R.I.P. Fred Cusick

Fred Cusick, 90, velvety voice of the Bruins for nearly 5 decades



With a voice that rose from velvety to victorious in the time it took Bobby Orr to slap a puck into the goal, Fred Cusick brought radio listeners and television viewers onto the ice with the Boston Bruins from 1952 until 1997 and was famous for stretching out the word score until it seemed as if it had as many vowels as there were players.

A broadcasting legend for Boston sports who called the Bruins’ last game at the old Boston Garden and the Patriots first football game, Mr. Cusick died in his Barnstable home yesterday of complications from bladder cancer. He was 90 and will be inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame tonight.
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Part of his impact was simply opening television’s door to the Bruins. In the early 1960s, Mr. Cusick personally got the team on the air by watching a game in Toronto on a Saturday night, then driving the videotape to Manchester, N.H., stopping en route in Concord, N.H., for a few hours of sleep. At 11 a.m., the taped game was broadcast on WMUR-TV.

Prophetically, he convinced the broadcast television community that the team’s fortunes were soon to change, and they did a couple of years later with the arrival of Orr. As the devotion of fans intensified during the team’s Stanley Cup victories and beyond in the 1970s, Mr. Cusick’s voice became as recognizable as a Bruins jersey, his name as familiar as Orr’s or Phil Esposito’s.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/09/16/fred_cusick_at_90_the_velvety_voice_of_the_bruins_for_decades/

I was almost 30 before I heard someone else do a Bruins game. Fred was one of the best announcers ever, in any sport. :(

And outside of the late great Celtics announcer Johnny Most, I hate homers.

You probably don't watch much hockey, but Mike Emerick is the best announcer in the game right now. Another long time announcer from way back.

I grew up with Bob Murphy calling Mets games on the radio. To me no one else should be allowed to touch Mets games on the radio unless it's him. I was amazed Murph called the games almost all the way up till the day he died.

The Islanders I had Jiggs McDonald who I still think the world of. Next to Murph he has got to be one of the most beloved sports announcers NY has ever had. Even the Rangers fans, our arch rival, couldn't help but love the guy. Even today he calls an ocassional game and it's a real treat. That is and always will be the voice of NY Islanders hockey. Howie Rose can't hold a candle to that guy.

And yeah, Jiggs was a homer. He wasn't an obnoxious homer that went out of his way to bash the guys on the other team. Whenever the team did well and he got in that rare "good" voice you could tell it was about the guys on the ice. Not the players on the other bench.

I first moved to Boston I remember that guy calling B's games. Jack Edwards can only pray to be that good one day. Edwards I find absolutley grating and annoying. Like one of those kids on playground that used to pretend he was calling a broadcast that just irratated everyone playing.

:cry:

He's the first US born announcer to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Condolences to his family and friends.

That was hockey for me for years and years.

:(