He was the play-by-play broadcaster for the Detroit Pistons for 22 seasons. Since 2006, this Ohio native served as the play-by-play voice for the Cleveland Cavaliers, including the 2015-16 season where the team won their first NBA title in franchise history and the city’s first pro sports title since the NFL’s Cleveland Browns won the 1956 NFL championship. He is also the man who instructed his cameraman to keep rolling for one of the most memorable moments in college football nearly four decades ago. At the start of this week we said a sudden goodbye to a true sports broadcasting treasure.
On Monday, longtime play-by-play man for the NBA Fred McLeod, whose called a game with a passion that simply poured right through the television set passed away. He was 67 years old. The cause of his passing is unknown. He leaves behind his wife Beth, a television meteorologist in Cleveland, and their three children Sean, Jenna, and Molly.
The viewing of Mr. McLeod’s body took place on Friday afternoon from 1-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. at Busch’s funeral home in Fairview Park, OH. Mr. McLeod’s funeral service will be held at the Bay Presbyterian Church in Bay Village, OH on Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m.
“Fred McLeod was truly a one-of-a-kind person and friend,” the Gilbert family said in a statement. “Words cannot express our feelings as we think about the many special memories we have of Fred and a relationship that spans four decades. We will miss him tremendously. Fred was not only a great broadcaster and communicator that informed, explained and entertained, but he passionately embodied the Cavaliers ‘All for One. One for All’ DNA in every aspect of his life. He had the gift of connecting with everyone he interacted with and leaving them feeling happier, stronger, more positive, and valued. Fred has left an impactful, lasting legacy in Cleveland, Detroit and beyond. Our family extends our deepest and warmest sympathies Fred’s entire family, including his wonderful wife Beth, mother Marilyn, sister Lynn, and his three children, Sean, Jenna, Molly, and each of their families.”
McLeod, a Strongsville, OH native had been the play-by-play commentator for the Cleveland Cavaliers since 2006 for FOX Sports Ohio alongside color analyst, known as “Mr. Cavalier,” Austin Carr- which included the Cavaliers four consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals earlier this decade.
After now four-time Kia MVP for the Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James, native of Akron, OH led the Cavaliers to a Game 7 victory in the 2016 Finals overcoming a 3-1 series deficit to take down the then defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors to win the first title in franchise history, McLeod shed many tears in the calling the games final seconds, which his wife Beth recorded on her Twitter account @BethHMcLeod.
“Celebrate. Go crazy! Celebrate. The championship is yours,” were the words McLeod said during those finals seconds that his wife Beth captured while he was shedding tears. Carr followed that up by saying, “It’s time!”
This was the city of Cleveland’s first professional sports title since Hall of Famer Jim Brown led the Cleveland Browns to the 1964 NFL title.
On his Twitter account @KingJames, LBJ, who won his third Finals MVP that series said about the passing of McLeod using crying, prayer and three heart emojis, “Man WHAT!!!??? OMG this is extremely said@CavsFredMcLeod,. May you rest in Paradise my friend! @BethHMcLeod my prayers sent above to you and your family!!”
Cavaliers All-Star Kevin Love echoed similar sentiments when he tweeted @kevinlove, “Shocked and saddened to hear about the loss of Fred McLeod. He was a student of the game. He loved the CAVS but even more so the fans…Fred worked his ass off for the city of Cleveland and the NBA. Praying and sending my best to his wife Beth and kids.”
Prior to broadcasting games for the Cavaliers, McLeod spent 22 seasons as the lead commentator announcing games for the Detroit Pistons, which included their back-to-back titles in the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons. He also served as the television announcer for Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers of MLB.
Besides commentating NBA and MLB contests for the aforementioned teams of the Midwest, McLeod also spent some time in the 1980s doing sports commentary in San Francisco, CA, where he covered the famed California-Stanford game where the Golden Bears returned a kickoff on the game’s final play where the returner weaved through the Cardinal band the final few yards for the game-winning touchdown.
That play was able to be seen on television because McLeod in 2014 told Cavalies.com that he instructed his cameraman to record the final seconds of that tilt in case something strange were to happen. Something strange did occur, one of the most known plays in the history of college football.”
“Usually, the photographers would break down (equipment) and head down to the locker room,” McLeod said. “But I said to the camera guy: ‘Let’s just shoot it, we have time.’ I always had to fight game traffic to get back to the studio, but I always like to live on the edge a little bit anyway, so I said: “Just continue to shoot because you never know what could happen.”
