In front of a home crowd at Huntington Bank Field, former Browns K Phil Dawson, his family and Jim Donovan's daughter, Meghan, stood on stage as Nathan Zegura introduced the 2024 Class of Browns Legends.
Zegura began with Donovan, who spoke of his storied career as the play-by-play announcer for the Browns. Donovan, who stepped away from his 25-year career as the "Voice of the Cleveland Browns" to focus on his battle with cancer on Aug. 29, was honored for his storied career with Cleveland. Meghan accepted the Browns Legends jacket on behalf of Jim.
The Zegura spoke of Dawson's storied career as the Browns' kicker for 14 seasons. Originally signed by the Browns in 1999, Dawson won the placekicking job during training camp and remained with the team through the 2012 season. He holds team records for most career field goals with 305, highest career field goal percentage at 84.0 percent and highest field goal percentage in a season with 93.5 percent in 2012. He also holds team records for most field goals in a game when he hit six on Nov. 5, 2006, most consecutive field goals made with 29 and most consecutive games with a field goal at 23 games.
Dawson appeared in 305 career regular season games during his 20 NFL seasons from 1999-2018. He ranks among the all-time NFL leaders in games played (seventh with 305), field goals made (eighth with 441), points scored (11th with 1,847) and field goal percentage (16th with 83.8).
He scored 1,271 points with Cleveland, the second most by a Brown, and his 215 games are the third-most by a Browns player. His 14 seasons with the club are tied for the second most among any Browns player. In 2012, Dawson was selected to his first Pro Bowl. Dawson officially retired as a members of the Browns in 2019.
Dawson took to the podium to offer his gratitude and acceptable of the Browns Legends jacket.
"This means the world to me and my family because we love Cleveland," Dawson said. "There is no greater sports town in America than Cleveland, and I had the honor to be your kicker for 14 years. Getting to wear that orange helmet was all I needed. This is the greatest accomplishment of my life. I proudly accept this on behalf of all my teammates, my coaches and the greatest fans in football."
