HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Jack Edwards turns 60

[PB37]

He'll go down as a Boston legend.

Happy Birthday, Jack. You are the man.

 

[Ratty]

I was so relieved when he took over full time Bruins broadcasting after Arnold turned it down to stay on radio. And he certainly elevated hockey telecasting in the area to an art form. Sure, he's wacky and a homer, but that's what I love about him.

I wish him a happy birthday and hope to hear a lot more "down the rivers" from him.

 

[Caper Bruins fan]

I love how he interacts with fans on Twitter. I get a tad annoyed when he repeats some stat that might kill my hopes that the Bruins can come back in a game but he seems like a great guy . Happy Birthday Jack !

 

[Aeroforce]

I've always enjoyed a Jacks work but really appreciated this year as we have been stuck with more broadcasts of the other team on Center Ice.

I'm in the same boat. I don't know if it's just by design or unlucky coincidence, but I haven't been able to get Edwards and the NESN feed on Center Ice nearly as much.

I will say hearing lots of others around the league makes me really appreciate Jack's professionalism.

Being a Bruin fan has had lots of ups and downs this past decade, and for me, it just wouldn't be the same without Jack Edwards.

His comparison of the Bruins defeating the Habs in 2011 to the Boston Tea Party was outrageous, hilarious, over-the-top, and accurate.

I'll also never forget these:

 

[Fenway]

Bruins fans have been blessed with exceptional play by play announcers over their history on both radio and TV with Dave Shea being the exception.

Jack will never be Fred Cusick but who could? Those of us who are older remember the joy in Fred's voice when in 1988 the Bruins finally beat Montreal in a playoff series.

​

Today I rank Jack as the second best local announcer in the NHL. We as Bruins fans cringe at this call but if you are a Sabres fan you will remember it to your grave.

​

I worked in Buffalo for a few years and I can tell you Rick Jeanneret is just as nutty as Jack.

​

 

[Kovi]

A truly nice guy. Will send a hello via DM on Twitter every once in a while if he has an opinion about one of my tweets.

HB!

 

[caz16]

A truly nice guy. Will send a hello via DM on Twitter every once in a while if he has an opinion about one of my tweets.

HB!

Same here - I was thrilled when he followed me and I could have some conversations.

 

[BNHL]

Literally met him and his kids on a back street in NH 2 years ago. Couldn't have been nicer as we stood there and introduced our kids to each other and talked hockey for about 10 minutes. I mentioned I was an HF guy and he said,"Oh,one of those guys."

 

[BMC]

From the Boston Globe 32 years ago

EDWARD'S DREAM A REALITY

Boston Globe (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Boston, Mass.
Author: Craig, Jack
Date: May 3, 1985
Start Page: 72
Section: SPORTS

SporTView / JACK CRAIG

How many have a dream, see it become reality, and discover it is even more fulfilling than anticipated?

Jack Edwards, Ch. 5's sportscaster, claims he is one of the rare ones.

"When I was a kid in New Hampshire, the only thing I wanted to be was a sportscaster for a Boston TV station," he says. "I was a Don Gillis fan, a child of television, I guess."

Edwards, 28, grew up in Durham, where his parents were on the University of New Hampshire faculty. His father was director of theater and his mother a music professor. When dad was stuck for a child actor, he would call home. Jack made his stage debut at 4.

Is there a little ham in Edwards that makes television a natural for him? "Yes and maybe," he responds.

Yet he did not travel a straight road to success at Ch. 5. He was fired from his first TV job at Ch. 9 in Manchester, N.H. "The general manager wanted me to lead every sports report with a high school story. We went around on that all the time," Edwards said. When the NFL strike ended (October, 1982), he led with it on his sports report. "I was fired nine days before Christmas."

Edwards was moonlighting at the time as host of the weekend call- in sports program on WRKO, and, while in Boston, he met Tom Shaer, who was about to move from his weekend sports anchor position at Ch. 10 in Providence to a radio job in Chicago.

