Tom DeLeone, a longtime NFL center and two-time Pro Bowler, has died after a long battle with brain cancer. He was 65.
The Browns, DeLeone’s team from 1974 to 1984, confirmed his death this morning.
DeLeone was born and raised in Ohio and spent his football career there. An All-American at Ohio State, DeLeone was a fifth-round draft pick of the Bengals in 1972 and played his first two seasons in Cincinnati, but he was mostly a long snapper and rarely got on the field. DeLeone’s best seasons were in Cleveland, where he was chosen to the Pro Bowl in 1979 and 1980.
In 2011, DeLeone went public with his battle with brain cancer. DeLeone, who lost his first wife to cancer in 1976, just a year after they were married, stayed active after his cancer diagnosis and said, “I’m not giving in to this.”
DeLeone lived more than five years after his brain cancer diagnosis. He is survived by his second wife, whom he married 38 years ago, and their three children.