Quick Hits: October 19, 2020
1) Foster Hewitt Memorial Award (Hockey Hall of Fame broadcasters' wing) inductee, six-time national Emmy Award, Lester Patrick Award and United States Hockey Hall of Famer Mike Emrick has announced his retirement from broadcasting at age 74.
Older Flyer fans recall that Emrick, after a three-season stint as the play-by-play broadcaster for the American Hockey League's Maine Mariners, subsequently joined the parent club's broadcasts for a 13-year period from 1980 to 1993. Subsequently, apart from being a fixture in national broadcasts, he spent many years with the New Jersey Devils.
Back in 2007, I wrote an article for NHL.com entitled "Voices of the Game Echo Through the Years". The article was about legendary hockey broadcasters such as Foster Hewitt, Rene Lecavalier, Gene Hart, Jiggs McDonald and Emrick. How did they directly influence later generations of broadcasters? In Doc's case, who were his own influences? What adjustments are made between doing a national network broadcast versus a local broadcast?
When I got in touch with Doc, he said that he had about 30 free minutes before a speaking engagement. When he needed to go, he told me that he'd call me back afterwards. He did, promptly. I spoke to him for another hour. I learned so much in that span, heard multiple riveting and hilarious stories (most of which I'd never heard before) and came to appreciate just how much he loved his work.
Emrick told me that, when you are doing a national broadcast, it should be a 50 percent focus on storylines and 50 percent on the game itself (split as evenly between the two teams as possible). Conversely, when doing broacasting for a team, it should be more of a 60-40 split in favor of focusing on the team for whom you work. Doc said that this can vary by market. He told me that, during his many early years as the Flyers' play-by-play announcer, the market preference (and certainly Ed Snider's personal preference) was to focus roughly 80 percent of the broadcast on what the Flyers were doing, with the other 20 percent about the opponent.
Doc also discussed the nuances of the now-lost art of doing TV/radio simulcasts, at which the late Gene Hart was a master. He said that a simulcast had to tilt toward the radio side of the equation: painting a picture of the action, the colors of the uniforms, which team was attacking which side of the ice, etc. Emrick said that the crowd itself can tell the story, and sometimes the noise of the crowd paints a better picture than any words the broadcaster can say.
As part of the article, I also spoke with current Flyers broadcaster Jim Jackson, who has now been with the team since 1993 (first on radio and then the TV broadcasts). Jim told me that Emrick, under zero obligation to do so since he was no longer doing Flyers broadcasts, took him out out lunch and spoke to him at length to help him prepare for the job. Years later, many times, I saw Doc at the Wells Fargo Center for morning skates before national TV broadcast nights. It is standard practice for broadcasters, whether local or national, to attend the morning skates to do day-of-game prep work; talking to players, coaches and the local broadcasters for material on what's been going on with the team and anything else of value they could glean. Emrick's pre-broadcast prep and research is legendary in his industry.
During my interview with him, I asked if he could estimate how much of the information he collects actually makes it on a broadcast.
"For that night? Maybe 15 percent of it gets used. But just because you don't use it that night, doesn't necessarily mean it was wasted time. It may be valuable information down the line," he said.
Although some Flyers fans erroneously believe that Emrick "had it in for the team" ever since the team let him in 1993, he actually looks back very fondly at his Philadelphia years. Bitterness is not in his MO. He is a positive-focused person, and is very grateful for the opportunities he received from the Flyers during his early breakout years in the professional.
As a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee, the way-too-belated selections of Mark Howe and (posthumously) Fred Shero were largely driven by Emrick annually raising their candidacies to the committee and eventually building enough support for both to be immortalized in the Hall.
2) Today in Flyers History: Oct. 19, 1967
In the Flyers first-ever home game at the Spectrum, the team skated to a 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Doug Favell made an early third-period rebound goal by the late Bill Sutherland stand up the rest of the way. Attendance at the game was 7,812.
Earlier in the day, Sutherland was nearly denied entry into the Spectrum. An over-zealous security guard accused the 33-year-old left wing of trying to sneak into the building. The issue was straightened out, and the security guard semi-apologized but defended himself by saying that Sutherland looked "far too old" to be an active professional athlete.
Sutherland, who passed away in 2017 at age 82, holds the distinction of scoring both the first road goal and the first home goal in Flyers franchise history. In total, the longtime minor league player (whose contract was acquired by the Flyers when they purchased the AHL's Quebec Aces to be their farm team) scored 20 goals in the inaugural 1967-68 season.
3) Oct. 19 Flyers Alumni birthday: Boyd Gordon (1983).