Michael "Doc" Emrick was born on August 1,1946 and is an American former network television play-by-play sportscaster and commentator noted mostly for his work in ice hockey.
41 Facts About Mike Emrick
2.
Mike Emrick was the lead announcer for National Hockey League national telecasts on both NBC and NBCSN.
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Mike Emrick has won nine national Emmy Awards for excellence in sports broadcasting, the only hockey broadcaster to be honored with even one.
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On December 12,2011, Mike Emrick became the first member of the media to be inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
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Mike Emrick had his sights set on being a baseball announcer before attending his first hockey game on December 10,1960 at Fort Wayne's Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, when the Fort Wayne Komets hosted the Muskegon Zephyrs.
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Mike Emrick soon began to call Komets games into a tape recorder, and was mentored by longtime broadcaster Bob Chase.
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Mike Emrick graduated from Southwood Junior-Senior High School in Wabash, Indiana, in 1964.
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Mike Emrick taught speech and broadcasting at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania from 1969 to 1971 and got his first experience of the NHL covering the Pittsburgh Penguins as an unpaid correspondent for The Beaver County Times newspaper.
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Mike Emrick began sportscasting professionally in 1973 when he was hired by Port Huron Flags' GM Morris Snider to do play-by-play on WHLS radio and public relations for the IHL team.
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Mike Emrick wore several hats in the 1980s working for the Philadelphia Flyers.
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For four of those years, Mike Emrick was paired with former NHLer and national hockey broadcaster Bill Clement.
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Mike Emrick announced the Devils' 1995 Stanley Cup victory alongside color commentator John Davidson for the national United States broadcast on Fox.
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Mike Emrick has done play-by-play for CBS, NBC, ABC, TNT, ESPN, Fox, CSTV, SportsChannel America, SportsChannel Philadelphia, PRISM, Fox Sports Net, and others.
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Mike Emrick was the lead play-by-play announcer for The NHL on ESPN from 1986 to 1988 alongside lead color commentator Bill Clement.
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Mike Emrick became the lead play-by-play announcer for the NHL on Fox, calling regular-season games and Stanley Cup Finals from 1995 to 1999.
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Mike Emrick only called select playoff games at the time, but he did file reports for ABC Sports and ESPN's Stanley Cup Finals coverage.
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Mike Emrick called the top Conference Final and the entire Stanley Cup Finals for both networks.
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Mike Emrick has called games in 22 Stanley Cup Finals on TV, more than any other American broadcaster.
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Mike Emrick has called 14 NHL All-Star Games for NBC, Fox, OLN, VERSUS and ESPN.
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Mike Emrick called the 1996 World Cup of Hockey for the Prime Network and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey for ESPN.
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Mike Emrick has worked during the Olympics, twice for CBS and once for TNT.
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One notable assignment for Mike Emrick was the first game for Brett Favre as a member of the Green Bay Packers, including the first pass Favre ever threw as a Packer, which ended up being to himself.
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Mike Emrick called the National Lacrosse League All-Star Game and Championship Game while at NBC.
24.
On July 21,2011, Mike Emrick announced that he was leaving the New Jersey Devils to work exclusively for NBC Sports.
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On May 5,2014, EA Sports announced that Mike Emrick would provide play-by-play commentary for NHL 15 along color commentator Eddie Olczyk and "Inside-the-Glass" reporter Ray Ferraro.
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On October 19,2020, following a season calling hockey games remotely from his home in Michigan due to restrictions imposed by the national outbreak of coronavirus disease, Mike Emrick announced his retirement from broadcasting.
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At the time of his retirement, Mike Emrick released a video essay in which he declared:.
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Mike Emrick was paired on commentary with Matt Millen in 1992 and Hank Stram in 1993 and Week 5 of the 1992 season.
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Notably, Mike Emrick was the announcer for Brett Favre's first NFL start in 1992, wherein Favre's first completed pass was deflected to himself.
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However, Mike Emrick's most famous and unique saying is "my goodness" usually being said when there is a remarkable save by a goaltender or when there is a sequence of plays having high amounts of "energy" on the ice.
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Mike Emrick employs an unusual vocabulary to describe play-by-play action, referring to a goaltender's equipment as "paraphernalia", for instance.
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Mike Emrick is a founding member, and still president, of the NHL Pronunciation Guide, which is used as a guide for all NHL broadcasters for some of hockey's most difficult names.
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Mike Emrick is Vice President of the NHL Broadcaster's Association, and he is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee.
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Mike Emrick hosted a weekly podcast on iTunes called "Mike Emrick's Angle" which offers his current thoughts on the NHL.
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Mike Emrick grew up listening to Bob Prince on KDKA Radio.
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Mike Emrick attended a game in which Garrett Jones became the first Pirates player to hit a home run into the Allegheny River on the fly.
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In 2016, Mike Emrick attended Pirates spring training in Bradenton, Florida and called a few innings of one game on television and radio with Pirates broadcasters Greg Brown and John Wehner.
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On July 8,2016, Mike Emrick called his first MLB regular-season game at PNC Park, when the Pirates hosted the Chicago Cubs for MLB Network.
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When his NBC broadcast schedule permitted, Mike Emrick travelled to Hershey, Pennsylvania, each year to announce the Hershey Bears' Hall of Fame inductees.
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Mike Emrick has voiced the narration for the American Hockey League Hall of Fame's induction videos, and returned to Hershey in 2011 to serve as TV play-by-play voice for the AHL All-Star Game.
41.
Mike Emrick is a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991.