Beloved Cavs Play-by-Play Announcer Fred McLeod Passes Away Suddenly

We have lost a great voice for the city of Cleveland and the NBA.

Fred McLeod, the television play-by-play voice of the Cleveland Cavaliers, has passed, the team announced Tuesday morning. No cause was given in the initial press release.

Since 2006, McLeod had been the voice behind some of the Cavaliers' best teams, including the 2015-2016 NBA Championship Team. In over a decade behind the mic for the Cavs, McLeod called games for five Eastern Conference Championship Teams, in addition to that Larry O'Brien Trophy-winning club.

The Ohio native previously worked for over two decades as the play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Pistons, including their "bad boys" teams featuring Isaiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, and Joe Dumars. In that time, McLeod was also a staple of Detroit's Channel 2 and Channel 4 news stations.

The Pistons expressed their condolences, as well.

Though his career primarily took him through the NBA, McLeod also spent three years as the play-by-play voice of the Detroit Tigers in the '90s, as well as some time with the Cleveland Indians in the '70s. He also called preseason games for the Detroit Lions for six years in the '80s, and returned to call their games this past summer.

McLeod's wife Beth also works in television as a meteorologist in Cleveland. He is survived by her, as well as his mother Marilyn, sister Lynn, and children Sean, Jenna, and Molly.