It is that attention to detail, along with the fervor and rapport he had first with current Pistons color analyst for FOX Sports Detroit Greg Kelser and his aforementioned co-pilot in the broadcast chair Mr. Carr that made McLeod stand out amongst sports broadcasters.
McLeod also had a unique way to describe when basketball players made a big play at a key moment; when the game was entering crunch time or when a particular player was really playing at a out of this world level.
When a Cavs player made a three-pointer, McLeod would say he hit, “The bottom!” “He picked his pocket,” was how he described when a Cavaliers player stole the ball from the opponent. “Sweaty palms time,” is how McLeod describes the closing minutes of a tightly contested game. McLeod would say when a Cavs player connected on several shots in succession, “He is hotter than a blowtorch! When James made a shot through a powerful slam dunk, McLeod would say he just “Shakin’ the lake!” The one call Cavaliers fans looked forward to the most by McLeod is when he would say immediately after the final buzzer of a victory by the locals, “a wine and gold winner.”
That unique and passionate way that Mr. McLeod called sporting events was from his immense love and passion for sports that he conveyed to listeners each night.
It was matched also with a remarkable class and respect where he would welcome visitors to his city with open arms and willing to lend a helping hand.
Mr. McLeod gave a lot of love to anyone he personally came in contact with or who watched him through the television set; to the players that he covered and to the people he worked with on broadcast.
“He loved the fact that people thought he was too pro Cavs and too for the team,” ESPN.com writer and fellow Ohio native Brian Windhorst said. “That was a role he totally embraced. And it was something he did from day one.”
No person was more of a fan of the Cavaliers than McLeod, which he displayed through every broadcast first with the Pistons and with the Cavaliers.
“Fans watched Cavs games every night felt that same bond. That he was talking to them as one of them,” Joe Vardon of “The Athletic” said of McLeod’s broadcast. “I wouldn’t necessarily call him the voice of the Cavs, so much as the heart of the Cavs.”
Mr. McLeod’s sports broadcasting journey began in 1974 for KQTV in St. Joseph, MS. He later moved on to WSTV in Steubenville, OH.
In the late 1970s, he returned to what is now known as “The Land,” as a weekend sports presenter for then WJKW-TV 8, now WJW FOX 8 and play-by-play commentator for the station’s coverage of Indians baseball during the 1979 season. McLeod would later move on to the CBS affiliate KPIX-TV 5 in San Francisco as their sports presenter and play-by-play man for the MLB’s Oakland Athletics.
In 1982, McLeod moved to Detroit, MI and became the sports broadcaster for FOX affiliate WJBK and later with WDIV-TV 4.
Two years later, Mr. McLeod was hired as the television play-by-play voice of the Pistons until 2006. He would then move on to be the voice of the Cavaliers and the rest is history.
On Monday the Cleveland Cavaliers lost their long-time play-by-play television voice for their broadcast. The National Basketball Association (NBA) lost one of its best storytellers of live games. Beth McLeod lost her husband, and her three children in Sean, Jenna and Molly lost their father way too soon.
In his time on this earth though, Mr. McLeod had a major impact on not just the people he met in person; or who he talked to through the small screen during televised pro and collegiate sports events, but the people he worked with on the television side to the players that were especially part of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Fred McLeod was a great husband, father, and human being as well as a play-by-play sports commentator. He was an even better person who earned the respect of those he worked with and from those who worked in his profession.
“To know Fred was to know Fred was just the TV play-by-play man for the Cavs and prior to that the Pistons. Fred was the biggest fans of the NBA,” NBATV’s Jared Greenberg said of the now late NBA broadcast peer on Wednesday’s edition of “Gametime.” “Fred was a rare breed, a true gentleman welcoming everyone to his city with open arms, and always willing to offer a helping hand. Fred love this game and to those of us who had the pleasure of getting to know him either in person or from the couch through the TV we too loved Fred.”
As host of ESPN’s “NBA: The Jump” Rachel Nichols said on Monday’s edition, “He will be very missed.”
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 9/10/19 www.nba.com story, “Cavaliers Play-By-Play Announcer Fred McLeod Dies;” 9/10/19 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Amin Elhassan, and Scottie Pippen; 9/12/19 www.wxyz.com’s post, “Funeral Arrangements Announced For Former Detroit Sportscaster Fred McLeod;” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WJW_(TV); https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WJBK; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WDIV-TV; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_McLeod_(sportscaster).
No comments:
Post a Comment