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Dan Kelly

1937-1989

The NHL's winningest coach reminisces about his longtime friend.

My first hockey job was in 1956 with the Junior Canadiens, just when they transferred from Montreal to Ottawa, and it was in Ottawa that I first met Dan Kelly. Though he had just come from Smiths Falls, he was a native of Ottawa, and he was doing sports for the CBC. Because his father died at a very early age, Dan's biggest influences in his life were his mom and his older brother Hal. Hal was probably 15 years older than Dan, and he had a big influence on Dan getting into the radio business originally, because Hal was a baseball announcer in Toronto. In fact, in later years Hal would pinch-hit for Dan with St. Louis in the early days when Dan had network commitments in the late 1960s. Dan always credited his brother Hal for his own success.

Dan Kelly made one of the most memorable calls in the game's history, when Bobby Orr scored the game winner in the 1970 Stanley Cup Final.

When I first heard him, Dan was already a good announcer, working for the Canadian Football League and announcing the Grey Cup, and he was doing play-by-play for the Ottawa team in the Eastern Professional Hockey League; that's how I knew what he sounded like. I got to know him pretty well during the two or three years I was in Ottawa (circa 1959), but I didn't really connect back up with Dan until 1968. I'd left Ottawa to become a scout for Montreal and then I went to St. Louis in 1966. By this time he'd become the host for Hockey Night In Canada's Montreal broadcasts, and he'd travel down from Ottawa to do the Montreal games on Saturday nights; Danny Gallivan was the play-by-play man, and Dan would do some occasional play-by-play as well. After expansion I was able to see him the few times when the Blues would travel to Montreal. In 1968, Dan did the West Division Final playoff series, St. Louis versus Minnesota, and that was the first time he was in St. Louis. The Blues went through their first year without a real broadcaster and had to get all kinds of guys doing games, and Mr. Salomon (Sid Salomon Jr., the team's owner) wanted to get a permanent announcer. He asked me who I knew and I gave him Dan's name.

By this time Dan was regarded as the up-and-coming announcer in Canada and was getting to be quite popular. I told Mr. Salomon. "Well, there's a guy who's coming up who will probably someday replace Danny Gallivan." They interviewed him and convinced Dan to come to St. Louis after the Blues completed their first season. So he actually moved to St. Louis in 1968. The move to St. Louis was a big one because Dan had a young family. He was living in Ottawa; his wife Fran is from Ottawa and most of his children were born in Ottawa. Although he traveled a lot, Dan was very close to his family and always made sure that he did a lot of things with them. Fran, who is a lovely woman, had the task of raising most of the family because Dan's travel schedule was quite hectic. But he always seemed to keep his family in the forefront and they were very closely knit. I remember he used to bring his son John to the games when John was young. Now John has taken his father's place with the Blues. Anyway, when Dan got to St. Louis he got into the scene very quickly and I think his connection with KMOX Radio really helped him. KMOX held the rights for the team, and Dan's immediate superior was Jack Buck, who was the station's sports director; he and Dan developed a very close relationship.

It didn't take long, and Dan was doing other sports. He pinch hit in the off-season when they needed a baseball announcer, and he did football for the University of Missouri. Buck didn't do much hockey, though he had during the Blues first year because he was the station's announcer, but he saw Dan's talent. Jack was a network announcer as well, and Jack's help, along with the fact that Dan was at a very good station, helped Dan when CBS was looking for an announcer for their national network hockey games. Even before he got to the networks, KMOX gave Dan a pretty good audience League-wide because the station was so powerful; it was probably the most listened to hockey station in North America, like a network because it was so powerful.

You could hear it all over Canada - west and east - and, of course, most of the NHL's players come from Canada. Even in the States, in the east, people could pick it up. The power of that station helped make it synonymous: "Dan Kelly and hockey."

Longtime St. Louis Blues announcer and Hockey Hall of Famer Dan Kelly was awarded the Lester Patrick Award for service to hockey in the United States at a special ceremony in St. Louis. Dan's son John accepted the award on behalf of his father from NHL President John Ziegler.

