It was a career-affirming moment that highlighted sports radio in Philadelphia this morning. On Angelo Cataldi & The Morning Team, the show took a “secretive” call from Frank Seravalli, a hockey insider currently with The Daily Face Off. Seravalli shared the breaking news that Al Morganti was a newly minted Hall of Famer.
Seravalli began, “Al Morganti, it is my absolute honor to let you know that on behalf of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, you have been selected as the 2022 Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award winner for excellence in hockey journalism and you sir, are going to have a plaque with your name on it in the Hockey Hall Of Fame in Toronto.”
“I can’t believe this,” Morganti responded. “Thank you very much. I want to thank everybody there… I owe everything I have ever done in any aspect of work is through hockey. The people are just terrific. I haven’t worked a day of my life because I just love that game so much and I love the game because of the people in it and the people I’ve worked with in the media.
“I try to explain to people what it means to cover that game and to love that game because of the people in that game because how much it means to them. And being an American to kind of have to try spread the gospel of that game early, I’m blown away by it. Thank you so very much.”
Morganti began his career at the Boston Globe. He then covered the Atlanta Flames at the Atlanta Constitution and then the Flyers for the Philadelphia Inquirer. There he honed his skills and Seravalli noted that.
“… for that 12, 13, 14-year run he was among the very best in the world at hockey writing.”
“But at the very nexus of it, the very core of it is, I just love that game,” Morganti beamed. “I loved covering the game. I just loved being in Philadelphia covering the game because the fans were so passionate about it.”
