Steve Armitage (born 20 June 1944) is a retired British-born

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

reporter, formerly with CBC Sports. He reported on and hosted '' Hockey Night in Canada'' broadcasts for the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...

for nearly 30 years, the

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and Grey Cup for 30 years, the Olympics including speed skating, swimming and diving, and the World Cup.

Early life and education

Born in

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, UK, he was raised in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He attended Saint Mary's University, Halifax where he played football

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

, graduating in 1968 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree.

Career

In 1965, he began working at CBC on a part time basis in Halifax, writing the late night sportscast. In 1973, he moved to Vancouver, joining Bill Good Jr. at CBC Vancouver covering local and national sports. Armitage won the 1982 ACTRA Foster Hewitt Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting and he was nominated for a Gemini Award in 1998 for his coverage of speed skating at the Winter Olympics. In 2006, he was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame. Armitage was one of the two play-by-play announcers (the other being Nigel Reed) announcing for CBC Sports in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Paul Dolan was the analyst alongside Armitage. He reported the swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics for CBC. Armitage was laid off by the CBC in August 2014 due to cuts to sports programming and the loss of hockey coverage to Rogers Media. He did, however, return to work for CBC at the 2018 and 2022 Olympics to call events such as long track speed skating. Armitage announced his retirement at the conclusion of the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

References

External links

CBC biography of Steve Armitage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Armitage, Steve 1944 births Canadian soccer commentators Canadian Football League announcers Canadian expatriates in England Canadian colour commentators Canadian television sportscasters CBC Television people English emigrants to Canada Living people National Hockey League broadcasters North American Soccer League (1968–1984) commentators Olympic Games broadcasters People from High Wycombe Players of Canadian football from Nova Scotia Saint Mary's Huskies football players Saint Mary's University (Halifax) alumni Swimming commentators Canadian Screen Award winning sportscasters