For sports fans of a certain vintage (actually, several vintages) Johnny Esaw is a familiar name. I associate the North Battleford-born sportscaster who passed away today in Toronto at the age of 87 with CFL telecasts during the Riders’ glory years of the Ron Lancaster George Reed era in the 1960s and ’70s. But later on, Esaw also his made his mark as a figure-skating broadcaster. So if you were a fan of that sport at the World and Olympic level you’d be familiar with him too.
I don’t know if it was his most famous moment in sports, but Esaw was the one who interviewed Phil Esposito on the ice in Vancouver after the Canadian leg of the Canada vs USSR hockey series in 1972 had concluded with the Soviets up two games to one with one game tied heading back to the USSR for the remaining four games.
Here’s the clip here:
