REMEMBERING THE VOICE OF THE FLYERS
Last week marked the 15th anniversary of the passing of the "Voice of the Flyers," Gene Hart at the age of 68. To a generation of Flyers' fans, Hart's voice will always be synonymous with the team.
As a child who grew up loving the Flyers, Hart's calls were in many ways my first ticket to the game. Looking back, I feel extremely fortunate to have grown up in Philly during the 1970s. Not only did I get to experience golden eras of Flyers hockey and Phillies baseball, I also was spoiled by the fact that our local broadcasters were legends of the profession like Hart and Harry Kalas.
To this very day, at every game I cover at the Wells Fargo Center, I make a point to stop briefly in front of the Gene Hart memorial display as I enter the pressbox. It's a reminder of my debt of gratitude to the man who taught this great sport to an entire city.
Like all good teachers, Gene Hart's success lay not only in his knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject matter, but in his personal warmth and sense of humor. To listen to Gene Hart was to gain an education, whether the subject was hockey, opera or linguistics. He had the rare gift of being able to make people want to listen to him, no matter the topic.
Hart called listeners his "friends," and even if you never met the man, you somehow felt he was indeed your friend.
Many a child grew up listening to Hart and imitating his signature "Score!" I was no exception.
I'd play street hockey during the day and hallway hockey indoors at night. The stakes would often be the "Stanley Cup," the samovar my great-grandparents brought with them from Russia. Gene Hart's voice would be imitated as the mostly imaginary action unfolded.
For much of Hart's career, Flyers games were simulcasted on the radio and television. He correspondingly painted pictures for the audience in a style that was influenced by the dean of hockey broadcasting, the late Foster Hewitt.
Objectivity was never Hart's strong suit. The Flyers were near and dear to him and he never pretended otherwise. Yet he encouraged listeners to appreciate the accomplishments of great players and teams, no matter which uniform they wore.
It was only upon Hart's passing that I learned what a truly fascinating life he led. I knew he'd been a high school teacher and was a lover of opera and languages, because he sometimes made references to his other passions.
However, I did not know he had worked a variety of other jobs over the years, ranging from
a stint as a car salesman, a repo man, a rock-and- roll disc jockey, a water clown and a dolphin-show emcee in Atlantic City. I also didn't know until after his death that his family had once operated the famous water circus on Steel Pier, and that his father was a Hungarian acrobat while his mother (a former Viennese opera singer) was part of a high-dive act featuring a diving horse.
Although fondly remembered for being rotund during his broadcasting career, Hart was actually a surprisingly good athlete in his own youth. While attending Pleasantville High School in South Jersey, he was an all-state baseball player and also played football. Later, he officiated high school basketball and football. Hart fell in love with hockey early in life, following the New York Rangers and even keeping personal statistics. However, he did not work in the game until he was hired by the NHL expansion Flyers team in 1967.
In the summers of his youth, Hart worked with his family's act on Steel Pier in a variety of capacities, including as part of a diving clown act known as Binswanger's Bathing Beauties. It was while doing the diving act that he met his wife, the former Sara Detwiler, who was earning some extra money by diving with the horses on the Pier.
After attending Trenton State College and earning his teaching degree, Hart served in the Army for several years. Upon his discharge, he returned to South Jersey. When the Flyers hockey team was created in 1967, he served first as a public address announcer and then as a color commentator working with play-by-play man Stu Nahan (yes, the same Stu Nahan who later became a broadcasting icon in Los Angeles and was featured in the "Rocky" movies as the television boxing commentator).
In the early days, the Flyers had to pay for their own air time and only the third period of games was broadcast. There is a quote from Hart in the memorial display at the Wells Fargo Center pressbox that he used to pray the game wouldn't be a blowout heading into the third period.
Before long, Hart took over the play-by-play duties; the role with which he became synonymous. In the meantime, for many years, he continued to teach high school in addition to broadcasting. There were many times he took red-eye flights back from road games with barely enough time for a cat nap before he had to get ready to teach class in the morning. All the while, he never let his preparations for games slip.
As the Flyers blossomed from expansion team to Stanley Cup champion, the team (and Hart) took hold in Philadelphia's sporting conscience. Over the years, Hart gave voice to the many highs and lows the team experienced, ranging from the Broad Street Bullies years to the transitional period and the near-miss teams of the Mike Keenan era. He provided fans with solace and comfort after the deaths of Barry Ashbee and Pelle Lindbergh, and could make even a hard-fought loss seem valiant for the effort.
Even as he experienced health problems, including a pair of heart bypass surgeries, Hart kept right on working.
In 1988, the Flyers stopped simulcasting their broadcasts. At that point, the longtime team of Hart and Bobby Taylor was moved to radio only, while Mike "Doc" Emrick and Bill Clement handled TV duties. In 1993, Hart returned to television for two final seasons. Jim Jackson (who eventually became the team's television play-by-play man, and continues to hold the post to this day) was hired after Emrick's departure. Hart's final season as the Flyers voice was in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season. Jackson took over on TV thereafter.
In total, Hart called more than 2,000 Flyers games. He called five Stanley Cup finals (1974, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1985, 1987), five NHL All-Star Games, and two of the series pitting NHL stars against Soviet teams. In 1997, Hart was inducted into the broadcaster's wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame (a photo of him wearing his Hall of Fame blazer at his HHOF induction sits front and center in the memorial display at the Wells Fargo Center press box).
Gene Hart battled a host of health problems in later life, and passed away on July 14, 1999. He was such a beloved local figure that a public memorial service was held and broadcast on local television for those who could not attend.
I will always remember Gene's daughter, longtime Flyers anthem singer Lauren Hart, singing a beautiful song in tribute to her father at the memorial. The song was at once touching and uplifting. I also recall a humorous story told by Gene's son, Brian, about how his father brought him along to the Flyers first Stanley Cup parade and told his son that everyone had come out to celebrate Brian's birthday.
Although I never met Gene Hart in any meaningful context, his legacy has always been a special one to me as someone who grew up hanging on his every word during Flyers broadcasts. Over the years, I have had the privilege of speaking several times to Mike Emrick. I have gotten to know Jim Jackson on a first-name basis, and I always enjoy talking with him at Flyers practices in Voorhees and after morning skates at the Wells Fargo Center. I frequently say hello to current Flyers radio voice Tim Saunders when I see him at the arena, and have heard him tell some very funny stories.
I have nothing but respect for the work that Doc, JJ and Tim have done over the years. They are all excellent broadcasters. JJ is smooth and always well-prepared. Tim Saunders and Chris Therien have long been a highly entertaining radio team with strong chemistry. Doc has become a broadcasting institution on a national level in the years since his work in Philly. Nevertheless, to this child of the Broad Street Bullies and 1980s eras, Gene Hart will always be the ultimate play-by-play voice of the Flyers.
Culled from the prime of Gene Hart's career, here are excerpts of the Channel 29 broadcast of the Flyers vs. Bruins game of Feb. 3, 1980. The footage includes a pre-game ceremony with the presentation of a fundraising check from the Flyers Wives Carnival, 1st & 2nd second period intermission, the entire 3rd period, and Tom Lamaine's Pepsi Post Game show
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