Within a month of his dismissal at Ch. 9, Edwards had a job in the much larger Providence market, where at last he enjoyed the freedom given the weekend sports anchor. He also had an opportunity to participate in the station's extensive coverage of the America's Cup races that summer.

The Ch. 10 job also made his work visible to executives at the Boston stations, and he was hired as a sports reporter at Ch. 5 last winter. "It was Dec. 3 (1984) when I got a call from Phil Balboni (executive news director) and he told me 'Your ship has come in,' " Edwards said.

He vividly recalls his first assignment at Ch. 5. The date was Jan. 28, and he was spending part of the day at ESPN (another freelance job) doing skiing voice-overs, when he received a call from Boston. Lee Webb was sick and Edwards would make his debut that night as sports anchor on the 11 o'clock news.

He hurried to Boston, ripped and read copy from the wire service machines, wrote, helped edit material, then walked onto the anchor desk. "There I was, sitting aside Chet (Curtis) and Natalie (Jacobsen)," he said.

Generally, you can do or you can't do at the anchor desk, and training is only marginally helpful. Edwards can do, as he demonstrated that night.

But Edwards was hired as a sports reporter and says he prefers to be outside. He insists he even enjoys locker room interviews, the most uncomfortable part of the job.

"I like the field because you might get a chance to write around a two- minute piece. At the anchor desk, you might just attach a clever phrase to a 20-second action segment."

Edwards says he likes the writing side of television most of all, unusual except that it is what he does best. "I noticed his writing skill right away," says John Sawhill, general manager at Ch. 10.

"Clark Booth's writing was what I admired most at Ch. 5. I would notice that when his segment would come on TV, we would stop talking in order to listen. That's quite a tribute, when you consider it is TV," he said.

Edwards' spoken words do not evoke the sardonic memory of Keith Olbermann, who preceded him at Ch. 5, but Edwards' phrases are more clever than most others in local sports television.

Edwards' outlook is so sunny that he refutes the common belief that his is a selfish business. "People told me it was a rat's nest in Boston, that you have to watch out for yourself all the time. I have found it just the opposite," he says.

Network ambitions grind away at most superior local TV talents after a while and, the greater the skill, the worse the pang. Yet Edwards says he can't imagine such a dilemma because he is where he always wanted to be.

Wait a while.

I remember watching him on WJAR. Even back then he was full of enthusiasm

 

[mjhfb]

I don't know very many people who truly love their job at 60 years old. For that alone Jack is a success.

 

[Fenway]

Jack has read the thread and he sent me a private message on Twitter

Jack Edwards @RealJackEdwards 1:41pm

Wow... that was really nice. Sorta renews my faith that there are far more happy and forgiving people out there than trolls. Thanks for the link!

 

[ODAAT]

Jack has read the thread and he sent me a private message on Twitter

Jack Edwards @RealJackEdwards 1:41pm

Wow... that was really nice. Sorta renews my faith that there are far more happy and forgiving people out there than trolls. Thanks for the link!

very cool

 

[BMC]

Jack has read the thread and he sent me a private message on Twitter

Jack Edwards @RealJackEdwards 1:41pm

Wow... that was really nice. Sorta renews my faith that there are far more happy and forgiving people out there than trolls. Thanks for the link!

 

[Aeroforce]

Jack has read the thread and he sent me a private message on Twitter

Jack Edwards @RealJackEdwards 1:41pm

Wow... that was really nice. Sorta renews my faith that there are far more happy and forgiving people out there than trolls. Thanks for the link!

The trolls on YouTube are particularly bad on clips featuring Jack Edwards.

I'm glad he understands his audience does not feel that way.

 

[Save By Thomas]

He got his big break in 1984 when Channel 5 in Boston needed a sportscaster immediately after their weekend anchor either quit or was fired........

I love Jack. If I told what I thought about the other guy in your post I'd probably be banned for life.

 

[bobbyorr04]

Jack has read the thread and he sent me a private message on Twitter

Jack Edwards @RealJackEdwards 1:41pm

Wow... that was really nice. Sorta renews my faith that there are far more happy and forgiving people out there than trolls. Thanks for the link!

