Yet another great honor -- the Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports Broadcasting -- for my friend and colleague of 38 years, Mike "Doc" Emrick, who is currently calling another Stanley Cup finals on NBC, to go along with his NHL Lester Patrick Award (Contributions to hockey in the United States), Foster Hewitt Award (Hockey Hall of Fame), the only broadcaster ever inducted in the US Hockey Hall of Fame, a trio of National Emmy Awards (sports play-by-play), twice being named SI Sports Broadcasting Personality of the Year (Sports Illustrated magazine), and numerous other honors.
Here is the release from NBC Sports:
NBC Sports’ Emrick to receive Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award
"The voice of the NHL on NBC will receive a high honor later this year — in November, Mike “Doc… Emrick will receive the Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports Broadcasting, presented by WFUV Radio in New York.
“ 'When I received the call from Vin Scully that I’d been selected to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award that bears his name, I was speechless, and that’s rare for me,' Emrick said in a release. 'Although I am sure the event in November will be another lifetime memory, I have never forgotten the call and the knowledge of the past honorees who voted me this honor.
“ 'I am grateful to Vin and to WFUV, and all on the selection committee.'
"The honor will put Emrick alongside some of the finest sports broadcasters of this generation. Previous Scully Award recipients include inaugural honoree Scully (2008), Dick Enberg (2009), Ernie Harwell (2010), Pat Summerall (2011), Al Michaels (2012), Bob Costas (2013), and Verne Lundquist (2014)."
During most of his long career of calling games over the years as the TV voice of the Flyers, Rangers (radio), and Devils, the grind of broadcasting up to one hundred games (including playoffs) in a season was especially strenuous for him as EVERY broadcast was a road game requiring a commute by plane from his home in Michigan. Add to that the many network assignments he had on NBC, ABC, CBS, ESPN, FOX, and other outlets, working both summer (water polo) and winter Olympic Games, the odd college hockey game he did for "relaxation", All Star Games in the NHL and AHL (a league Doc still follows as closely as he did when he broadcast the Mariners in the late 1970s), and all four rounds of Stanley Cup action every spring, have kept him on the road constantly for almost four decades.
Although I have known and worked with Doc hundreds of times over almost four decades, every time I have the privilege to do so again I am once again amazed and impressed not only by the shear skill, artistry, and extraordinary professionalism that he brings to every show, but also with the utter courtesy, humility, and consideration with which he treats everybody with whom he has contact during the course of the day from fans to star players and everyone in between. He not only knows the name of every elevator operator, press box attendant, security person, trainer, stick boy, player, press person (including many HockeyBuzz and other web bloggers), hockey writer, scout, and every other person in the countless rinks in both the NHL and many minor league cities as well, but has something personal to say to every one of them.
"We don't cure people of dire ills or illnesses in our line of work," Doc says, "but I think we do something else that is heartening for people who listen but also for us. We take their minds off the troubles of the world for two-and-a-half to three hours. If they are fans they focus an awful lot of their enjoyment in life on following their team and their athletes. We're not the players, we're not that important, but we're the conduits between the fans and the players, and there's a responsibility there that enables us to treat this like a profession rather than a hobby."
So sincere congratulations Doc!!! Nobody deserves this more than you.