CLEVELAND (AP) — Joe Tait, a longtime sports broadcaster and voice of the Cleveland Cavaliers for more than four decades, died Wednesday. He was 83.

Tait had recently gone into hospice care following a lengthy battle with kidney disease and liver cancer.

He was with the NBA team from its inception in 1970 until he retired in 2011.

In his final season, the Cavs honored Tait with a commemorative banner that hangs alongside some of the team’s retired jersey numbers in the rafters of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Tait also did play-by-play work on radio and TV for the Cleveland Indians.