Another Broadcasting Legend Dies

Last week, I and all of New England lost one of our favorite sports broadcasters when Fred Kusick, the long-time TV voice of the Boston Bruins passed away. Kusick is as synonymous with Bruins hockey as Bobby Orr, and most Bruins fans cannot recall an Orr goal without hearing Kusick's trademark: "Score, Bobby Orr!" in their head. Joining with the recent loss of the Phillie's Harry Kalas, a large part of my childhood's sports memories are now in the big broadcasting booth in the sky. Move over Harry and Gene Hart, and make room for Fred Kusick.

In 1969, at the tender age of 5, I started watching hockey. My oldest brother Rick, who is ten years my elder, began a fascination with Boston sports even though we grew up in Eastern Pennsylvania. I idolized my oldest brother, and what he liked, I liked. But the more I watched the Boston Bruins, the more I became fascinated with Bobby Orr. The way he effortlessly skated around the ice, easily stole the puck from opposing players, and rushed from one end of the ice to the other zig-zagging between players and then scoring against some of the greatest goaltenders in the game won me over quite quickly. But on May 10th, 1970 Bobby Orr scored the most memorable goal in Bruins history to beat the St. Lous Blues and win the Stanley Cup.

The image of Orr flying through the air after scoring the goal in overtime consumed me, and my infatuation with the Bruins began. In the fall of 1972, my brother left to attend Boston University, and he began mailing me Bruins yearbooks, cardboard cut-outs, and other Bruins stuff which only added fuel to the fire of my dedication and love of the Bruins and all Boston sports teams.

My favorite Aunt from California bought me this small, round radio for Christmas around this time, and to my surprise, I could pick up WBZ radio out of Boston, the home of the Bruins and Celtics. The quality of the broadcast depended on the weather and on a clear night as I tuned in I felt like I was there. Bob Wilson was the radio voice of the B's and Johnny Most the radio voice of the Celtics. I NEVER missed a broadcast, unless a storm rumbled somewhere through the Northeast part of the country, making the broadcast too distorted to listen to. Growing up so close to Philadelphia, I also fell in love with their teams, and especially Gene Hart- the TV and radio voice of the Flyers. Gene was able to make the most mundane plays sound exciting and his love of hockey came through in his calls of the game. "He's gonna go RIGHT ON IN" was one of his favorites, getting louder as the Flyer skated closer to the goal. At the end of every broadcast Gene would sign off by saying "Good Night, and Good Hockey." Gene Hart is as synonymous with Flyers Hockey in the 70's and 80's as Kusick and Wilson were to the Bruins.

In 1982 I myself entered Boston University and had the pleasure of hearing Fred Kusick and Johnny Peirson announce the Bruins games for 4 glorious seasons. I had heard bits and pieces of their broadcasts, but finally got to hear them broadcast an entire game. It was pure heaven for me to see Bruins and Celtics games at Boston Garden and the Red Sox at Fenway Park as well as watching every game on TV. I also had the pleasure of finally listening to the late Ned Martin and Jim Woods do the Sox games and Gil Santos do the Celtics TV games. Not having a car prevented me from visiting Foxboro in person until the 90's when I could enjoy Gil Santos and Gino Cappelletti do the Pat's games on radio. It's one thing to watch your favorite teams on TV, but it takes it another level when you can hear the local play by play and analysts do their thing. I cannot watch an Eagles game without listening to Merrill Reese and Mike Quick on radio- either at the stadium or at home. It just makes the game SO much more enjoyable...

Growing up where I did and when I did is something I'll always cherish when it comes to sports. In the Lehigh Valley, we not only received all the Philly TV and radio stations, but the New York ones as well. And this is before cable and pay channels, so we got to see ALL the Philly and New York hockey, basketball and baseball games. And this is also back when there weren't 34 teams in every league. In other words, it was easy to grow up a Boston fan: they would play in New York or Philly ALL THE TIME, and then I would catch them on the national broadcasts as well. That means besides growing up listening to Harry Kalas, Bill Campbell (Sixers and Big Five hoops), Don Earle and Gene Hart, I also grew up listening to Phil Rizuto and Bill White calling the Yankees games; Ralph Kiner and Lindsey Nelson (Mets); Jim Gordon and Bill "the big whistle" Chadwick (Rangers); Jiggs McDonald and Eddie Westfall (who played on that Bruin's Stanley Cup team) calling the Islanders, and Marv Albert (Knicks). In my biased opinion, the GREATEST collection of radio and TV sports broadcasters a kid could grow up listening to. The passing of Kusick and Harry the K not only closed a chapter of my childhood when it comes to sports, but has eleveted them into the Hall of Fame of sports broadcasters who are no longer with us.

Thank You to all the above mentioned for making this kid's sports childhood more entertaining, informative, exciting and euphoric. And the best part of it all: I got to hear them all for FREE!!!