THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — When Don Chevrier realized he would never play sports at the highest level, he found another way to the big show.
The journey took the broadcaster with the big voice around the globe, from the baseball diamond to the Olympics to some of the biggest boxing matches.
"I realized early that I would not be a good athlete so the next best thing was to broadcast sports," he told The Canadian Press in a 2004 interview.
Chevrier, a longtime Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster whose career spanned some two dozen sports, died Monday at his home in Palm Harbor, Fla., a spokesman for the family said Tuesday. He was 69.
Chevrier had suffered from a blood disorder and was recently admitted to hospital before being released a few days later.
"We were saddened to learn of the passing of our friend and universally respected colleague Don Chevrier," said Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics.
"As anyone who knew him can attest, Don was one of the true gentlemen in our business. Our condolences go out to his family. Don will be sorely missed."
Chevrier was Mr. Versatile for a slew of networks — both TV and radio. One count had Chevrier’s broadcast resume at 21 different sports, including team handball at the 1976 Olympics.
"You don’t see that much anymore, there’s such speciality now," former Jays GM Gord Ash said of Chevrier’s versatility. "You don’t see a guy cross over as much as he did."
He was well known for his work with the Jays, calling the team’s first ever game in 1977.
"It’s a sad day for the Blue Jays," said Jays president Paul Godfrey. "I remember Don as the first TV voice of the Blue Jays and one of the pillars of the organization when it first started."
Godfrey said Chevrier managed to make the games more exciting than they really were that inaugural season.
"When the team loses 100 games in its first year, the TV broadcaster has to make sure the fans keep coming back even though they were outclassed by most of the opposition," said Godfrey.
Chevrier’s death comes a little more than two years after legendary Jays radio broadcaster Tom Cheek lost his battle with cancer.
"When I think back (of the team’s greatest calls) you think of Tom Cheek’s `Touch ’em all Joe,’ and Chevy’s calling of the two home runs Doug Ault hit on Day 1."
During the 1970s and ’80s, Chevrier covered some of boxing’s biggest bouts, often with Howard Cosell on ABC’s "Wide World of Sports."
There was play-by-play on "Monday Night Baseball" for ABC Sports, NHL games for ESPN and other networks (including Ottawa Senators games), CFL games for CBC and ESPN and USFL games for ABC Radio.
"He had one of the more recognizable voices in all broadcasting, never mind just sports," said Godfrey.
He spent more than 20 years on radio covering the Kentucky Derby, 14 years as the television voice of curling in Canada and was the longtime host of ABC Radio’s "World of Sports" show.
In the early 1960s, he was the radio voice of the Montreal Alouettes. His first Olympics was in 1972, when he hosted the opening and closing ceremonies for CBC and called hockey from Sapporo.
At the 1980 Lake Placid Games, Chevrier called the USA-USSR "Miracle on Ice" hockey game for ABC Radio, while working other events for CBC.
Wearing his NBC hat more recently, he covered curling at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games and table tennis, badminton and synchronized swimming at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Ash, who is now an assistant GM with the Milwaukee Brewers, grew up in Toronto watching CFL games called by Chevrier.
"I knew the voice before I knew the person," said Ash. "The voice was so dramatic and authoritative and you just felt whatever he was trying to convey no matter what sport he was doing at the time. It sent a powerful message."
.Chevrier began his broadcasting career at CJCA Radio in Edmonton, explaining that broadcasting took over plans to attend university.
"The manager of the station talked my mother out of it saying, ‘He’ll learn far more on the job here with us if he goes full-time than he would at college.’ He was exactly right," Chevrier recalls. "I wasn’t quite 17 when I started. I got $125 a month to start and when I went full-time I got $225, and thought I had all the money in the world".
Chevrier was given a lifetime achievement award by Sport Media Canada in 2004.
"It’s been so fulfilling," he said of his career. "I’ve had the opportunity to be an eyewitness to some of the greatest news and sports stories in the world on a regular basis over all these years."
