, with the hope that fans would come to games from both areas.xxvii This
was a pipe dream as there were plenty of seats available at every home game. It did not help that
the Cavs were terrible during this era, but the arena had trouble drawing fans regardless.xxviii

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The other basketball team in the city, the Cleveland State Vikings, had plenty of talented
teams under Coach Kevin Mackey, including a memorable Sweet 16 run behind All-American
Franklin Edwards.xxix However, Ohio State was the team to have games televised locally; in
fact, the Buckeyes televised more basketball games in Cleveland than the Cavaliers did!xxx
Though OSU had Cleveland native Clark Kellogg on their team at this time, it is still surprising
that the team was popular in the northern part of the state.xxxi Considering OSU is not located in
the greater Cleveland area, the local popularity of the schools mens basketball team was
evidence of the general popularity of sports in Cleveland, including sports that were not the NFL.
During the summers of the era, the Indians had plenty of viewers and listeners. That said,
with almost no fans showing up to home games played in cavernous Cleveland Municipal
Stadium, the multi-sport complex looked even emptier than it was.xxxii The 1978-1987 Indians
never drew more than 13,307 fans per game, excluding 1986. There were also three consecutive
seasons in which the team drew under 10,000 fans, cratering at 8,089 in 1985.xxxiii None of these
attendance totals were anywhere near a respectable number for a typical baseball stadium, let
alone the gigantic Municipal Stadium.
The Cleveland baseball franchises prodigal son broadcaster was former pitcher Herb
Score. Score was an immensely talented pitcher who was famously hit by a line drive, sustaining
an injury that, along with future injuries, prevented him from continuing on his track to
superstardom. Score used this opportunity to transition into the broadcasting booth, starting on
television in 1964.xxxiv He transitioned to radio in 1968 and later broadcast alongside Joe Tait
and Nev Chandler before retiring in 1997.xxxv During this era, Score was the voice of all Tribe
radio broadcasts. On the television side, Indians Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller was featured
on some broadcasts while former Cleveland Browns wide receiver Reggie Rucker was an analyst

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for two years, his addition presumably an attempt to boost ratings based on the popularity of the
Cleveland Browns.xxxvi These men, along with the aforementioned Drennan, spent their time in
the TV booth alongside Joe Tait.xxxvii
The Browns, Clevelands prohibitive favorite, had arguably the most difficult setup in
terms of broadcasting, mainly due to NFL blackout rules. Their beloved radio voices in the era
span two generations of Dawg Pound faithful, as there [were] Gib people and Nev people.xxxviii
Nev is the aforementioned Nev Chandler, who jumped from baseball to football before the 1985
season and served as play-by-play commentator for the Browns on radio from 1985 to 1993.xxxix
His predecessor was Gib Shanley, whose play-by-play tenure spanned a team-record 22 seasons,
from 1963 until 1984.xl
Radio was important for Browns fans as the team was not on television locally due to the
NFLs blackout restrictions.xli That did not stop some Browns fans who chose to move east in an
attempt to get a signal outside of the blackout area.xlii That said, since most fans were not about
to pick up and move just for the Browns, Shanleys radio play-by-play became very
important.xliii The relationship between Gib and Nev is generational, with Nev replacing the man
he grew up listening to on not just Browns broadcasts, but also as sports director at local station
WEWS.xliv The Browns also aired a postgame show, hosted at one time by jack of all trades
Bruce Drennan.xlv Postgame shows such as this were rare for the time period, with cities such as
Pittsburgh piggy backing on Drennans show by syndicating it there when the Steelers and
Browns faced off.xlvi
Among team radio voices during this era, Gib Shanley had an extreme amount of
political power. Shanley had a very large listener base due to the aforementioned blackout rules
and he was aware of his following. This power was utilized most notably by Shanley on

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November 8, 1979. During a newscast on WEWS, the sports director expressed his thoughts on
an American hostage situation in Tehran by burning an Iranian flag live on air, admitting that it
wasnt sports, but [he was] going to do it anyway.xlvii Shanleys aggressive on-air display was
praised by viewers and picked up nationally, though it was deemed unprofessional by station
news director Garry Ritchie.xlviii Shanley agreed with his boss, but the audacious play-by-play
voice never issued an official apology for his actions.xlix
While Shanley had a large following in Cleveland, his career decisions better reflected
outside opinions and not the local perspective. This was shown most strongly in February 1985,
when the citys biggest broadcasting fish swam to Los Angeles because he was sick and tired of
the snow andnegativeness in Cleveland.l The personality that made Shanley the most popular
sportscaster in Cleveland did not translate to Los Angeles. He returned three years later, but had
been unseated as the voice of the Browns and, therefore, was no longer the broadcasting pulse of
Cleveland.
Nev Chandler took the place of Shanley, both for the Browns and on WEWS.li Unlike
his regularly outspoken predecessor, Chandler was not a polarizing figure. He lacked a notable
catch phrase and kept his politics separate from his broadcasting, but that did not mean he lacked
enthusiasm or quality.lii Chandlers talent was noticed by NFL Films, as his calls were used in
their productions, notably Pandemonium Palace. The movie, chronicling the 1986 Cleveland
Browns, took its title from Chandlers excited reaction to the teams double-overtime playoff
victory over the New York Jets.liii Unlike Shanley, Chandler also understood the ingrained
Cleveland spirit, only relinquishing his Browns radio duties when he got cancer, a disease that
took his life in 1994.liv Both Nev and Gib were popular Cleveland personalities due to their

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power doing play-by-play for the Cleveland Browns. While one left at the height of his
popularity, the other treated Cleveland as his apex, embracing the local spirit.
For Clevelands three big league sports teams, local media popularity was based on
overall performance. The Cavaliers were downright awful, known nationally for their outwardly
racist owner and not for the teams play. The Indians plateaued in mediocrity, though there was
some hope toward the end of the era. Last, but certainly and obviously not least, the Cleveland
Browns were the most talented squad of the era, with multiple AFC Championship Game
appearances during the decade in focus and a handful of national coverage.
Of the three teams in Cleveland, the baseball team had little to no on-field or off-field
drama. The Indians were typically at or near the bottom of the standings at the end of every
season since the 1960s.lv Aforementioned attendance problems forced ownership to get creative,
with one of the famous events being Ten Cent Beer Night, a night that ended with a riot by
fans and a Tribe forfeiture. The Indians were hopeful as this era began, with former 20-game
winner Wayne Garland and future Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley leading the rotation.
However, Eck was traded to Boston right before the 1978 season started, a decision that doomed
the franchise to yet another disappointing season.lvi
The 1980 Indians were known for their promising rookie of the year, Joe Charboneau.
Nicknamed Super Joe, Charboneau became a cult figure locally due to his unpredictable 1980
campaign, but also because of his sudden and extreme drop off; he was out of professional
baseball by the middle of the decade.lvii Another flash of greatness happened in an empty
Municipal Stadium on May 15, 1981, when Len Barker threw a perfect game.lviii As Barker
recalled years later, It was exciting, not only for me and my teammates, but for the whole city
of Cleveland, the sentiments of someone who understands the importance of sports in the city.lix

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Barker himself hinted strongly at Clevelands relationship with sports as he understood that the
city[was] always behind us.lx Though Barker dominated on that cold May evening, he spent
a significant portion of his career hampered by injuries and never evolved into the consistently
dominant rotation ace fans hoped for after his perfecto.lxi
Hope came for the Indians in 1986, alongside new ownership the Jacobs family and
an improved campaign with improved attendance.lxii After their strong campaign, Steve Wulf
wrote a team preview for 1987 that became a cover story titled Indian Uprising, that caught
everyone off guard, including the local fan base.lxiiilxiv Indian Uprising became one of the
largest embarrassments of Wulfs journalism career as the 1987 Indians were more suited for the
cover of Futility magazine, losing 101 games.lxv This regular cycle of disappointments became
the inspiration for Major League, a successful movie about a fictional 1980s Indians team that
caps off a Cinderella-style story by winning an American League pennant.lxvi
For the Cavs, it all started on April 12, 1980, when advertising magnate Ted Stepien
purchased the team.lxvii A known racist, Stepien fantasized about buying the team in 1979, when
he was quoted as saying If I owned the Cavaliers, half of the squad would be white because he
felt white people needed heroes.lxviii That said, Stepien believed in profitability first and
foremost, wholeheartedly believing his comments were not racist but rather indicative of what he
felt was a smart business plan.lxix Once he bought the franchise, Stepien put his plan into action,
which included polka music on game days and a plan to rename the team Ohio Cavaliers.lxx He
made the jobs of local basketball reporters much easier with his antics. Words such as clown
and buffoon were some of the nicer terms to describe him, with insanity used to describe his
tenure.lxxi Comments from Joe Tait led to his replacement on broadcasts, a decision immediately

