Jiggs McDonald
| Jiggs McDonald | |
|---|---|
| Born |
John Kenneth McDonald November 28, 1938 Galt, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | broadcaster |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Awards | Foster Hewitt Memorial Award (1990) |
John Kenneth "Jiggs" McDonald (born November 28, 1938) is a sportscaster who has done play-by-play announcing for NHL games for more than 50 years. In 1990, McDonald received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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. Although "Jiggs" (from the Bringing Up Father 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 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, McDonald joined the Atlanta Flames, 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, McDonald joined the New York Islanders broadcast team as play-by-play announcer, taking over for Tim Ryan; former Islanders captain Ed Westfall was the color commentator. McDonald spent 15 seasons as the Islanders' play-by-play man, and the team won three Stanley Cups during the period. Including national work, as well as work for other teams, McDonald 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, McDonald hosted the New York Islanders' 25th anniversary celebration in 2006.
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