(Hockey writer Randy Schultz has covered the hockey scene at all levels for over 50 years. He has interviewed people about hockey from all walks of life during that time. Players, coaches, executives, celebrities, college and high school players have been interviewed over the five decades of hockey writing. He hopes you enjoy his memories.)
BY RANDY SCHULTZ –
It’s hard to believe that it’s been just a little over 40 years since the great hockey announcer, Foster Hewitt, passed away. He lived to be 81 years old before his passing in 1985.
Hewitt was the father of hockey broadcasting whose career spanned almost seven decades. He announced his first hockey game on radio on March 25, 1923 and kept going as a broadcaster in the television age, finally retiring in 1980 after 57 years.
The “Voice of Hockey” made the phrase, “He shoots! He scores!” a household phrase to many listeners and to many of today’s hockey announcers as well.
I had the opportunity about a year before he died to talk to Hewitt about some of his great moments of his broadcasting career.
“The biggest satisfaction I got was the fact that I grew up with the game,” stated Hewitt, a native of Toronto, Ont. “Professional hockey (the National Hockey League) was only in its infant stages when I began broadcasting.
“It was nice to watch the game develop as the years went by.”
Out of all of the hundreds of games Hewitt broadcast, was there any one that stood out for him?
“My greatest thrill came in 1972 when Team Canada faced the Russians for the first time,” recalled Hewitt. “To me, that was the greatest show of hockey I’ve ever seen.
“It was hockey at its best. Especially the final game from Russia which I did play-by-play for the broadcast back to Canada. It was exciting watching (Paul) Henderson score the winning goal.
“Hockey was at a fever pitch throughout Canada. It was the thrill of a lifetime.”
Hewitt admitted at the time of my interview with him (1984) that Wayne Gretzky was the best player of hockey for that time. But he felt that the way Gretzky played at that time, he had the potential to be one of the all-time greats (and I’ll leave that up to you, as the reader, to judge that).
At that time Hewitt felt that “he has a long way to go to rank up there with the Richards, Howes, Hulls and Orrs.”
Hewitt did have one big admission during my conversation with him.
“I missed it (broadcasting) after I got out of it,” concluded Hewitt, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1965. “People soon forget you. But that’s part of the industry.”
Don’t worry Foster. Nobody will ever forget you as long as there is a “He shoots, he scores” spoken.