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reversed when ownership changed a few years later. The Stepien era was a three year period
highlighted by so many mistakes that the NBA nearly took control of the team.lxxii
It did not take long for Stepien to burn his bridges as Cavs owner. After just one season
at the helm, the NBA issued a moratorium on his trades, due to his willingness to ship away half
his roster in bad deals, some of which were referred to at the time by league insiders as
exceptionally poor.lxxiii Just four players survived the entire first season of the Stepien era,
which was due to his racist attitude and an extreme drive to win immediately. Both endeavors
backfired on Stepien and attendance plummeted. Management included over half a decades
worth of draft picks in transactions that whitewashed the team in Stepiens image.lxxiv
Stepiens futility led to multiple New York Times profiles. Most famous was a 1982 piece
titled EVERYTHING CHANGES ON THE CAVALIERS BUT THE FACE OF FAILURE, a
particularly damning piece that painted Stepien as not just racist, but also as a power-hungry and
egotistical man who undermined his staff and created an overall culture indicative of the on-court
mess.lxxv Stepien, who felt that he did not fail as owner, nearly moved the franchise to Toronto
before selling to the Gund family in 1983.lxxvilxxvii The NBA rewarded the Gunds with four first
round picks to compensate for the ones Stepien got rid of. lxxviii The NBA also ratified the
Stepien rule, which stated that teams could no longer trade consecutive first round draft picks.
By the end of the era, the Gunds had Clevelands NBA franchise trending upward, with a playoff
appearance and a roster built for consistent contention.
The significant events of the Cavs and Indians do not hold a match when compared to the
consistent string of letdowns that encapsulated the Cleveland Browns between 1978 and 1987.
Under Head Coach Sam Rutigliano, the Browns were on the upswing in the late 1970s, earning
the nickname Kardiac Kids for all of their late-game comebacks.lxxix The nickname was never

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more fitting than in 1980, when the Browns rattled off four close wins, including three fourthquarter comebacks en route to a division title and playoff berth. The Browns had a chance to
win the AFC title game in the final minute by kicking a field goal, but instead chose to run a
passing play. This play, Red Right 88, ended with an interception by quarterback and 1980
NFL MVP Brian Sipe, tacking another heartbreaking moment onto the lengthy list of
Cleveland sports disappointments.lxxx Sipe and Rutigliano could not lead the Browns back to the
Promised Land, and neither made it to the middle of the 1980s with the franchise.lxxxi
As disappointing as Red Right 88 was for Cleveland in the early 1980s, nothing could
have prepared fans for the latter portion of the decade. Quarterbacking the Browns in the latter
portion of the 1980s was a northeast Ohio native named Bernie Kosar, a local boy who became a
local hero. Kosar was a talented quarterback surrounded by a talented team, leading the Browns
to five consecutive postseason berths. The best of these teams was the 1986 squad. After a
decent but unspectacular 1985 campaign, the players buckled down and stepped up during the
following year in recognition of free safety Don Rogers, who passed away in June.lxxxii Their
improvements led to the best record in the AFC and a berth in the conferences championship
game, against the Denver Broncos.lxxxiii The Browns were nursing a late lead when Broncos
quarterback John Elway had to drive 98 yards downfield with the wind in his face and just 5:11
left on the clock.lxxxiv The Broncos QB orchestrated an amazing possession that culminated in a
touchdown pass with just 34 seconds left, a comeback simply referred to as The Drive.lxxxv
The heartbreak that the Browns endured after the 1986 game led the team to work hard
and earn an AFC Championship Game rematch the following season. This time, the Browns had
to make a comeback, and they were poised to tie the game in the final minutes. Earnest Byner, a
former 1,000-yard rusher, received a handoff from Kosar on the 8 yard line and was stripped of

