John Kenneth "Jiggs" McDonald (born November 28, 1938) is a sportscaster who has done
play-by-play
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
announcing for
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
games for more than 50 years.
In 1990, McDonald received the
Foster Hewitt Memorial Award
The Foster Hewitt Memorial Award is an annual accolade honoring a member of the ice hockey broadcasting world. It was named for the Canadian hockey radio broadcaster and newspaper journalist Foster Hewitt, and it has been presented every year at a ...
from the
Hockey Hall of Fame.
Biography
National Hockey League broadcasting career
McDonald began his NHL broadcasting career in 1967, as the original voice of the expansion Los Angeles Kings. Initially, the Kings considered pairing him with a then-unknown
Al Michaels
Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American television sportscaster currently working as the play-by-play announcer for '' Thursday Night Football'' on Prime Video and in an emeritus role for NBC Sports. He has worked on n ...
. Although "Jiggs" (from the ''
Bringing Up Father
''Bringing Up Father'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George McManus. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, it ran for 87 years, from January 2, 1913, to May 28, 2000.
The strip was later titled ''Jiggs and Maggie'' (or ...
'' cartoon strip) had been McDonald's childhood nickname, he had never used it professionally, nor at all among those he'd come to know after becoming an adult, instead going by "Ken", a shortening of his middle name. However, when he was hired by the Kings, the team's then-owner
Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke (October 25, 1912 – April 6, 1997) was a Canadian-American businessman in broadcasting and professional sports. Starting in sales, Cooke was very successful, eventually becoming a partner in a network of radio stations and news ...
demanded that McDonald identify himself to listeners with a nickname that would be more memorable than simply "Ken McDonald". McDonald objected to the use of the nickname, but Cooke was insistent.
After five seasons with the Kings, he joined the
Atlanta Flames
The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta from 1972 until 1980. They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with t ...
, also as that team's original announcer, with
Bernie Geoffrion serving as his broadcasting partner.
The Flames' ownership offered to allow him to drop the "Jiggs" nickname, but he opted to keep it since it was by then well-established as the name by which he was known professionally.
When the Flames moved to Calgary in 1980, he joined the
New York Islanders broadcast team as play-by-play announcer, replacing
Tim Ryan; former Islanders
captain Ed Westfall
Edwin Vernon Westfall (born September 19, 1940) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders from 1961 until 1978–79. Notable as a ...
was the color commentator. He spent 15 seasons as the Islanders' play-by-play man, and the team won three
Stanley Cups during the period, and advanced to another Final.
Including national work, as well as work for other teams, he called the play-by-play of over 200 NHL playoff games. Although he was not the announcer for the first (
1980) Stanley Cup championship team, he hosted the
New York Islanders' 25th anniversary celebration in 1996.
In
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
, when the
New Jersey Devils eliminated the Islanders from the playoffs, he did play-by-play on
New Jersey Devils telecasts, partnering with
Peter McNab
Peter Maxwell McNab (May 8, 1952 – November 6, 2022) was a Canadian-born American professional ice hockey player. He played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1973 to 1987, with the Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canu ...
when
Gary Thorne is not available.
In future years, he did play-by-play on
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...
telecasts and
Florida Panthers radio broadcasts. In November 2003, he announced his 3,000th regular season game; his number of games called is thought to be the highest by an NHL announcer.
Following the
2003–04 season he retired,
but he substituted for
Dave Strader
David Strader (February 24, 1955 – October 1, 2017) was an American sportscaster, primarily known for his play-by-play commentary of ice hockey. During his career, he worked on telecasts for the Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Phoenix ...
when the latter was on ''
NHL on NBC
The ''NHL on NBC'' is an American presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on NBC properties, including MSNBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, USA Network and NBCSN in the United States.
While NBC covered t ...
'' assignments on Panther telecasts during the
2005–06 season. Since the
2006–07 season to
2016–17 season, he has returned to call Islanders games on
MSG Network
The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Entertainment, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation (itself a spin-off of local cable provider ...
, filling in for
Howie Rose
Howard Jeffrey Rose (born February 13, 1954) is an American sportscaster. He is currently a radio broadcaster for the New York Mets on WCBS. Previously, Rose called play-by-play for the New York Rangers and New York Islanders.
Early life
Rose ...
(when Rose is on vacation or doing
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
games on
WOR). With Rose broadcasting the Mets playoffs in 2015, McDonald filled in for the first 3 games of the 2015-2016 season. On February 2, 2022, McDonald returned to the Islanders broadcast booth, filling in for regular announcer
Brendan Burke
Brendan Gilmore Burke (December 8, 1988 – February 5, 2010) was an athlete and student manager at Miami University for the RedHawks men's ice hockey team. The youngest son of Brian Burke, former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, lo ...
, for the Islanders first game against the expansion
Seattle Kraken
The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season. ...
team in the
2021–22 season, and then again on March 10, 2022 against the
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ...
. With his Islanders work in 2022, he has called hockey games across seven decades.
He also did broadcasts on nationally televised NHL games for numerous networks. Notably, he called games for
SportsChannel America
SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC.
Operating from March 1, ...
for five years, during which the channel was the rights-holder for national NHL telecasts with Westfall,
Herb Brooks
Herbert Paul Brooks Jr. (August 5, 1937 – August 11, 2003) was an American ice hockey player and coach. His most notable achievement came in 1980 as head coach of the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team at Lake Placid. At the Games, Brooks' ...
, or
John Davidson. He also broadcast a Super Series event between the
Soviet Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
@ the
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...
on January 9, 1989 and the
40th National Hockey League All-Star Game
The 40th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, home to the Edmonton Oilers, on February 7, 1989.
The return of Wayne Gretzky
The previous year saw the then-unthinkable trade of Wayne Gretzky to the Lo ...
on February 7, 1989 with
Scotty Bowman
William Scott Bowman, OC (born September 18, 1933) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) head coach. He holds the record for most wins in league history, with 1,244 wins in the regular season and 223 in the Stanley Cup playoffs and ...
doing the color commentary for both games. In addition, he broadcast the
Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...
for
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
and
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
, calling at three Games and
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
from 1995–99.
In addition, he filled in for
Florida Panthers radio play-by-play man
Randy Moller
Randall W. Moller (born August 23, 1963) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He was drafted in the first round, eleventh overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1981 National Hockey League (NHL) entry draft. The majority of his ca ...
for three games when Moller became ill in January 2010.
He returned in 2017 and call the Islanders' and Kings' games, both against the Panthers on January 11, and February 9, respectively.
Non-hockey related broadcasting
Outside of ice hockey, McDonald served as an announcer for the
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
team in . In 1992, he did play-by-play on
CTV for
Olympic basketball
Basketball at the Summer Olympics has been a sport for men consistently since 1936.
Prior to its inclusion as a medal sport, basketball was held as a demonstration event in 1904. Women's basketball made its debut in the Summer Olympics in 1976 ...
games.
References
External links
Midland Mirror article on McDonald
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Jiggs
1938 births
Living people
Atlanta Flames announcers
Canadian sports announcers
Florida Panthers announcers
Foster Hewitt Memorial Award winners
Los Angeles Kings announcers
Major League Baseball broadcasters
National Football League announcers
National Hockey League broadcasters
New York Islanders announcers
New York Mets announcers
Philadelphia Eagles announcers
Olympic Games broadcasters
People from the District Municipality of Muskoka
People from Simcoe County
Toronto Maple Leafs announcers