CHICAGO — When he began broadcasting Chicago Blackhawks games at the start of the 1980-81 season, Pat Foley wanted fans to know he wasn’t going to be another old-school announcer.
“I try to be as well-prepared as possible and stay on top of the action,” he told the Chicago Tribune’s Neil Milbert. “But I also try to have a little fun on the air. I think when people leave work, they want to leave their worries behind.
“This is a hockey game. If you can’t have fun doing a job like this, let’s face it, you’re a boring guy.”
Foley has been called a thing or two during his four decades as a hockey announcer, but boring is not one of them. And when he calls his final game Thursday night at the United Center, where the Hawks play the San Jose Sharks, an era of classic Chicago sports announcers will come to an end.
Chicago is a sports town where the announcer is more than just a play-by-play man. He’s an entertainer and a critic, the voice of sanity when things are going poorly and the life of the party when things are going well.
Foley’s years as voice of the Blackhawks ran the gamut, from the worst of times to a dynasty to making a few controversial on-air comments in recent years that drew criticism. He paid the price for his honesty, leading to two years in exile from the West Side, but he returned for the Hawks renaissance that resulted in three Stanley Cups.
Now the Hawks are going through another valley, finishing a dismal season that mostly will be remembered for the ugly revelations of the Kyle Beach incident and the embarrassing eruption of Chairman Rocky Wirtz at a town hall meeting.
It’s not exactly the way to send off a legendary announcer like Foley, but you can’t change the past or airbrush the present. For one night Hawks fans can sit back and enjoy the final call of a man who brought a lot of joy into their lives. For one night they can leave their worries behind.
Foley on Wednesday was working on his speech and said of all the tributes: “I’m tired of me already.”
The Hawks announced in June that this would be Foley’s 39th and final season in the booth. And on April 3, Chris Vosters was named Foley’s successor.
“Folks, Blackhawks broadcasting is in good hands,” Foley said that night, giving Vosters the seal of approval.
Replacing Foley won’t be easy, as we saw this season when the team used a revolving door of voices during games he was off. But few thought anyone could replace the great Lloyd Pettit, the soundtrack of our winters when Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita made the old Chicago Stadium roar to the rafters.
How wrong we were.
Foley leaves with no regrets and a ton of memories.
“I really like still doing the games, love the challenge and get pumped up doing it,” he said Wednesday night. “But it’s the rigmarole, the surrounding stuff that comes with it. I just don’t need that stuff anymore.”
Foley grew up in Glenview, Ill., listening to Pettit’s calls, telling the Tribune’s Ed Sherman in 2014 he was “that kid who had the transistor radio under the pillow just loud enough to hear Lloyd.” After attending Michigan State and calling minor league games in Grand Rapids, Mich., Foley sent a resume and tapes to the late Hawks owner Bill Wirtz, father of Rocky and grandfather of CEO Danny Wirtz.
After making his Hawks debut on WYEN-FM, Foley said, “Then I started making a pest of myself. To think that I’d be calling the shots one day was a dream that seemed far-fetched.”
With Tony Esposito in goal and Tom Lysiak recording a hat trick, the Hawks beat the Washington Capitals, 8-4, at the Stadium in Foley’s first game on Oct. 19, 1980. Mikita’s No. 21 was retired that night, the Hawks scored a fluke goal when a pitchout by the Capitals’ Paul Mulvey went the length of the ice and ricocheted off his goalie and into the net, and a fan jumped onto the ice and took a seat in the penalty box before security escorted him out of the Stadium.
“Afterward, I sat there and looked back on the game,” Foley told the Tribune the next day. “And I said to myself: ‘This is the NHL?’ People shooting into the wrong goal on the other end of the rink? Bozos coming out of the stands to run on the ice?”
It was the start of a love affair between Foley and Hawks fans that would last decades.
His fluent descriptions of Denis Savard’s spin-o-ramas, dramatic saves by goalie Murray Bannerman (“Baaaannerman!”) and epic brawls with the Minnesota North Stars made him as popular with Hawks fans as Harry Caray was with Cubs Nation.
But the Hawks fell on hard times in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and Foley was abruptly let go in May 2006. The Hawks released a cryptic statement that read: “Due to recent circumstances, the Blackhawks today have withdrawn their contract offer to Mr. Foley.”
The team never explained the reasoning but insisted it wanted to retain Foley for radio broadcasts on WSCR-AM.
“We spoke with Pat directly, and he understands why we did what we did,” a Hawks spokesman said.
Transparency wasn’t in their DNA, even back then.
Foley quickly caught on with the Wolves and refused to watch Hawks games.
“I leave there with my head held very high,” he told Tribune columnist Steve Rosenbloom after taking the Wolves job. “I did a very good job for that franchise and for those people for a very long time. But now that chapter’s over.
“Listen, I’ve always tried to paint the team that I’m covering in the best light that I can, but there has to be an element of truth in what you’re telling the fans. You can’t fool the fans and there’s no sense trying.”
While negotiating to become the Hawks president in 2007, John McDonough made it a condition that he could rehire Foley when Foley’s contract with the Wolves ended. The two had four brief meetings before a deal was struck.
“Their approach was: ‘We’d love to have you back,’ ” Foley said upon his return. “I said: ‘OK. Sounds good to me.’ … I didn’t need an apology or anything like that. What happened, happened. It was done by different people, and they’re not around anymore. All they needed to do was say: ‘We’d love to have you back.’ ”
Foley returned in time for the biggest changes in Blackhawks history. Rocky Wirtz took over after his father’s death and committed to bringing the team into the 21st century.
The Hawks began televising all of their home games for the first time on Comcast SportsNet and WGN-9 in 2008-09 after decades of criticism over an anachronistic blackout policy. And Foley was back behind the mic for the new era, led by a pair of precocious kids, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, who revitalized the franchise.
The Hawks would go on to win three Stanley Cups in 2010, ‘13 and ‘15, with Foley and Eddie Olczyk bringing the buzz into our living rooms.
“Some people want to compliment me on telling it like it is,” he said Wednesday. “But Bill, Michael and Rocky Wirtz were the reason I could do that. They didn’t mind hearing the truth. I asked Rocky recently, ‘What’s the maddest you’ve ever been at me?’ He said he didn’t have anything. Of course, they were winning when I came back.
“I did it and would’ve done it anyway, but remember, I was allowed to speak my mind. All it means is that I would’ve been fired sooner (without ownership’s support).”
Foley’s finale Thursday figures to be an emotional night at the United Center as Hawks fans say goodbye to a broadcaster who was much more than just another voice.
Foley called it like he saw it — the Chicago way — from beginning to end.
