Every major sports moment has a play-by-play call that helped elevate it into history. Among those moments: Al Michaels’ well-known “Do you believe in miracles?” call from the U.S. men’s hockey team upsetting the Soviet Union in Lake Placid on Feb. 22, 1980.
What many don’t realize is that Michaels wasn’t the only announcer in the building that day.
A tiny Adirondacks-based radio station was broadcasting live as the “Miracle on Ice” unfolded.
What You Need To Know
Al Michaels will forever be connected with the ‘Miracle on Ice’ thanks to his TV call in the game’s final seconds
ABC was not the only broadcast team in the building that day; WNBZ, a small AM radio station in Saranac Lake, had a live play-by-play call of the game
WNBZ’s Sandy Caligiore also called the U.S. hockey victory a ‘miracle’ in his broadcast
“I thought, no matter what I do, where I go, what happens to me, this experience will top them all,” said former WNBZ play-by-play announcer Sandy Caligiore.
In 1980, Caligiore worked for the small AM radio station in Saranac Lake, just outside of Lake Placid. He and his broadcast partner, Tom Fisch, found themselves in the middle of the epic Olympic upset.
“Back then, media coverage, whether it was local or from afar, was encouraged. All we had to do was say ‘we’re going to broadcast these last couple of games,’ ” Caligiore said.
“It’s absolute pandemonium. It’s like Times Square at New Year’s Eve with the ball dropping. Everybody going crazy,” Caligiore said in reference to the moments after Mike Eruzione scored the go-ahead goal for the U.S. with 10 minutes left in the game.
He said it only got crazier as those final seconds ticked off. Two days after that U.S. victory, Caligiore was back on the mic as the U.S. defeated Finland to win the gold medal.
“We both use the M [miracle] word. We both use the B [believe] word,” Caligiore said, referring to himself and Michaels. “So, when you see the similarities, you think ‘well, it must have been a miracle.’ “