Sincere congratulations to my friend and colleague of 37 years, NBC's Mike "Doc" Emrick, who for the second time in three years won the National Emmy Award for "Outstanding Sports Personality - Play by Play" on Tuesday night at ceremonies held at Lincoln Center in New York beating out Bob Costas, Marv Albert, Joe Buck and Mike Breen. Doc, who has a PhD in Communications from Bowling Green University where he also broadcast hockey for the first time, became the first hockey play by play broadcaster to capture a National Emmy in 2011 before repeating that accomplishment for a second time on Tuesday. Few if any other men in the game -- including players, if I may be as bold to say -- have worked harder or done more to help sell our glorious game to US sports fans over the past four decades then this mild mannered giant in his field.
Like so many hockey players, Doc came to the national hockey stage from a small farming community, a town called La Fontaine (pop 868). Ironically, however, it is not located in Canada or the US hockey belts of Minnesota, Michigan, New York, or New England, but instead in north central Indiana. His father was not a coach but the local high school's music teacher. Doc grew up following not hockey, but instead was passionate about the baseball exploits of his still beloved Pittsburgh Pirates. (His doctoral dissertation was a study on announcing baseball.)
The many local and national honors he has garnered such as the Lester Patrick Award, the Hockey Hall of Fame's Foster Hewitt Award, and enshrinement in the US Hockey Hall of Fame since first speaking into a live mic well more than 3,000 hockey broadcasts ago all attest to his extraordinary skill at his craft and dedication to bringing the best of the game he loves to millions. But "Doc" is far more than just a great broadcaster, he is a great human being and friend to thousands.
I first met Doc during the Flyers' training camp in September, 1977, and over the more than a third of a century since then we have worked together hundreds of times (the last time was last Tuesday on Game 6 of the Flyers/Rangers first round playoff series) both with the Flyers on cable (PRISM) and that club's various over the air stations, as well as on other TV outlets such as SportsChannel, MSG, FOX, ESPN, ABC, VS, and NBC as well as during his radio days with the AHL Maine Mariners in the late 1970's. I can truly say that I have had no closer friend in the game over that time than Doc. In addition to the countless hours we have spent together in various broadcast booths from coast to coast, there have been dinners at his home with his wife Joyce (whom I first met on the day Doc proposed to her in Portland, ME, in 1978), literally thousands of hours on the phone (many of those as he was unwinding after another broadcast and often from an airport while waiting to board yet another plane to head to the next city), sitting together in often hilarious pregame TV production meetings, and the annual exchange of birthday and Christmas gifts and greetings many of which somehow end up relating to SLAP SHOT, Monty Python, and most especially Fawlty Towers. (We NEVER mention the War, however.)
Mike "Doc" Emrick with the late Hall of Famer Frank Mathers and myself at Hersheypark Arena in 2002
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 Olympics, 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 Maine 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. And having worked stats with Doc over so many years I can tell you that for every hour he spends on the air he has done many more hours of preparation the product of which are spread out in front of him in the form of copious notes, charts, and fact filled scorecards all carefully written in his distinctive script. Doc's philosophy is to have about ten times as much material ready to use as he expects that he will get in because there is no way to know in advance which 10% the events of the game will dictate as being appropriate. (And sometimes, like in a blow out or multiple overtime playoff game, he may actually end up needing it all!)
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.
Often the first thing Doc will ask me when he calls after a game somewhere is to check the internet for the scores of favorite teams (such as the Hershey Bears) in the AHL as well as many in the ECHL and IHL. And as often as he can, Doc works that information into his next telecast because he knows that hockey is more than just NHL hockey. (He is also famous for recognizing on air the birthdays of whatever hockey persons past or present are celebrating their's that day.) At the request of myself (and doubtless others as well), he has also been a mentor to a number of young broadcasters just getting started in the business offering advice and guidance. (One of these is Joe O'Donnell who is now the play-by-play voice of the AHL Iowa Wild.) There is nobody more generous with his time in the game then Doc with helping replenish the ranks of broadcasters.
The stories I could tell about Doc and the impact he has had on both the game and thousands of people in it would literally fill a book, and perhaps I will write one. (I've already written seven.) I can't think of a more deserving subject of a biography from the media side of the game then Doc.
So congratulations, Doc, on another National Emmy. And on Wednesday night he will be right back behind the microphone at New York's Madison Square Garden calling the fourth game of the Penguins/Rangers second round series for a national hockey audience on NBCSN.
And after his rare "night off" to be honored some thirty blocks North of the Garden he will be back to calling one more BIG drive after another!!!
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