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John Hancock was calling hockey and baseball games long before he got paid for it.
He joked that as a kid, he’d annoy his friends by doing play-by-play while they played in the streets of his hometown, Cambridge, Ont.
“The kids thought I was kind of crazy, but they always thought that maybe I would probably get into this business,” he said.
And sure enough, he did.
After nearly five decades as a sports broadcaster – 44 years with CBC – he’s been recognized where it all started for him.
Now living in Halifax, Hancock has been the voice of sports news across Canada for years. His career has taken him around the globe.
He covered nine Olympics, including Calgary in 1988. He also reported on the 1999 Pan American Games.
John Hancock is also the host of Sports Talk with John Hancock, a podcast that features notable sports personalities from around the world. (CBC)
One highlight he mentioned was calling both men’s and women’s figure skating at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
The Canadian pair Jamie Salé and David Pelletier took home gold there.
“I remember how nervous I was, but how exciting and exhilarating it was,” he said about those Olympic broadcasts.
A day at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics stuck with him too. He got a last-minute call to cover the men’s 100-metre final.
“I happened to be in a nightclub that night the bomb went off in the Olympic Plaza,” Hancock recalled about the bombing at Centennial Olympic Park that killed one person and injured over 100 others.
“I remember how long that day was and how upset everybody was back home, wondering if I had been hurt or whatever. But everything was OK and in the end I was able to call that play-by-play, but I remember it being the longest day of my life – the night that Donovan Bailey won that gold medal.”
Proud moments from home
Hancock studied broadcasting at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ont., and has picked up several awards along his journey. In 2002, Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax honoured him for his work.
A few years ago, he made it into his high school’s hall of fame back in Cambridge.
“I thought that was a big deal, but little did I know that the Cambridge Hall of Fame would come calling,” he said. “I was very honoured.”
He hosts CBC Radio’s national sports coverage for cities like Halifax; Sydney; Saint John; Moncton; Fredericton; Charlottetown; St. John’s; Gander; Goose Bay; Corner Brook; Ottawa; Sudbury; London; Kitchener; and Calgary.
Besides radio, he’s also behind Sports Talk with John Hancock-a podcast featuring well-known sports figures worldwide.>
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