After more than 50 years as a sports broadcaster, Mike “Doc” Emrick is calling it a career. In an interview with the New York Post, Emrick. who has called many iconic NHL moments, revealed that he’s retiring from broadcasting.
“I hope I can handle retirement OK,” Emrick said. “especially since I’ve never done it before. But I’ve just been extremely lucky for 50 years. And NBC has been so good to me, especially since the pandemic, when I was allowed to work from home in a studio NBC created.
“Now, into my golden years, this just seemed to be the time that was right.”
The 74-year old began his broadcasting career in 1973 when he became the radio play-by-play voice of the Port Huron Flags in the International Hockey League. In addition, Emrick worked in the public relations department for the team in Michigan, which is where he lives today. Just four years later, Emrick joined the AHL’s Maine Mariners and called the franchise’s two Calder Cup championships in 1978 and 1979. He was nicknamed “Doc” after he’d earned a Ph.D in communications from Bowling Green in 1976.
Emrick climbed into the NHL ranks in 1982 when he became the play-by-play voice of the New Jersey Devils. He remained with the team until 1986. Emrick also worked for the Philadelphia Flyers from 1983 to 1986 where he was an announcer and in-studio analyst when he wasn’t calling games for the club. In 1988, Emrick was promoted to the lead play-by-play voice for the Flyers local television station and remained there until 1993.
In 1993, Emrick returned to the Devils as he replaced Gary Thorne as the team’s play-by-play announcer and remained there until July 2011. For the remainder of his career, Emrick called national games for NBC Sports, CBS, ABC, TNT, ESPN, and Fox Sports among others.
Emrick has really done it all when it comes to broadcasting and he’s called some of hockey’s most exciting moments. From countless Stanley Cup Finals to Winter Classics to Olympic gold medal games, there’s nothing that Emrick hasn’t done. When you think about a historic NHL moment on a big stage, it’s likely that Emrick called it.
— CBS SPORTS