Legendary B.C. sports broadcaster John McKeachie dies at 82

John McKeachie in 1995. Photo by Province file photo /PNG

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John McKeachie always stood out among local sportscasters.

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For one, he was taller — six-foot-six.

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He would also get so excited doing a broadcast he’d speed up and garble words. Other broadcasters would joke he’d “McKeachied it.”

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But they said it with affection. McKeachie was well-regarded by his peers during a long, fruitful career on Vancouver TV and radio, and this year was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in the media category.

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Sadly, his health declined in recent years. He died at Vancouver General Hospital on Aug. 11, surrounded by his family. He was 82. No cause of death has been released.

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“I think at the end of the day, he just kind of ran out of gas,” said his brother Bob.

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John Douglas McKeachie was born in Victoria on Dec. 6, 1943. Sports was in his blood, but so was sports reporting.

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His father Ian was a member of the 1945-46 Victoria Dominoes basketball team, who are also in the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame. His uncle Al Walker was a sports columnist and editor for the Victoria Times.

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Wrestler Gene Kiniski (L) and broadcaster John McKeachie were among the many who attended the funeral for Province sports writer Jim Coleman at St. Mary’s Anglican Church. Photo by JON MURRAY /PROVINCE

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John McKeachie was also a good basketball player, playing for the University of Victoria. The Victoria Dominoes once beat the famed Harlem Globetrotters, and in John’s time, UVic’s coach set out to beat another barnstorming comedy team, the Harlem Clowns.

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The Clowns were not amused with UVic’s hard play, and decided to send UVic a message.

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“John was going up for a rebound,” said Bob. “He got elbowed in the face, and broke his jaw. His jaw was wired shut for many months.”

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When he recovered he started doing sports reporting with CKDA, a Victoria radio station. He came to Vancouver to work for CKNW, and in 1975 moved to BCTV.

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He was aware of his McKeachie-isms.

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“I talk too fast,” he told the Sun’s Don Stanley on Sept. 30, 1975. “That’s no good for television. They tell me my eyes wander, too. You look up from the copy and there’s nothing to see but a black hole.”

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But Stanley wrote that even though McKeachie sometimes “was tripping over every third sentence,” his “enthusiasm makes us forgive everything.”

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In fact, his McKeachie-isms endeared him to his audience. He was an Everyman, someone who was as obsessed with sports as his audience.

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“I think he talked like a regular guy,” said his brother.

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At one point, McKeachie was so popular he was on the BCTV News Hour, Vancouver Canucks broadcasts, and on Hockey Night in Canada. He was on CTV’s Olympics team in 1992 and 1994, and The Province recruited him to write a column.

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But being popular doesn’t always cut it in the media business. In Oct., 1996 BCTV decided to replace the old guard in its nightly newscasts (McKeachie and Bernie Pascall) with the much-younger Squire Barnes.

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The move was criticized by his media colleagues, but McKeachie took it well.