Jim McKenny: Difference between revisions
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The December 27, 2009 broadcast of ''[[CityNews#CityNews Toronto|CityPulse Tonight]]'' (11p.m. air time) was McKenny's last with Citytv as the [[Rogers Media]]-owned station decided to focus its sports coverage solely around the younger anchor [[Kathryn Humphreys]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Zelkovich: Radio giant Hewat signs off|last=Zelkovich|first=Chris|date=Jan 8, 2010|publisher=The Toronto Star|url=https://www.thestar.com/sports/article/747984--zelkovich-radio-giant-hewat-signs-off|access-date=Jan 9, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Howie-torontomike"/> Despite having his employment terminated in late 2009, due to Humphreys' unwillingness to work the weekends, McKenny agreed to a deal to continue anchoring the sports package on the weekend newscasts for another year.<ref name="Howie-torontomike"/> |
The December 27, 2009 broadcast of ''[[CityNews#CityNews Toronto|CityPulse Tonight]]'' (11p.m. air time) was McKenny's last with Citytv as the [[Rogers Media]]-owned station decided to focus its sports coverage solely around the younger anchor [[Kathryn Humphreys]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Zelkovich: Radio giant Hewat signs off|last=Zelkovich|first=Chris|date=Jan 8, 2010|publisher=The Toronto Star|url=https://www.thestar.com/sports/article/747984--zelkovich-radio-giant-hewat-signs-off|access-date=Jan 9, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Howie-torontomike"/> Despite having his employment terminated in late 2009, due to Humphreys' unwillingness to work the weekends, McKenny agreed to a deal to continue anchoring the sports package on the weekend newscasts for another year.<ref name="Howie-torontomike"/> |
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After parting ways with Citytv for good, sixty-four-year old McKenny did not |
After parting ways with Citytv for good, sixty-four-year old McKenny did not pursue further jobs in broadcasting, opting instead to turn to work with alcohol addicts in counselling capacity.<ref>{{cite news|author=[[Steve Simmons]]|url=https://torontosun.com/sports/hockey/simmons-jim-mckenny-healing-himself-as-he-helps-those-battling-addiction|archive-url=|agency=[[Toronto Sun]]|archive-date=|url-status=live|title=Jim McKenny healing himself as he helps those battling addiction|date=19 May 2020|access-date=25 June 2022}}</ref> |
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In 2013, McKenney was inducted into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Ottawa Citizen|date=April 4, 2013|title=Five named to city's Hall of Fame|author=STEPHANIE TAYLOR-BAPTISTE, OTTAWA CITIZEN|url=https://ottawacitizen.com/sports/Five+named+city+Hall+Fame/8197649/story.html|access-date=April 15, 2013}}</ref> |
In 2013, McKenney was inducted into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Ottawa Citizen|date=April 4, 2013|title=Five named to city's Hall of Fame|author=STEPHANIE TAYLOR-BAPTISTE, OTTAWA CITIZEN|url=https://ottawacitizen.com/sports/Five+named+city+Hall+Fame/8197649/story.html|access-date=April 15, 2013}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 19:45, 27 June 2022
Jim McKenny | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | December 1, 1946 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Canadian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupations |
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James Claude "Howie" McKenny (born December 1, 1946) is a Canadian retired broadcaster and retired professional ice hockey player.
Playing as a defenceman, he appeared in 604 NHL regular season games between the Toronto Maple Leafs (594) and Minnesota North Stars (10), including 37 playoff games for the Leafs, and was known by the nickname of 'Howie' due to a resemblance to Howie Young. Describing the game of hockey, McKenny once famously said that "half the game is mental, the other half is being mental".
After retiring from playing hockey, McKenny settled in Toronto where he began a career in broadcasting, most notably working as a local television sports reporter on Citytv from 1984 until 2010.
