One of the most recognizable voices in the history of Boston radio and television, Fred Cusick, is dead at the age of 90.
Although his broadcasting career----nearly all of it in sports----spanned seven decades (as recently as a couple of years back, he called Cape Cod League baseball games online), he will be best remembered as the longtime radio, and then TV, play-by-play voice of the Boston Bruins hockey team.
Cusick called the Bruins off-and-on (but more on than off) from 1952 until 1997. Among others, he called games of the 1970 and 1972 Stanley Cup championship clubs, the last game at the old Boston Garden (a preseason game against Montreal in 1995) and the first game at the TD Garden (the regular-season opener against the New York Islanders about a week later).
Outside of the Boston area, Cusick will be best remembered as the first to do play-by-play of the National Hockey League on network television in the United States. From the 1956/57 through the 1959/60 seasons, Cusick called a weekly Saturday-afternoon NHL game on CBS television.
Cusick's career was so lengthy that he had several broadcast partners. But perhaps the best known were two former Bruin players who he covered during their playing days before joining him in the booth. During the 1969/70 regular-season on radio and from 1971/72 through 1984/85 on TV, Cusick was paired with Johnny Pierson. Later, Cusick worked games with another former Boston great, Derek Sanderson.
Both Pierson and Sanderson were ranked among the top analysts on local NHL telecasts; perhaps a major reason why was that they worked alongside Cusick and learned a lot about broadcasting hockey from him.
Boston Globe story: http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/extras/bruins_blog/2009/09/legendary_voice.html .
Boston Globe obituary: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/09/16/fred_cusick_at_90_the_velvety_voice_of_the_bruins_for_decades/ .
On a personal note: Although I never met Fred Cusick, I did do play-by-play of high-school hockey games for the local cable-access channel in my hometown for several years from the mid-1980's through the early 1990's. While my play-by-play style was an "mix" of several top play-by-play men (including such announcers as Bob Wilson, the longtime radio voice of the Bruins, and the late Dan Kelly), my style did include a little Fred Cusick, especially his landmark "Scoooorrrreeeee!" after a big goal.
Ironically, Cusick died just hours before the Bruins began their 2009 pre-season schedule and the day before he was due to be inducted into the Massachusertts Broadcasters Hall Of Fame.
One thing many Bostonians may not know was that Cusick was the first radio play-by-play voice of the then-Boston Patriots in 1960, when the American Football League started-up.