Voice of the Canucks dies
Photo: BC Sports Hall of Fame
Jim Robson
Jim Robson, the legendary voice of the Vancouver Canucks, died Tuesday at the age of 91.
Robson had a 47-year career in broadcasting and was the Canucks’ first play-by-play announcer when the team entered the NHL as an expansion team on Oct. 9, 1970.
“During his entire career he never missed a broadcast due to illness,” said his entry in the BC Sports Hall of Fame, which notes he called more than 2,000 games over the span of his career.
“Wherever the Canucks went, he was there, from the last game played at the Vancouver Forum in 1968 to the first game at the Pacific Coliseum that same year and subsequently, the team’s move to General Motors Place in 1995,” said the Sports Hall of Fame.
“Robson’s voice became the soundtrack to every major Canucks moment from the early 1970s to the late 1990s.”
He retired in 1999 but was a regular fixture at Canucks games in his later years. The broadcast booth at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena is now named in his honour.
“Jim was a gentleman, a wordsmith, and a broadcaster who could paint a beautiful picture of the action with his voice and descriptions of the game,” said Jim Rutherford, Vancouver Canucks President.
“His love of hockey and this franchise was unmatched; his memory and recollection of Canucks past and present were encyclopedic; and his devotion to the franchise and the legions of fans who live, eat, and sleep everything Canucks was second to none. Losing a legend and long-time supporter is never easy, but our memories of the great Jim Robson will live on forever. On behalf of the entire hockey team and group, I extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and hockey fans everywhere.”