I didn't know John Barbero, very well on a personal level. But I knew him on a professional level.
He had an unmistakable voice. One that you remember. I first heard him in 1973, as a junior in college, covering a Flyers-Pens game at the Civic Arena.
Barbero was the public address announcer for the Pittsburgh Penguins for the past 36 years. He died this week after a long battle with a brain tumor.
Two things will always resonate with me. One, how he used to say, "Vince Lescheid at the organ." It just floated off his tongue.
The other? His l-o-n-g pronounciation of Jarko Ruuttu's name when the Flyers were playing them. It was "Jarko Ruuuu-tuuuu." Or Mario Lemieuuuux.
There are PA guys all over the NHL who I wouldn't recognize unless they introduced themselves, but I know their voices.
And since I worked in Pittsburgh early in my career, I got to know Barbero's.
He was smooth on his delivery.
I knew something was up last season when he wasn't at the mike when the Flyers got into town. The Penguins told he had an inoperable brain tumor that caused him to go on medical leave.
Ironically, the tumor wasn't discovered until someone noticed that John had been reading aloud some stats backwards at games.
John sat in the middle of the press box at Mellon Arena closest to the TV booths. Always had a smile. All the years I saw him, I never thought he really aged. He always looked the same. Tall, well-dressed with salt 'n pepper hair.
It's tragic that two of the most recognized off-ice Penguin officials - Barbero and Lescheid _ won't see the opening of Consol Energy Center this fall. Lescheid, who I also knew from his work with the Pirates, died in March of 2009.
There are many people on the periphery of NHL hockey you never see, you never hear about, but who you know because you're familiar with their voice or the organ music you clap to at games.
Barbero was one of them.
Here's Shelley Anderson's obit on John Barbero in the Post-Gazette:
click here 
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