That is pretty neat that Jack actually read some of these posts, and also that he sent you a PM on twitter.

He seems like a down to earth kinda guy.

 

[Fenway]

Rick Jeanneret is a character as well.

I personally witnessed one of his great nights. The Sabres were in Chicago but Jeanneret missed the flight because of a snowstorm in Buffalo. He lived in St. Catharines and the roads were worse than he thought.

He got a case of beer and planted himself into a studio in Buffalo and called the game off a TV monitor and nobody listening to him knew he was 500 miles from the game.

Boston fans have been blessed with wonderful announcers for hockey over the years but there is one tape I have yet to find and somebody has to have it.

HAWK ON ICE
[FIRST Edition]
Boston Globe (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Boston, Mass.
Author: Craig, Jack
Date: Oct 24, 1981
Start Page: 1
Section: SPORTS

A familiar voice will be in a strange setting tonight when the Bruins face the Canadiens in Montreal on Ch. 38. Hawk Harrelson, Red Sox baseball analyst, will replace Fred Cusick on play by play because of a minor illness. Johnny Pierson will do color and assist Harrelson if needed.

That was actually Hawk's last game on TV38 as he would take a job in Chicago for the 82 baseball season. TV38 was under pressure from Red Sox ownership to fire Harrelson as he had called Red Sox GM and co-owner Haywood Sullivan an idiot on the air because of how Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn and Rick Burleson were treated. The White Sox came out of nowhere and offered Harrelson twice what he was making in Boston. The new White Sox owners wanted a fresh approach to their announcers and fired Jimmy Piersall and another announcer that they took glee in saying to his face 'You are finished in Chicago, the Cubs will never hire you.' They were wrong



The White Sox have never recovered from that marketing blunder.

TV38 would offer Tony Conigliaro Hawk's job 2 months later but an hour after accepting the job Tony suffered the heart attack that he never recovered from.

 

[Save By Thomas]

The White Sox came out of nowhere and offered Harrelson twice what he was making in Boston.

You Red Sox fans should be thrilled that that happened, Harrelson is horrible. As a fan of the Bruins, A's and Raiders I'm fortunate to be able to listen to some excellent broadcasters. Greg Papa and Tom Flores, Glen Kuiper and Ray Fosse and of course Jack and Brick.

 

[BNHL]

I was so relieved when he took over full time Bruins broadcasting after Arnold turned it down to stay on radio. And he certainly elevated hockey telecasting in the area to an art form. Sure, he's wacky and a homer, but that's what I love about him.

I wish him a happy birthday and hope to hear a lot more "down the rivers" from him.

Never happened,Dale was never offered the job.

 

[Fenway]

Never happened,Dale was never offered the job.

He was and wasn't. He was asked if he could do road games along with home as NESN was going to one person doing both and he said no. So in effect he took himself out of consideration.

 

[BNHL]

He was and wasn't. He was asked if he could do road games along with home as NESN was going to one person doing both and he said no. So in effect he took himself out of consideration.

Fenway-Not what he said on this forum. He said he was never offered the job. I'm sure you could clarify.

 

[Gee Wally]

Dale reads the board every day. I'm sure if he feels like commenting he will.

 

[Donnie Shulzhoffer]

Fenway-Not what he said on this forum. He said he was never offered the job. I'm sure you could clarify.

Wrong.

He did say he was offered the job but that it was full time and couldn't travel because he just signed a new contract with WEEI.

 

[BNHL]

Wrong.

He did say he was offered the job but that it was full time and couldn't travel because he just signed a new contract with WEEI.

Wrong. He did not say that. He specifically said he was not offered the fulltime PBP job,he was only offered the analyst job. I won't go back and forth,I know what he said and it was more than once. If he refutes it here,then I'll believe it.

 

[Gee Wally]

Wrong.

He did say he was offered the job but that it was full time and couldn't travel because he just signed a new contract with WEEI.

Timing issues played into it all. When offers were made or hadn't been made yet. When answers were required to be given.

Like I said it wasn't as cut and dried as many of us think. He shared some with me privately that I wont go into here.

He can if he desires.