 "Photo: Courtesy Photo")
Boston Bruins play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards is living the dream.
Many know Edwards from his numerous commentary catch phrases and famous calls. Many remember the laugh against Philadelphia after Bruins forward Milan Lucic hit Randy Jones of the Flyers against the boards.
But what many people don’t know about Edwards is that he grew up right here in Durham, and used to call the University of New Hampshire campus his home for four years.
Both of his parents taught at the university, which gave the young Edwards an intimate knowledge of the campus and all the events it hosted, including sporting events. His father was the director of theater for an extensive period of time, while his mother taught in the music department. Edwards said that he was getting schlepped along to Shakespeare productions that his father directed when he was about three years old, but the exposure to the academic community was an early ground for the development of a special relationship with the campus.
“It was an amazing way to grow up, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world,” Edwards said. “I started getting exposed to the academic community and the immense horizons that it creates for a child very early in life.”
Edwards’ theatrical upbringing didn’t deter him from having a love for sports, however. He grew up in the 1960’s, and said he was 10 years old when the Red Sox had their “Impossible Dream” season in 1967.
He also grew up playing soccer, which is ultimately how he chose to come to UNH over several other schools. Edwards attended every Wildcat sporting event that he possibly could, not just hockey and football but also sitting in on wrestling meets, swim meets, gymnastics meets, field hockey games, and all other sports as well.
But it was Don Heyliger, the men’s soccer coach at the time that really sold Edwards in his decision.
“He told me that I would play as a freshman [on the soccer team],” Edwards said. “I had been recruited to about five other schools, mostly in the Northeast. I chose UNH because I thought I’d play right away. When you go back and think about it, that’s a pretty stupid way to choose your college, but that’s what motivated me at the time.”
His soccer career took a turn for the worst, however, between his sophomore and junior seasons as a Wildcat. Edwards was playing in a summer soccer league in Colorado and suffered a “Joe Theismann-like broken leg,” which ended his hope of playing in the upcoming fall season.
“So I had all this time on my hands and nothing to do with it, so I signed up for a broadcast news writing course, and that sort of got me on the track, and that’s what got me into WUNH,” he said.
The course was taught by Moe Quinn, a professor at UNH and news director for WGIR in Manchester. After his days at the university, Quinn went on to an illustrious career with the Wall Street Journal radio station. He, along with former UNH journalism professor Don Murray, gave Edwards the inspiration to write in his own way and apply his own voice to all aspects of the industry.
In 1979, the year of Edwards’ graduation, he served as the play-by-play commentator for the UNH men’s hockey team with WUNH. The Wildcats made the ECAC finals at the Boston Garden (before Hockey East was developed), and Edwards had the call. The Wildcats won the game and the conference for the first time in school history, giving them an automatic bid to the NCAA Frozen Four. It was a memory Edwards won’t soon forget.
“I got to call that game; I got to sit in [former Bruins announcer] Bob Wilson’s seat,” Edwards said. “There’s no doubt, that was the thrill of a lifetime.”
That year, Edwards set three goals for himself for the future: to work at the Olympic Winter Games, to call a World Cup Final on American network television, and to eventually be the play-by-play voice of the Boston Bruins, which he thought would be the least attainable of the three. To his amazement, he was able to reach all three of his goals.
After graduation, Edwards moved on to work for WGIR, Channel 9 WMUR in New Hampshire, and then to Channel 10 in Providence, R.I. He also stepped in at Channel 5 in Boston when Keith Olbermann was fired, and worked there for three years. But it was with ABC that Edwards accomplished his first goal as the alpine skiing reporter at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games.
When he arrived back from the Olympics, his contract with ABC had expired. With the experience in Calgary, Edwards received offers from ABC again, Channel 7 in Boston had made him a generous offer, and CNN Sports and ESPN also wanted to sign the media free agent Edwards.
“For me it came down to Channel 7 in Boston or ESPN, and ESPN would not guarantee me play-by-play work,” Edwards said. “So I took the job at Channel 7, but then three years later I ended up at ESPN anyway.”
While with ABC, Edwards still attended as many Boston sporting events as he possibly could. He said that he attended almost every Bruins home game, as well as about 50 Red Sox games each summer, every home Patriots game, and about 15-20 Celtics games a year, despite not being a huge basketball aficionado.
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