John Gurtler II is an American sportscaster. He is most noted for having succeeded

Ted Darling Edgar Lee "Ted" Darling (June 9, 1935 – December 19, 1996) was a Canadian sports announcer best known as the original "Voice of the Buffalo Sabres" ice hockey team for twenty-two seasons, calling the team's games on television from the team's i ...

as television play-by-play announcer for 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 ...

, a position he held from 1992 until 1995. Previously, he served as the intermission host from 1989 to 1991. He currently serves as the radio play-by-play announcer for the

Buffalo Bandits The Buffalo Bandits are a professional box lacrosse team in the East Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). They play at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. The Bandits played in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1992 to 1997, t ...

(with

Randy Mearns Randy Mearns (born May 28, 1969) is a former lacrosse player and the current head coach of the St. Bonaventure Bonnies men’s lacrosse team. After a 9-year career in the National Lacrosse League, Mearns became the head coach of the Canisius Gold ...

as his color commentator) and has served as the public address announcer for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

Early life

A native of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Gurtler earned a football scholarship to

Western State College Western Colorado University (Western) is a public university in Gunnison, Colorado. It enrolls approximately 2,600 undergraduate and 400 graduate students, with 25 percent coming from out of state. Western offers more than 100 undergraduate areas ...

. He quit football after three days to pursue other campus activities, including acting.

Early career

Gurtler's early work includes serving as the radio play-by-play announcer for the

Colorado Flames The Colorado Flames were a minor-pro hockey team that played in the Central Hockey League (CHL) in Denver, Colorado for two seasons from 1982 to 1984. They were the top minor league affiliate of the NHL's Calgary Flames. They played their home g ...

of the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

and working as a sports director for KJCT in

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 65,560 at the 2020 United States Census, making Grand Junction the 17th mos ...

and weekend sports anchor

KRDO-TV KRDO-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate KTLO-LD (channel 46) and radio stations ...

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

. In 1984, he moved to New York to become the play-by-play announcer for the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

Buffalo Sabres

In 1986, Gurtler became the public relations director for the Sabres. In 1989, he became the host of Sabres' television coverage. In December 1991, Gurtler became the team's television announcer after Ted Darling went on medical leave. He became the team's full time play-by-play announcer the following season when Darling cannot return. In 1995, the Sabres opted to replaced Gurtler with popular radio announcer

Rick Jeanneret John Richard Jeanneret (born July 23, 1942)Pergament, Alan (October 5, 2014)‘I feel like an American,’ Jeanneret says, as he gets cancer treatment here ''The Buffalo News''. Retrieved October 5, 2014. “Jeanneret received his first radiatio ...

Post-Sabres career

In 1997, Gurtler was hired as co-public address announcer for the Buffalo Bills (Gurtler took over in-game announcements while Stan Roberts' duties were reduced to pregame, halftime and postgame announcements). In 2008 he was replaced by Marc Honan of

WGRF WGRF (96.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Buffalo, New York, branded as "97 Rock". The station is owned by Cumulus Media and has a radio format playing classic rock, mostly from the 1970s and 1980s. WGRF competes for classic rock l ...

, the Bills' flagship radio station. In 2004 he became the play-by-play announcer for the Buffalo Bandits of the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United Stat ...

. In 2016 he began teaching the new Play-By-Play Announcements course at

Canisius College Canisius College is a private Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 master's ...

Personal life

Gurtler and his family reside in Orchard Park. The family made headlines when a 2008 post-prom party held on the premises was raided by local police and it was discovered that copious amounts of alcohol were being served to the mostly underage patrons, totaling at least seventy in all. Gurtler and his son pleaded guilty to charges of disorderly conduct and were granted

conditional discharge A discharge is a type of sentence imposed by a court whereby no punishment is imposed. An absolute discharge is an unconditional discharge whereby the court finds that a crime has technically been committed but that any punishment of the defend ...

References

External links

Gurtler's blog
at Bandits.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gurtler, John Living people American sports announcers Buffalo Bandits Buffalo Bills Buffalo Sabres announcers Canisius College faculty National Football League public address announcers National Lacrosse League announcers National Hockey League broadcasters People from Orchard Park, New York Radio personalities from Denver Western Colorado University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)