His personality was such that all hockey people felt very comfortable with him. They knew that if he got some information from the coach or the manager he wasn't going to bring it back to the other side. He was very private; when he talked to people from other teams he kept that to himself. That was his way, so he could do his job professionally. I used to kid him a lot. He would always come to see me for the lines and everything when I was coaching, and when you're a coach you try everybody on for information. I remember one game in St. Louis I gave him something and I said, "I'd like you to go over to the other team." I think it was Boston; they had a very strong club in the late Sixties. And he got pretty upset when I asked him to get the Boston lineup. He said, "I'm not a scout for any team. I'm a broadcaster, and if it takes that to get information from you then I don't want it." He let me know early. He wasn't afraid to let anybody know what was on his mind. I think that's what people knew about him, that there weren't two sides to him. He would come right out and say something and if you didn't like it, so what? When he announced, he was firm and would call it like it was, but he wasn't a knocker. He was positive and didn't go out of his way to really hang somebody out to dry. I think people appreciated that fact, that he wasn't just trying to make a name for himself. And Dan was always getting information because he was never comfortable doing a game unless he had gone down to the rink for practice or unless he contacted the team when it got into the city. He'd meet the club at the hotel and tape interviews; in those days, he didn't have a full-time colorman.

In the mid 80's the play-by-play was on KXOK.

But the funny thing is, I'd often ask him about a player or something, and he always said that when he was doing the play-by-play he was entirely wrapped up in the game and really couldn't give an opinion. He never felt very comfortable picking stars of the game, for that reason. He liked the life of a hockey person, and Dan liked to have an audience after games. He liked to go out because he felt good with people, he was pretty outgoing. We always kidded that people who worked for him had a tough time with their waistlines because he would have a big meal after games. That was his luxury: he knew all the fine restaurants in every city, and he liked to have people with him. And every time you went out it was to talk about hockey, what happened in that night's game or what was going to happen in the next one. Dan was an Irishman from Ottawa who didn't forget where he came from and didn't forget how he started. He was very humble, and when he got sick he didn't want a lot of people to know. At first, his reason was he didn't want his mother, an elderly lady who passed away during the summer, to know he might be as sick as he was. He didn't want to disturb her. But then, it wasn't a case of being embarrassed as much as he didn't want people to feel sorry for him. He thought he could keep going. His plan was to do as much as he could and the Blues were very supportive of him.

One of the last games he did was in Philadelphia last season, when it was something like 15 years between victories for the Blues at the Spectrum. Dan was on the East Coast getting a second opinion about his illness, and (Blues president) Jack Quinn said, "We need you to do this game." Dan had missed a lot of games by then but he went in and did that game, and his son John, who had gone to work as a play-by-play man for the Rangers, came down from New York and did part of the game with Dan. It was amazing that they were able to team up for that game, but it was just like the old days when Dan would bring John to the games. And, St. Louis won the game. Dan was always proud that he was a hockey announcer, and regardless of what the hockey was he wanted to do it-Stanley Cup, Olympics, World Championship, Canada Cup. If a network got the rights they wanted him first, and he always felt he belonged there.

If it was hockey he wanted to do it. And even though he did other sports, Dan Kelly always wanted people to know that hockey was his sport.

Legend

A great voice from hockey's past, the legendary hockey play-by-play man generated so much excitement from the broadcast booth that he did as much to help sell the expansion Blues to a new fan base as did all-stars Glenn Hall and Red Berenson.

Prior to the Blue's-KMOX job, Dan Kelly had been doing Hockey Night in Canada on the radio and began his television services in 1966. HNIC used Kelly for TV and radio whenever they could and I can't remember a Stanley Cup Final he didn't call. Hall of Fame Stuff? You bet! Listen to Kelly on a HNIC 1967 Toronto vs Montreal radio broadcast Selected by the NHL Broadcasters' Association in recognition of members of the radio and television industry who made outstanding contributions to their profession and the game during their career in hockey, Dan Kelly was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989.

KMOX, 1120 AM, was a 50,000 watt, clear channel station that you could hear most nights coast to coast. Blues fans could always feel at home no matter where they were. Even before he got to the networks, KMOX gave Dan a pretty good audience League-wide because the station was so powerful; it was probably the most listened to hockey station in North America, like a network because it was so powerful.

You could hear it all over Canada - west and east - and, of course, most of the NHL's players come from Canada. Even in the States, in the east, people could pick it up. The power of that station helped make it synonymous: "Dan Kelly and hockey." Listen to Kelly on KMOX make the calls "He Shoots, He Scores" when Berenson, on November 7, 1968 at Philadelphia tied the NHL records and set the Blues record for: 1) Most Goals, One Game: 6 and 2) Most Goals, One Period: 4 (Second Period).

Friday, February 10, 1989 - A voice that once was called the "purest, most knowledgeable, most accurate" in hockey was stilled Friday morning. St. Louis Blues broadcaster Dan Kelly, 52, died at his home in Chesterfield after a five-month struggle with cancer.

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