Pat Foley (born 1954) is an American retired play-by-play commentator for

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

Personal life

Born in

Glenview, Illinois Glenview is an incorporated village located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, approximately 15 miles northwest of the Chicago Loop. Per the 2020 census, the population was 48,705. The current Village President is Michael Jenny. Geography ...

in 1954, Pat Foley is the son of Mary and Bob Foley. He is an alumnus of

Loyola Academy Loyola Academy is a private, Catholic, co-educational college preparatory high school run by the USA Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus in Wilmette, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, and in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago ...

and

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

from the latter.

Career

In 1964, Foley was allowed into the radio booth at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...

and sat alongside announcers

Lou Boudreau Louis Boudreau (July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001), nicknamed "Old Shufflefoot", "Handsome Lou", and "The Good Kid", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as a ...

and

Jack Quinlan John Charles Quinlan (January 23, 1927 – March 19, 1965) was an American sportscaster. He was best known for doing radio play-by-play for the Chicago Cubs, first on WIND (1955-56) and then on WGN- (1957–64). His broadcast partners were Lou ...

. This sparked his interest in play-by-play commentating. After calling baseball and hockey games at

, in 1977 he began his career in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

announcing

minor league hockey Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

games. His father would take the recordings of Foley at

Grand Rapids Owls The Grand Rapids Owls was a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III Junior A ice hockey team in the Central States Hockey League. The team played their home games at the Southside Community Ice Center in Byron Center, Michigan. The players, ages 16– ...

' games and pass them along to Michael Wirtz, brother of

Bill Wirtz William Wadsworth Wirtz (October 5, 1929 – September 26, 2007) was the chief executive officer and controlling shareholder of the family-owned Wirtz Corporation. He was best known as the owner of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hoc ...

, owner of the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

. This secured Foley a position at the company, and his first game the night

Stan Mikita Stanley Mikita (born Stanislav Guoth; May 20, 1940 – August 7, 2018) was a Slovak-born Canadian ice hockey player for the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League, generally regarded as the best centre of the 1960s. In 2017, he was n ...

's number was retired in 1981. Foley worked for the Blackhawks as a play-by-play radio commentator from 1981–2006. He was fired "amid a rift with lackhawksmanagement" in 2006. Foley spent the 2006–07 and

2007–08 AHL season The 2007–08 AHL season was the 72nd season of the American Hockey League. Twenty-nine teams played 80 games each in the schedule. The Chicago Wolves won their second Calder Cup, defeating the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the Calder Cup Fi ...

s calling games for the

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League and are the top minor-league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the C ...

. He returned to the Blackhawks in 2008 following the death of Bill Wirtz, and partnered with

Eddie Olczyk Edward Walter Olczyk Jr. (; born August 16, 1966) is a former center in the National Hockey League for 16 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins. He ...

. On June 23, 2021, the Blackhawks announced via Twitter that the

2021–22 NHL season The 2021–22 NHL season was the 105th season of operation (104th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league expanded to 32 teams with the addition of the Seattle Kraken. The league had an October-to-April regular season sche ...

would be Foley's final season calling games. Foley explained his decision to retire, commenting, "I just don't have 82 in me anymore. That's a lot of games, and 82 is not for me. Will I never step behind a microphone again? Not saying that. But not full-time." He called his final official game on April 14, 2022, after 39 years with the Blackhawks.

Legacy

Foley became renowned for his exclamation during the Blackhawks' game against the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

for the 1985 Stanley Cup playoffs. When

Murray Bannerman Murray Bannerman (born April 27, 1957) is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender. He spent the majority of his career with the Chicago Blackhawks, though also briefly played for the Vancouver Canucks, who selected him in the 1977 NHL amateur dr ...

"made a dramatic save on a breakaway, Foley cried out, 'BANNERRRMANNN! By 2014, Foley was still constantly asked to repeat the iconic outburst. John McDonough described Foley as "synonymous with Blackhawks hockey ith a voice thatresonates loudly to our entire fan base." Foley won

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 1991, 2009, 2012, 2014, and 2015. He was inducted into the

Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame The Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, located in the Hawthorne Race Course, in Stickney/Cicero, near Chicago, honors sports greats associated with the Chicago metropolitan area. It was founded in 1979 as a trailer owned by the Olympia Brewing Compan ...

in 2002. On April 19, 2013,

NBC Sports Chicago NBC Sports Chicago (formerly Comcast SportsNet Chicago) is an American regional sports network that broadcasts regional coverage of professional sports teams in the Chicago metropolitan area, as well as college sports events and original sports- ...

honored Foley for his 30th season with the Blackhawks. In 2014, he 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 ...

and entered the

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

. In 2019, the

National Sports Media Association The National Sports Media Association (NSMA), formerly the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, is an organization of sports media members in the United States, and constitutes the American chapter of the International Sports Pr ...

named Foley the Illinois Sportscaster of the Year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, Pat 1954 births American Hockey League broadcasters Chicago Blackhawks announcers living people Michigan State University alumni National Hockey League broadcasters people from Glenview, Illinois