Johnny Esaw, CM (June 11, 1925 – April 6, 2013) was a

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 ...

of Assyrian descent, a sports broadcaster and television network executive. He was a pioneer of sports broadcasting in Canada, best known for his involvement with figure skating, football, and international hockey.

Early broadcasting career

Born in

North Battleford North Battleford is a city in west-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the seventh largest city in the province and is directly across the North Saskatchewan River from the town of Battleford. Together, the two communities are known as "The B ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, Esaw was unsuccessfully selling insurance in 1947 when

Emile Francis Emile Percival Francis (September 13, 1926 – February 19, 2022), nicknamed "The Cat", was a Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and general manager in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Chicago Black Hawks and New York Rangers f ...

hired him to cover semi-professional baseball games on radio station

CJNB CJNB is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts a country format at 1050 AM in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Owned by the Jim Pattison Group, it is headquartered alongside its sister stations CJCQ-FM and CJHD-FM at 1711 100th Street in North ...

in North Battleford. In 1949, he moved to a bigger market in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

CKRM CKRM is an AM radio station in Regina, Saskatchewan, broadcasting at 620 kHz. Owned by Harvard Media, CKRM broadcasts a full service country format. Alongside music programming, CKRM is notably the flagship station of the Saskatchewan Ro ...

, where he worked until 1956. He provided play-by-play coverage of the 1951

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

game from

Varsity Stadium Varsity Stadium is an outdoor collegiate stadium located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the "Varsity Centre & Arena", a sports complex at the University of Toronto's St. George Campus. Athletic events have been hosted on the site ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

—the beginning of what became a long affiliation with the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

. In 1956, Esaw became sports director of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

's CKRC.

Moves to television

Esaw made the transition to television late in 1960, becoming sports director of

CFTO-TV CFTO-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Barrie-based CTV 2 flagship CKVR-DT, channel ...

's first privately owned TV station, as it prepared for launch.

Foster Hewitt Foster William Hewitt, (November 21, 1902 – April 21, 1985) was a Canadian radio broadcaster most famous for his play-by-play calls for ''Hockey Night in Canada''. He was the son of W. A. Hewitt, and the father of Bill Hewitt. Early life ...

was an early investor in the station and helped persuade Esaw to move east. CFTO was part of the

CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned List of Canadian ...

, and Esaw headed negotiations for the broadcast rights for many prominent sports events. Under Esaw,

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...

received significant coverage on CFTO and across CTV, making national stars out of Canadian world champions Donald Jackson and

Otto Jelinek Otto John Jelinek (Czech: Otakar Jelínek; born May 20, 1940) is a businessman, former figure skater, and Canadian politician. Jelinek's family fled to Switzerland, then to Canada from Czechoslovakia in 1948, following the Communist coup d'� ...

& Maria Jelinek. Esaw worked with

Roone Arledge Roone Pinckney Arledge Jr. (July 8, 1931 – December 5, 2002) was an American sports and news broadcasting executive who was president of ABC Sports from 1968 until 1986 and ABC News from 1977 until 1998, and a key part of the company's rise ...

, head of

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

Sports to secure North American rights to the world figure skating championships. CTV and ABC also partnered in bringing '' Wide World of Sports'' to Canada."CTV Signs 'Wide World of Sports'". ''

Ottawa Journal The ''Ottawa Journal'' was a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, from 1885 to 1980. It was founded in 1885 by A. Woodburn as the ''Ottawa Evening Journal''. Its first editor was John Wesley Dafoe who came from the ...

'', May 30, 1964. Esaw also brought the

1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 (), were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964. The city was a ...

to CTV and bought the rights to the 1972 Canada-Russia

Summit Series The Summit Series, Super Series 72, Canada–USSR Series (), or Series of the Century (), was an eight-game ice hockey series between the Soviet Union and Canada, held in September 1972. It was the first competition between the Soviet nation ...

(the broadcasts ended up being shared with

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

). Esaw hosted the English-language telecasts and is best remembered for conducting the famous post-game interview with

Phil Esposito Philip Anthony Esposito ( , ; born February 20, 1942) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, coach and executive, and current broadcaster for the Tampa Bay Lightning. A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, he played 18 seasons in ...

following Game 4 in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. He was also the lead play-by-play man for the '' CFL on CTV'' from 1962 until 1973 and then the host from 1974 until 1986.

A network executive

In 1974, Esaw became vice-president of CTV Sports, a position he held until his retirement in 1990. He negotiated the host broadcasting rights to the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Calgary 1988 were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Calgary, Alberta as the main host city. This marks the m ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

. After retiring from CTV, Esaw joined Houston Group as vice-president of broadcasting operations and remained in that role after Houston was acquired by

Edelman Edelman is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Abram M. Edelman, (1863–1941), American architect * Abram Wolf Edelman (a.k.a. Abraham Edelman; 1832–1907), Polish-born American rabbi; the first rabbi in Los Angeles, California ...

, the world's largest

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

firm. With Edelman, Esaw worked on several sports events, including golf tournaments, tennis, and motor sports. He retired in 1996 at the age of 71. Esaw died in Toronto at age 87 on April 6, 2013, of respiratory problems.

Honours

Esaw was inducted into the Canadian Football Reporters Hall of Fame (1984), the

Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame The Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame is an honour roll of the top Canadian Olympic athletes, teams, coaches, and builders (officials, administrators, and volunteers). It was established in 1949. Selections are made by a committee appointed by the Cana ...

(1991),

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada, it serves as a hall of fame and mu ...

(1991), the Canadian Amateur Sports Hall of Fame (1991), the North Battleford Sports Hall of Fame (1992), the CAB Broadcast Hall of Fame (1997), and the Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame (1997). In 2004, he was made a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

References

* "Johnny Esaw hangs up his mike after 41 years in broadcasting," Ken McKee, ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', February 19, 1990, p. D7.
Johnny Esaw
Canadian Communications Foundation, retrieved December 15, 2006.
Johnny Esaw
George Gross, Sports Media Canada, retrieved December 15, 2006.

Early broadcasting career

Moves to television

A network executive

Honours

References

Further reading