In the span of just a few days, the Boston sports scene bid farewell to a truly dynamic broadcasting duo – two of the region’s most recognizable, beloved, and revered voices.
After 43 years, Mike Gorman is stepping down as the lead play-by-play announcer for the Boston Celtics on NBC Sports Boston. Similarly, after a nearly two decade run, Jack Edwards is leaving his post as Boston Bruins’ play-by-play announcer on NESN. Both men will end their runs after the Celtics’ and Bruins’ local playoff telecasts.
These two Boston icons could not be more diverse in personas – the staid, understated, and even-keeled Gorman, and the brash, feisty, and hot-tempered Edwards. While both of these men have forever planted their flags firmly in Boston media soil, their respective reaches went beyond New England.
Gorman, 76, is a Dorchester, MA native. He began his career at WNBH in New Bedford, MA. He also worked for WPRI in Providence, RI, the PRISM Network, and for NBC covering the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
The multi-Emmy award winner was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004 and received the 2021 Curt Gowdy Award and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
Edwards, 67, was born in Evanston, IL and raised in Durham, NH. The University of New Hampshire grad got his first media gig as a morning news producer and reporter at WGIR-AM Radio in Manchester, NH.
He also worked at WMUR-TV in Manchester, WJAR-TV in Providence, WCVB, WHDH, and WRKO radio in Boston, ESPN, and ABC. He did play-by-play for 2002 World Cup and 1995-2002 Little League World Series and won a 1991 Emmy for Sports Reporting at ESPN.
Gorman was essentially the first ever TV voice of Big East Conference college basketball. Handpicked by Commissioner Dave Gavitt, his smooth tones signaled the dawn of one of the most successful and memorable college hoops conferences in the history of the game.
In the early 1980s it was Gorman‘s voice that became synonymous with amazing players like Patrick Ewing of Georgetown, Chris Mullin of St. Johns, Pearl Washington of Syracuse, Ed Pinckney of Villanova, and many others. Edwards, meanwhile, was an excellent SportsCenter anchor at ESPN fitting into the clever, slick, and sarcastic style of people like Rich Eisen, Kenny Mayne, Stuart Scott, and Craig Kilborn.
In their Boston broadcast booths, both men fostered unmistakable catchphrases that set them apart from the crowd. Gorman’s signature “Got it!” when a Celtics’ player hit a big shot will reverberate in Beantown forever, while Edwards’ “in your face” and “juicy rebound” will elicit smiles for years to come.
More than just broadcasters, Gorman and Edwards were as Boston as a lack of parking and bar hopping on Boylston Street. They were not just welcomed into viewers’ living rooms. They were actually a part of the living room, like a time-worn recliner or a coffee table ingrained with bottom of the glass stains.
Both men also enjoyed epic runs with longtime color analysts. Most recently, Gorman was working with Brian Scalabrine, but for 39 years, he cultivated one of sports’ longest running broadcast teams alongside Basketball Hall of Famer Tom Heinsohn who passed away in 2020.
Heinsohn was as demonstrative, loud, and boisterous as Gorman is serene, tranquil, and halcyon. Still, the pair flourished together. Gorman tells a story of how he had prepared voluminous game notes for his first broadcast with Heinsohn. Before the opening tip, Heinsohn grabbed the notes, tore them up, and threw them into the Boston garden ether. As Gorman relates, Heinsohn wanted the pair to talk about what they saw on the court, not on a piece of paper.
Edwards’ NESN partner, former NHL player Andy Brickley, is one of the best hockey color analysts not only in Boston, but on the national scene as well. The pair worked in smooth synchronicity like a center and winger on the ice. Edwards was unafraid to criticize, bristle, and chastise opposing players while Brickley reeled things in knowing the game inside, outside, over, under, through, and any other preposition you can choose.
Like any good play-by-play and color analyst team, Gorman and Heinsohn and Edwards and Brickley complemented each other tremendously. Use whatever comparison you want, the Yin and Yang, words and music, or peanut butter and jelly. Although with Edwards, there may have been a little bit of Fluffernutter in there as well.
Many would say that it is easier to create a lasting broadcast presence locally than nationally. I beg to differ. In fact, it is even more difficult especially in four sport, hardscrabble, gritty, and often pessimistic cities like Boston, New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia.
Both Edwards and Gorman had pretty impressive predecessors. Men like Bob Wilson, Fred Cusick, Dale Arnold, and others graced the Boston Garden calling Bruins games. Similarly, the likes of Len Berman, Roger Twibell, Bob Cousy, Glenn Ordway, and others called Celtics hoops over the years.
It takes longevity, work, talent, and time to create the legends that are Mike Gorman and Jack Edwards. I had the pleasure of interviewing both men on a number of occasions over the years and talking to them off air was no different than listening to them on air.
Gorman is the epitome of class and cooperation – extremely conversational and wonderful in sharing an open exchange of thoughts. Edwards is a bit more of a wild child – ultra candid, unapologetic, and willing to go places others would not dare tread.
Gorman perfectly balanced his role as narrator, pace setter, and straight man for the explosive personalities of Heinsohn and Scalabrine. I once asked him about his style and he answered, “I try to be non-intrusive, hopefully adding to the viewing experience without interrupting it. A little humor every now and then helps, and knowing when to be quiet is all important. Play-by-play is supposed to be spontaneous, not planned.”
When Edwards took over full-time duties as the Bruins’ TV voice on NESN in 2007, I asked him the same question, and he replied, “The model play-by-play guy is very vanilla. I’m a Heath bar crunch sundae. I am good at getting the facts, but I always try to convey something on another level, and that has gotten me into a lot of hot water. I am intense. My job is to identify the drama in a game and relate it to the viewer.”
Amen to both. Edwards’ perch high above rink side and Gorman’s courtside seat will be filled by young broadcasters who will stake their claims and establish their legacies, but they will never be Mike Gorman or Jack Edwards, two men whose styles, while different, were similarly captivating.
And while they will no longer sidle up to the microphone or slap on the headset, their echoes live. Old broadcasters never truly go away. Their voices remain in the sports’ consciousness, like a Larry Bird jump shot, a Bobby Orr goal, or remnants of cigar smoke wafting through the Boston Garden rafters.
John Molori is a weekly columnist for Barrett Sports Media. He has previously contributed to ESPNW, Patriots Football Weekly, Golf Content Network, Methuen Life Magazine, and wrote a syndicated Media Blitz column in the New England region, which was published by numerous outlets including The Boston Metro, Providence Journal, Lowell Sun, and the Eagle-Tribune. His career also includes fourteen years in television as a News and Sports Reporter, Host, Producer working for Continental Cablevision, MediaOne, and AT&T. He can be reached on Twitter @MoloriMedia.
