CLEVELAND -- Cleveland television legend Gib Shanley died Sunday of complications from pneumonia, NewsChannel5 reported.

Shanley was 76 years old. The Emmy Award-winning sportscaster was born in Bellaire, Ohio, and grew up in Shady Side.

He worked for WEWS for the better part of two decades as the station's sports director and later the weekend sports anchor. He was also recently a contributor to "Sports Sunday."

"Gib was made for the big leagues. Honest, witty, intelligent -- there was no pretense behind that mug. What you saw was what you got," NewsChannel5 anchor Ted Henry said. "In my opinion, and that of many others, Gib was one of the finest play-by-play broadcasters in the business."

Shanley was known as the radio voice of the Browns. He was the play-by-play announcer during the Browns' 27-0 victory over the Baltimore Colts in the 1964 NFL title game, the last time Cleveland celebrated a championship by one of its major sports teams.

Henry said that Shanley loved to needle people. And when the local teams did poorly -- the Cavs, the Browns, the Tribe -- he would prick them open like a pinata.

"Always deadpan, with the turn of a clever phrase, Gib would skewer all of us -- Dorothy Fuldheim included, Don Webster included. In fact, Don was Gib's daily foil here on NewsChannel5. And Don loved Gib all the more because of it," Henry said.

Learning of Shanley's death, Webster told Henry that Shanley was a great friend and co-worker, a man he was honored to work with during the golden age of television.

"They don't make real people like Gib anymore," Webster said.

Henry was the 11 p.m. news producer in November 1979 when Shanley wanted to borrow an Iranian flag that Henry had been using as a prop on the news. Shanley suddenly lit the flag and burned it on live TV during the sports in protest of the Iranian hostage crisis.

Henry said that stunt caused the blood to run quick in the veins of a few station executives, but the viewers loved his stunt, and so did half the world. He said Shanley became a hero overnight.

Shanley crammed a lot into his 76 years, and never wanted to give up the microphone.

He was a walking encyclopedia of sports and he was never at a loss for words. It was his job, Henry said.

"Gib sought no perks, asked for no favors, had no ego, worked as hard as anyone I knew and he would never dream of shading the truth for any team," Henry said. "He was a man of his word. In a glitzy world of occasional make believe, he was solid. He was real. It's pretty hard to say goodbye to a guy like that. So we'll just say, 'So long.'"

GIB'S LEGACY:

• Shanley was the voice of Cleveland sports for the better part of 30 years.
• He was the voice of the Browns on radio from 1961 until 1984.
• Gib called the last championship ever won by a Cleveland sports team, when the Browns won the 1964 NFL title.
• He was the sports director at WEWS for more than 20 years, through the 1960s, '70s and early '80s.
• 1991: Inducted into the Ohio Broadcaster's Hall of Fame
• 2006: Inducted into the Associated Press Hall of Fame
• Won too many awards and honors to list.
• He inspired many of the news and sports anchors seen on television today in Cleveland.