Junior career
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion with: Early life. You can help by adding to it. (January 2011) |
Jim McKenny was born in Ottawa, Ontario. McKenny played with the Neil McNeil Maroons of the Metro Junior A league in 1962–63. When the league folded in 1963, McKenny transferred to the Ontario Hockey Association's Toronto Marlboros who won the Memorial Cup in 1964. As a junior, McKenny was considered by many scouts as the second-best defenceman prospect after Bobby Orr.[1] In later years, McKenny spoke openly of his personal life and career being negatively affected by periods of alcoholism developed during his teenage years.[1][2]
Pro career
Drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the third round of the 1963 NHL Amateur Draft (17th overall), McKenny had difficulty staying in the NHL early in his career and often played forward instead of his usual position on defence. He was called up from the Marlies to play two games with the Leafs in the 1965–66 season. He was given two other opportunities to make the Leafs teams in the 1966–67 and 1967-68 seasons but only played a total of eleven games. However, on Feb. 24, 1968, he scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win over Boston, which was the second goal of his NHL career.[3] He struggled to stick with the Maple Leafs for several years, attributed to a poor attitude, possibly his alcoholism[1] and his antipathy towards the high-pressure style of coach and general manager Punch Imlach.[4] He played in the minor leagues for the Tulsa Oilers, Rochester Americans, and Vancouver Canucks of the Western Hockey League. Throughout the mid-1960s with the Rochester Americans, young McKenny and veteran Don Cherry were roommates when on the road.
McKenny finally became a full-time member of the Maple Leafs during the 1969–70 season and became one of the Leafs top defencemen for eight seasons. McKenny has the sixth highest points total for Leafs defencemen, accumulating 327 points (81 goals, 246 assists) in 594 games, behind only Börje Salming, Tomáš Kaberle, Morgan Rielly, Tim Horton, and Ian Turnbull.[5] McKenny was paired frequently with former Marlboro team-mate Brian Glennie, with offensive skills complementing the hard-hitting, defence-oriented style of Glennie. In 1974, McKenny played in the NHL All-Star Game. In 1971, he also appeared in the movie Face-Off as the skating stand-in for Art Hindle.
Near the end of his career, McKenny was sent down to the Dallas Black Hawks Central Hockey League (CHL) for the 1977–78 season, and was subsequently named to the CHL's Second All-Star Team. On May 15, 1978, McKenny was traded to the Minnesota North Stars for cash and future considerations (the rights to Owen Lloyd), playing in only ten games before retiring from the NHL.
McKenny played the 1979-80 season in Europe—in Lyon, France and Rapperswil, Switzerland with SC Rapperswil–Jona—before retiring completely from hockey.
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1962–63 | Toronto Neil McNeil Maroons | MetJHL | 37 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 43 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | ||
| 1962–63 | Toronto Neil McNeil Maroons | MC | — | — | — | — | — | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 1963–64 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA-Jr. | 56 | 7 | 31 | 38 | 102 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 22 | ||
| 1963–64 | Toronto Marlboros | MC | — | — | — | — | — | 12 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 22 | ||
| 1964–65 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA-Jr. | 52 | 7 | 41 | 48 | 117 | 19 | 4 | 15 | 19 | 43 | ||
| 1965–66 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA-Jr. | 42 | 14 | 26 | 40 | 78 | 14 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 38 | ||
| 1965–66 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1965–66 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1965–66 | Tulsa Oilers | CPHL | — | — | — | — | — | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | ||
| 1966–67 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1966–67 | Tulsa Oilers | CPHL | 45 | 9 | 19 | 28 | 29 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1966–67 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 19 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1967–68 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1967–68 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 46 | 10 | 22 | 32 | 33 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | ||
| 1968–69 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1968–69 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 47 | 19 | 31 | 50 | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1968–69 | Vancouver Canucks | WHL | 18 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 6 | ||
| 1969–70 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 73 | 11 | 33 | 44 | 34 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1970–71 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 68 | 4 | 26 | 30 | 42 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 1971–72 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 76 | 5 | 31 | 36 | 27 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 1972–73 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 77 | 11 | 41 | 52 | 55 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1973–74 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 77 | 14 | 28 | 42 | 36 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1974–75 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 66 | 8 | 35 | 43 | 31 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1975–76 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 46 | 10 | 19 | 29 | 19 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | ||
| 1976–77 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 76 | 14 | 31 | 45 | 36 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 1977–78 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 15 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1977–78 | Dallas Black Hawks | CHL | 55 | 21 | 31 | 52 | 45 | 13 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||
| 1978–79 | Minnesota North Stars | NHL | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1978–79 | Oklahoma City Stars | CHL | 33 | 11 | 23 | 34 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1979–80 | SC Rapperswil-Jona | NLB | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| AHL totals | 113 | 32 | 60 | 92 | 65 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | ||||
| NHL totals | 604 | 82 | 247 | 329 | 294 | 37 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 10 | ||||
Post-hockey
After hockey, McKenny returned to Toronto and began attempting to break into the broadcasting industry, selling advertising and volunteering on the weekends at CHUM-AM and CHUM-FM. He would soon land a gig as a colour commentator for Canadian-Italian Hockey League (CIHL) games at St. Mike's Arena, working alongside play-by-play announcer Brad Diamond on Friday nights on local station CFMT-TV branded as 'Multilingual Television'.[6]
He was then hired by Gary Slaight at the Slaight Communications-owned Q107 radio station to sell advertising and contribute on the microphone on a show with Scruff Connors and Gene Valaitis.[7]
Throughout this time, McKenny supplemented his income with modelling gigs.