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the ball. The Broncos recovered and went onto a second consecutive Super Bowl. Byners
miscarry has become known as The Fumble, a proper description of the championship hope
that the team fumbled away.
As ingrained in citizens as sports can be, the teams themselves are businesses. The
Indians were hemorrhaging money before the Jacobs family took over, forcing the city to assist
in bankrolling the franchise to keep the team afloat.lxxxvi They also shared a stadium with the
Browns, who got a much larger cut of in-stadium ad revenue even though football plays just a
fraction of the games compared to baseball.lxxxvii Moreover, Municipal Stadium was showing its
age, with petrified wood and concrete chunks falling everywhere.lxxxviii A 1984 proposal for a
domed stadium was defeated by city government, a decision that angered both Browns owner
Art Modell and the Jacobs family.lxxxix As the 1980s continued, the city as a whole was on the
upswing economically and there was optimism abound. However, local government was
hesitant to spend a large amount of taxpayer money to renovate Municipal Stadium or to build
new venues, regardless of whether or not they would be shared by multiple franchises.xc This
was likely due to fear of the aforementioned default and mess of 1978. The importance of this
decision was not felt during the era, but the consequences came in the following decade. The
Cavaliers and Indians became beneficiaries of the Gateway Project, getting new locales for home
games in the mid-1990s paid for with tax money. The Browns did not get this lucky and Modell
took the franchise to Baltimore after his numerous failed attempts to get a new stadium in
Cleveland.
Aside from stadium drama, racism was a legitimate issue in the city. Though tensions
cooled after the Hough riots, the post-Carl Stokes saw the return of racism, this time with a
political slant to it.xci Notably, city councilman George Forbes had both uncovered and been

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accused of racism during this time period.xciixciii Needless to say, Ted Stepiens chaotic tenure
heading the Cavaliers had as many troubles for on-court play as it did for his numerous racist
comments.xciv He alienated fans and was lambasted on plenty of occasions by the Cleveland Call
& Post, the citys popular African-American newspaper. In the post-Civil Rights era, Stepiens
opinions added fuel to Clevelands burning river fire of racism.
Even though city politics were complicated during the era, Cleveland earned its coverage
nationally, both from the spread of local media and the nationalization of local storylines.
Cleveland teams did get national coverage, though this was not usually for their on-field
performance. Of course, only the Browns had seasons worth covering nationally; the Cavs and
Indians did not have play that warranted much national coverage. The New York Times and Time
covered Cleveland sports franchises in times of extreme stories, such as Stepiens racism and
ownership futility and the death of Don Rogers. These were topics that reflected the Mistake on
the Lake nickname rather than getting related to the citys overall improvement after default,
which included the city ranking as the third-largest market in America for advertising.xcv Sports
Illustrated, with a narrower focus, had more coverage and opinions, but the 1987 Indians
preview was a big whiff that surprised everyone locally. Their purview did not include nonsports stories, so they also overlooked later city improvements.
In non-print media, Cleveland sports got their share of coverage, which, in turn, took the
focus off of defaulting and put it onto the relationship with teams. Locals wrote songs dedicated
to teams, including Go, Joe Charboneau and Indian Fever about the Indians and Bernie,
Bernie about the popular Browns QB.xcvi The song about Super Joe was as short-lived as the
players career, but the other two found more success among fans. The writers of Bernie,
Bernie, three fans who called themselves The Bleacher Bums, did not know what to expect of

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the song, but it became one of most popular songs in Cleveland in 1987.xcvii In fact, The
Bleacher Bums had pre-sold 300,000 cassettes of the Louie, Louie cover, contingent on the
team getting revenge on the Broncos, with plenty more sales to come in the time between that
game and the Super Bowl.xcviii The Browns lost, and so did The Bleacher Bums, but the rise and
ultimate disappointment of Bernie, Bernie was typical Cleveland, heartbreaking yet
unsurprising.
The story of Indian Fever is different than Bernie, Bernie as it was not a typical fanmade cover. The writer, Walter Woodward, owned a company called Perfect Pitch, Inc., an
award-winning advertising music agency with a strong national reputation.xcix Perfect Pitch,
Inc. was actually based in Cleveland and also wrote numerous marketing jingles and sports
team themes from the era. The Indians were given full rights to use Indian Fever in any way
they chose, which led to the songs regular usage.c It helped that Woodwards company was
based locally as there was inspiration in the drum part from John Adams, a fan who has attended
nearly every Indians game over the last few decades with a bass drum in tow.ci The local
perspective was also captured in the lyrics, which do not promise a win, but focus on being a
believer in the team.cii Woodward wanted to publish a song that would reflect the Cleveland
Indians and the Cleveland spirit, and he did so successfully.
For Clevelanders in the late-1970s and most of the 1980s, sports were a release from
politics, but also a predictor of political sentiments from the era. That said, these relationships
were overlooked by a national media that found it easier to refer to the city as Mistake on the
Lake. Local media focused on more detailed issues, including race; these issues evolved and
dampened as the years passed. Hope became all that people had, shown by the belief in sports
and overall recovery after loan default. At the time, national media continued to focus on the

