Beloved Cleveland Sports Personality Dan Coughlin Dies At 86

October 6, 2024

Cleveland sports media legend Dan Coughlin, who spent more than six decades as a sportswriter and sportscaster, died Saturday of natural causes in his sleep. He was 86.

Coughlin continued to work late in life, his death occurring one night after his regular role on WJW-TV Fox 8 News’ Friday Night Touchdown high school football show. A St. Edwards High School product, he spent the final 41 years of his career at WJW.

“We are comforted in the fact that Dan did what he truly loved right up until his passing,” Fox 8 officials said in a statement.

Coughlin began as a sportswriter at the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 1964, leaving for the Cleveland Press 18 years later. The Press folded soon after and he transitioned to television in 1983.

“I covered the big high school game on Friday, a big college game on Saturday and the Browns every Sunday. And they paid me to do it,” he once said. “It was like going to Cedar Point every weekend.”

Coughlin also authored popular books such as “Pass The Nuts,” “Let’s Have Another,” “Crazy, With The Papers To Prove It,” and “Just One More Story.”

He was inducted into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.

“Dan has covered Cleveland sports in print and on the air since 1964 when he joined The Plain Dealer shortly after being discharged from the Army at age 25,” his enshrinement reads.

“His first assignment was the high school beat and over the course of 18 years with The Plain Dealer he covered virtually everything and won most significant awards. For much of that time he was Chuck Heaton’s backup on the Browns and Russ Schneider’s backup on the Indians. He was the full-time baseball writer in the late ’70s. He covered major college football games, including the major bowl games involving Notre Dame. He was the boxing writer and covered fights from the old Cleveland Arena to Madison Square Garden, including the Ali-Frazier series.

“He covered 17 Indianapolis 500s and several European races. He became the soccer writer during the brief era of big-time pro soccer with the Cleveland Stokers. He was at rinkside for the U.S. hockey team’s victory over the Soviets in the 1980 Olympics at Lake Placid. At one time Dan and Chuck Webster turned slow-pitch softball into a major beat.”

Hoops Wire extends its deepest condolences to Coughlin’s family, friends and co-workers.