John Joseph "Jack" Armstrong (born January 3, 1963) is an American sportscaster, working primarily for the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

on TSN and

NBA TV Canada NBA TV Canada is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). It is a Canadian version of NBA TV, broadcasting programming focused on the National Basketball Association, and its Canadian franc ...

. Armstrong is also the college basketball analyst for TSN and a former college basketball coach.

Personal

Armstrong is the son of Irish immigrants and was raised Catholic. His father died when Jack was age seven and his mother Mary raised him alone. Armstrong graduated from

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

in 1988 with a Masters in Communication. He has three brothers: William, James and Brendan. Jack is married to Dena Armstrong, who was the women's soccer coach at Niagara University. They met at Niagara University, when they were both coaches. They are the parents of three adopted sons. They live in

Lewiston, New York Lewiston is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 15,944 at the 2020 census. The town and its contained village are named after Morgan Lewis, a governor of New York. The Town of Lewiston is on the western bord ...

just across the Niagara River from Ontario. Armstrong is a fan of the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Raptors.

Coaching career

From 1989 to 1998, Armstrong was the lead basketball coach of

Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and has 3,300 undergraduate students in 50 academic programs. Appro ...

. In the 1992–93 season, he led the

Niagara Purple Eagles The Niagara Purple Eagles are athletics teams that represent Niagara University in college sports. Part of the NCAA's Division I, the Purple Eagles field 18 varsity level teams. The Purple Eagles are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Confere ...

to a 23–7 record and was named the New York State Division I Coach of the Year. His overall record with the team was 100-154.

Broadcast career

Armstrong is currently an NBA analyst for TSN and the on-air in-game broadcaster for the

NBA team. He has been a part of the broadcast team since 1998. Armstrong has two catch-phrases that he uses during game broadcasts: "Helloooo" and "Get that garbage outta here". The "get that garbage outta here" phrase was also used by Armstrong in commercials for the

City of Toronto government The municipal government of Toronto ( incorporated as the City of Toronto) is the local government responsible for administering the city of Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a rec ...

to encourage keeping garbage out of recycling materials. Most recently, following the Raptors’ signings of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

natives Chris Boucher and

Khem Birch Khem Xavier Birch (born September 28, 1992) is a Canadian professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Pittsburgh Panthers and the UNLV Runnin' Rebe ...

, he would use “Bonjour” instead of "Helloooo" whenever a big play such as a block or dunk would be made by those players. Armstrong is a 3 time winner of the

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

for Best Sports Analyst in a Sports Program or Series. On Thursday, July 31, 2008, it was announced that Jack Armstrong would take over '' The Chuck Swirsky Show'' effective August 18, 2008, alongside

Doug MacLean James Douglas MacLean (born April 12, 1954) is a Canadian sportscaster working for Rogers Media's Sportsnet and former ice hockey coach and general manager. He is the former president/general manager and head coach of the National Hockey League ...

on the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

AM sports talk radio station

The Fan 590 CJCL (590 AM broadcasting, AM, ''Sportsnet Radio, Sportsnet 590 The Fan'') is a Canadian sports radio radio station, station in Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. Owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media since 2002, CJCL's studios are located at the ...

. The show's name was later changed to ''The Game Plan''. In 2009, Doug MacLean left the show and was replaced by Eric Smith.

References

External links

Bio from TSN.ca

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Jack 1963 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball coaches American people of Irish descent American sports announcers Basketball coaches from New York (state) Canadian male bloggers Canadian radio sportscasters Canadian sports talk radio hosts Canadian television sportscasters College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Fordham University alumni Niagara Purple Eagles men's basketball coaches People from Lewiston, New York Sportspeople from Brooklyn Toronto Raptors announcers