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failures of the city instead of the improvements as they came. This included numerous stories on
Ted Stepien instead of talking about improving city-wide conditions. Once the era could
properly be reflected on, media understood more of the Cleveland spirit, evidenced by the 1989
movie Major League. Being able to reflect on the era, the movie understood that perseverance
was ingrained in the Cleveland spirit. It also understood that the city embraced its failures, such
as the Burning River counterculture. Hope and perseverance are all that Clevelanders had
when this era began, something that made the rebound more meaningful. It also prepared local
sports fans for what was to come, both good and bad, in the 1990s and beyond.

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November 15, 2014.
The Radio Stars. Cleveland Browns. December 8, 2006. Accessed November 25, 2014.
http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/article-1/The-radio-stars/59f79fbe-2c10-11df
-8e39-01733cd36da8.
The Voices of Browns Games past. The Plain Dealer, October 10, 2002, Sunday Arts sec.
Two Cities. The Plain Dealer, October 25, 1980, Three sec.
Major League. Performed by Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger. United States: Paramount, 1989.
Film.
Walter Woodward Interview. Interview by Alex Kaufman, October 7, 2014.

Kaufman 19
Will Blacks Permit Racism to Destroy Cleveland. Cleveland Call & Post. August 11, 1979.
Accessed November 15, 2014.
Winegardner, Mark. Bittersweet Sixteen. ESPN. September 14, 2014. Accessed November 15,
2014.
i

Hough, Cleveland Historical, http://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/7.

Cleveland, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland.
iii
Ibid.
iv
Cleveland Cavaliers, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Cavaliers.
v
Dennis Kucinich Biography, Bio.com, http://www.biography.com/people/dennis-kucinich-10916476#synopsis.
vi
Shrinking Cleveland, Cleveland Call & Post, January 25, 1976, 2B.
vii
Cleveland, Ohio Population History, last modified May 23, 2014,
https://www.biggestuscities.com/city/cleveland-ohio.
viii
Sean Posey, Ohios Cloudy Future: The Decline of the Big Eight and the Buckeye State, The Hampton
Institute, August 22, 2013, http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/bigeight.html#.VHM3xskxX0d.
ix
Mike Roberts, Cleveland in the 1980s, Teaching Cleveland,
http://www.teachingcleveland.org/images/pdf/1980s%20pdf%20version.pdf.
x
Cleveland, Wikipedia.
xi
Mark Munch Bishop, interview by Alex Kaufman, Granville, OH, November 19, 2014.
xii
Ibid.
xiii
Default, The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, last modified July 15, 1997,
http://ech.case.edu/cgi/article.pl?id=D2.
xiv
Ibid.
xv
Roberts, 1980s, Teaching Cleveland.
xvi
Will Blacks Permit Racism to Destroy Cleveland, Cleveland Call & Post, August 11, 1979, 8A.
xvii
Destroy Cleveland, Cleveland Call & Post, 8A.
xviii
East Cleveland has 86.5 Percent Black Population, Cleveland Call & Post, October 3, 1981, 12A.
xix
Return of Stacey Keach helps CBS to third ratings victory, Broadcasting 55 (1986): 180.
xx
Ibid.
xxi
Jock Around The Clock, Broadcasting 49 (1980): 15.
xxii
Mark Munch Bishop, November 19, 2014.
xxiii
Ibid.
xxiv
List of Cleveland Cavaliers broadcasters, Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cleveland_Cavaliers_broadcasters.
xxv
Channel 43 New Home of Cavaliers, Cleveland Call & Post, September 27, 1980, 15B.
xxvi
Cavaliers broadcasters, Wikipedia.
xxvii
Mark Munch Bishop, November 19, 2014.
xxviii
Ibid.
xxix
Channel 43, Cleveland Call & Post, 15B.
xxx
Ibid.
xxxi
Ibid.
xxxii
Cleveland Indians Attendance Records (1902 - 2015) by Baseball Almanac, Baseball Almanac,
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/cleiatte.shtml.
xxxiii
Ibid.
xxxiv
Indians All-Time Broadcasters, Cleveland Indians,
http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/cle/history/broadcasters.jsp.
xxxv
Ibid.
xxxvi
Ibid.
xxxvii
Ibid.
xxxviii
The voices of Browns games past, The Plain Dealer, November 10, 2002, J6.
ii

Kaufman 20

xxxix

Nev Chandler, Sons of Nev, http://sonsofnev.wordpress.com/nev-chandler/.

