Brian McFarlane

Last updated
Brian McFarlane
Born (1931-08-10) August 10, 1931 (age 92)
New Liskeard, Ontario, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Alma mater St. Lawrence University
Occupation(s)Sportscaster, author

Brian McFarlane CM (born August 10, 1931) is a Canadian television sportscaster and author. He is also the Honorary President of the Society for International Hockey Research. He is the son of writer Leslie McFarlane. He is best known as a broadcaster on Hockey Night In Canada and as an author of hockey books.

Contents

Biography

Early life and career

Brian McFarlane was raised in Whitby and Ottawa Ontario. He attended St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, on a hockey scholarship, graduating in 1955. In his four years he scored 101 goals for the Skating Saints, which remains a St. Lawrence record. On three occasions, he scored five goals in a game, a school record shared with several others. McFarlane was honoured as an All-American in 1952.

After graduating, he worked in television at WRGB in Schenectady, New York, before moving to CFRB Radio in Toronto, Ontario and then CFCF-TV in Montreal, Quebec (where he was sports director) and CFTO TV in Toronto. He had a lengthy career in broadcasting and journalism.

National Hockey League broadcasting

He is best known as a color commentator and studio host on Hockey Night in Canada, beginning in 1964. He made similar broadcasts on NHL games for the major American networks CBS, NBC, and ESPN. He was a colour commentator on Toronto Maple Leafs local telecasts until 1980, when he made on-air comments that were supportive of Leaf captain Darryl Sittler and critical of Leafs owner Harold Ballard. He was subsequently banned from the Maple Leaf Gardens press box. For Hockey Night in Canada, he was moved off Toronto games at this point, broadcasting the Montreal Canadiens and Winnipeg Jets games as the host. His last year with HNIC was 1991, ending a 28-year association with HNIC. [1] [2]

Peter Puck connection

McFarlane is often incorrectly cited as the creator or father of the cartoon character Peter Puck. The cartoon puck, which appeared on both NBC's Hockey Game of the Week and CBC's Hockey Night in Canada during the 1970s, was actually the creation of NBC executive Donald Carswell, although McFarlane had significant input. The character itself and the animation footage was created by NBC's production partner, Hanna-Barbera. After the network stopped carrying NHL hockey, McFarlane purchased the rights to Peter Puck from Hanna-Barbera and continued to promote the character. [3]

Writing career

As of 2010, McFarlane had written 96 (with one in the works) books on hockey, selling over 1.3 million books. His first book, 50 Years of Hockey (Pagurian Press) was published in 1968 and he continues to write about hockey. McFarlane is an expert on hockey history and has compiled several volumes of NHL lore titled It Happened in Hockey, a 1999 series detailing the colourful history of the Original Six NHL teams, and "Proud Past Bright Future," the history of Women's Hockey (1994, Stoddard, ISBN   0-7737-2836-8). He published two memoirs, Brian McFarlane's World of Hockey (2000, Stoddart Publishing, ISBN   0-7737-3263-2) republished as Colour Commentary (2009, Key Porter, ISBN   978-1-55267-600-4) and From The Broadcast Booth (2009, Fenn, ISBN   978-1-55168-327-0). In 2008, he began a youth fiction series The Mitchell Brothers which always features hockey in the plots. [4]

Personal life

Throughout his career, McFarlane collected much memorabilia, photos, and objects focusing primarily on hockey history. In 2006, Brian sold most of his hockey collection to the Municipality of Clarington, where it became Total Hockey, a multimedia, interactive museum located at the Garnet B. Rickard Recreation Complex in Bowmanville. The museum was closed in 2007 and the collection was sold to an Edmonton-based collector in 2013. Plans for the collection have not been made public, but McFarlane was assured by the purchaser that the collection would be preserved and made available to the public at some point.

From his teenage years, McFarlane was interested in painting. In semi-retirement he began painting regularly producing several hundred paintings, mostly in the Group-of-Seven style of Canadian landscapes. McFarlane has since become an accomplished painter, exhibiting professionally. In 2022, he was named to Order of Canada for his contributions to the sport for "well over a half century." [5]

McFarlane currently resides in the Greater Toronto area.

Achievements

Bibliography

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References

  1. ↑ Stubbs, Dave. "Hockey Pictorial mystery leads down memory lane with McFarlane". NHL.com. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  2. ↑ Bramburger, Jamie (December 28, 2021). "Brian McFarlane remembers his hockey life". Pembroke Observer . Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  3. ↑ McFarlane, Brian (2015-04-28). Peter Puck and the Stolen Stanley Cup. Geri Storey. FENN-TUNDRA. ISBN   978-1-77049-581-4.
  4. ↑ Duhatschek, Eric. "Duhatschek Notebook: How CBC legend Brian McFarlane is spending his golden years, Gord Sherven's busy Christmas". The Athletic. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  5. ↑ "Hockey commentator Brian McFarlane appointed to Order of Canada | Watch News Videos Online". Global News. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  6. ↑ "Brian McFarlane". oshof.ca. Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  7. ↑ "Governor General Announces 114 New Appointments to the Order of Canada". 26 November 2020.
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