HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES!!!

On this date in 1902, broadcasting pioneer, Foster Hewitt, was born in Toronto, Ontario. He is the father of hockey play-by-play, and is noted for his signature call of "He shoots, he scorers!"

At the start of his career, calling Leaf games on the radio, Hewitt was perched in the rafters at Arena Gardens on Mutual Street. But that all changed when the Leafs moved to Maple Leaf Gardens, which was located at 60 Carlton Street.

During the summer of 1931,  Hewitt and Allan Thomson, who owned the construction company that was hired to build the Gardens, travelled to the Eaton's department store on Albert Street to do some research. The two men stopped at each floor and immediately went to the windows to observe the crowd below. They were determined to discover the best vantage point for Hewitt to broadcast the games from the Gardens.

Scott Young, in his book on Hewitt, described the results of their exploration.

By the end of the afternoon the decision had been made. From the fifth floor, Foster could pick out a woman with tight shoes and a man with some distinguishing mark, such as pencils in his in pocket or an unbuttoned jacket, could lose them in the crowd and pick them out again without difficulty. The fifth floor of the building was fifty-six feet above the street. Foster decided that his broadcast booth would be fifty-six feet above the ice surface.

Hewitt's new home at Maple Leaf Gardens would be known as the Gondola.

Recently, I had the pleasure of having an exclusive tour of the Leafs current home, the Scotiabank Arena. The tour included a stop at The Foster Hewitt Media Gondola. Although it is a different era, and different building, I couldn't help but think of Foster Hewitt, as I stopped at the radio booth and  visited with the current broadcast team of Joe Bowen and Jim Ralph.

Happy Birthday, Foster Hewitt.