Voices, The Plain Dealer, J6.
xli
The radio stars, Cleveland Browns, published December 8, 2006,
http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/article-1/The-radio-stars/59f79fbe-2c10-11df-8e39-01733cd36da8.
xlii
Mark Munch Bishop, November 19, 2014.
xliii
Radio stars, Cleveland Browns.
xliv
Ibid.
xlv
Two Cities, Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 25, 1980, 49.
xlvi
Ibid.
xlvii
David Campbell, Sportscaster Gib Shanley dies at 76, Cleveland.com, published April 6, 2008,
http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/04/sportscaster_gib_shanley_dies.html.
xlviii
Ibid.
xlix
Ibid.
l
Ibid.
li
Nev Chandler, Sons of Nev.
lii
Ibid.
liii
Ibid.
liv
Radio stars, Cleveland Browns.
lv
Cleveland Indians, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Indians.
lvi
Indians, Wikipedia.
lvii
Ibid.
lviii
BB Moments: Barkers Perfecto, Major League Baseball, http://m.mlb.com/video/v3235117/bb-moments51581-len-barkers-perfect-game.
lix
Ibid.
lx
Ibid.
lxi
Indians, Wikipedia.
lxii
Ibid.
lxiii
Mark Podolski, Believe it! Twenty-five years ago, SI made an unforgettably bad Indians prediction, The
News-Herald, published April 16, 2012, http://www.news-herald.com/general-news/20120416/believe-it-twentyfive-years-ago-si-made-an-unforgettably-bad-indians-prediction.
lxiv
Mark Munch Bishop, November 19, 2014.
lxv
Podolski, Believe, The News-Herald.
lxvi
Indians, Wikipedia.
lxvii
Cavaliers, Wikpiedia.
lxviii
Ronnie Clark, The Cavs Need More Whites, Cleveland Call & Post, August 4, 1979, 1A.
lxix
Ibid.
lxx
Cavaliers, Wikipedia.
lxxi
Mark Munch Bishop, November 19, 2014.
lxxii
Ibid.
lxxiii
Thomas Rogers, N.B.A. to Take Role In Cavaliers Trades, The New York Times, June 30, 1981.
lxxiv
Ibid.
lxxv
Ira Berkow, EVERYTHING CHANGES ON THE CAVALIERS BUT THE FACE OF FAILURE, The New
York Times, December 6, 1982.
lxxvi
Ted Stepien, N.B.A. Owner, Is Dead at 82, The New York Times, September 15, 2007.
lxxvii
Cavaliers, Wikipedia.
lxxviii
Ibid.
lxxix
Cleveland Browns, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Browns.
lxxx
Ibid.
lxxxi
Ibid.
lxxxii
Tom Callahan, Success Story of the Year, Time, January 5, 1987, 66.
lxxxiii
Browns, Wikipedia.
lxxxiv
Ibid.
lxxxv
Ibid.
lxxxvi
Roberts, 1980s, Teaching Cleveland.
lxxxvii
Ibid.
xl

Kaufman 21

lxxxviii

Indians, Wikipedia.
Roberts, 1980s, Teaching Cleveland.
xc
Ibid.
xci
Hough, Cleveland Historical.
xcii
Destroy Cleveland, Cleveland Call & Post, 8A.
xciii
The new racism is nothing new, Cleveland Call & Post, October 17, 1991, 11B.
xciv
Mark Winegardner, Bittersweet Sixteen, ESPN, published September 14, 2014,
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/11588331/sixteen-painful-moments-cleveland-sports-history.
xcv
Walter Woodward, interview by Alex Kaufman, Granville, OH, October 7, 2014.
xcvi
Susan Petrone, Singing about the Indians, Its Pronounced Lajaway, published February 27, 2013,
http://itspronouncedlajaway.com/2013/02/27/singing-about-the-indians/.
xcvii
Andy Netzel, 20 Years Ago, Kosar Tribute Song Was Huge in Cleveland, Ideastream,
http://www.ideastream.org/news/feature/20_years_ago_kosar_tribute_song_was_huge_in_cleveland.
xcviii
Ibid.
xcix
Walter Woodward, October 7, 2014.
c
Ibid.
ci
Ibid.
cii
Ibid.
lxxxix