Danny Gallivan

Encyclopedia : D : DA : DAN : Danny Gallivan

Danny Gallivan (April 11, 1917 - February 24, 1993) was a Canadian radio and television broadcaster and sportscaster.

Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Gallivan began his broadcast career at a local radio station in Antigonish, Nova Scotia while attending St. Francis Xavier University. He taught high school algebra and Latin in Antigonish following graduation and took a stint in the Canadian Army before returning to continue his broadcasting career.

In 1946, Gallivan moved to a radio station in Halifax where he became sports director. He was spotted by a CBC producer of Hockey Night in Canada while in Montreal to broadcast a junior hockey playoff between Halifax and Montreal and was asked to fill in for a sick announcer in 1950. In 1952, Gallivan began a 32-year stint with Hockey Night in Canada, mostly calling games involving the Montreal Canadiens, before retiring after the 1983-1984 season. Gallivan did play-by-play for over 1,800 Canadiens games in his career. He was known for his colourful descriptions of action on the ice, such as 'scintillating' saves and 'cannonading' drives. When a university professor wrote to Gallivan protesting that there was no such word as 'cannonading', Gallivan wrote back and replied, "There is now."

Gallivan was active in retirement, working with several charities, and was the recipient of several television/broadcast industry awards.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.