Citytv
In 1984, after longtime Citytv sports anchor Jim Tatti left to launch Sportsline on the Canada-wide Global Television Network, thirty-seven-year-old McKenny was hired by Citytv, a CHUM Limited-owned, Moses Znaimer-run local television station in Toronto. In addition to filing sports reports, McKenny began appearing as in-studio sports anchorman on the daily CityPulse 6p.m. and 11p.m. newscasts.[8] During their on-camera banter at the end of the sports segments, lead anchorman Gord Martineau usually addressed McKenny by his nickname "Howie".[8]
Over time, in addition to professional sports, McKenny decided to devote a significant portion of his CityPulse sports segments to the coverage of local Toronto-area high school sports as well. During the fall-spring high school sports season, this included his 'Athlete of the Week' feature celebrating a different high school athlete's exceptional performance on a weekly basis; the segment would eventually became somewhat of a signature for the reporter.[7]
While on vacation in Montego Bay, Jamaica during November 2002, fifty-five-year-old McKenny suffered a heart attack following a workout.[9] After being taken to Half Moon Clinic in Jamaica, the sports anchor was transported by air ambulance to South Miami Hospital where he underwent angioplasty.[9] He has since been able to make a full recovery.[1] In later interviews, McKenny talked about having to borrow US$70,000 from friends in order to immediately cover the U.S. airlift and hospital costs due to not having his Canadian medical insurance information on him.[7]
The December 27, 2009 broadcast of CityPulse Tonight (11p.m. air time) was McKenny's last with Citytv as the Rogers Media-owned station decided to focus its sports coverage solely around the younger anchor Kathryn Humphreys.[10][7] Despite having his employment terminated in late 2009, due to Humphreys' unwillingness to work the weekends, McKenny agreed to a deal to continue anchoring the sports package on the weekend newscasts for another year.[7]
After parting ways with Citytv for good, sixty-four-year old McKenny did not pursue further jobs in broadcasting, opting instead to turn to work with alcohol addicts in counselling capacity.[11]
In 2013, McKenney was inducted into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.[12]
Personal
Alcoholism
McKenny struggled with alcoholism for much of his career in hockey and television, starting during his late teens and continuing well into his forties. He has been sober for over two decades.[2]
He now helps other addicts by working as a counsellor at the Canadian Centre for Addictions, based in Port Hope, Ontario.[2][13][14]
Notes
- Podnieks, Andrew (2003). Players: the ultimate A-Z guide of everyone who has ever played in the NHL. Toronto, Ontario: Doubleday Canada. ISBN 0-385-25999-9.
References
- ^ a b c d Podnieks, pp. 567-568
- ^ a b c Pessian, Parvaneh (14 July 2016). "Former hockey star Jim McKenny shares personal struggle with alcohol, drug addiction at Durham event". DurhamRegion.com. Whitby This Week. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ "1963 NHL Draft pick". hockeydraftcentral.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
- ^ Cox, Damien & Stellick, Gord "'67:", 2004 p.260 ISBN 978-0-470-83400-8
- ^ DB. "Hockey DB". hockey db. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
- ^ Hornby, Lance (14 October 2020). "Canadian-Italian Hockey League gets Hall Of Fame treatment". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c d e Boon, Mike (2 October 2019). "Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 521: Jim McKenny". Toronto Mike'd. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "CityPulse Sports with Jim Mckenny". Citytv. 31 March 1993. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
- ^ a b Blair, Jeff (9 November 2002). "McKenny in hospital after heart attack". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Zelkovich, Chris (Jan 8, 2010). "Zelkovich: Radio giant Hewat signs off". The Toronto Star. Retrieved Jan 9, 2010.
- ^ Steve Simmons (19 May 2020). "Jim McKenny healing himself as he helps those battling addiction". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ STEPHANIE TAYLOR-BAPTISTE, OTTAWA CITIZEN (April 4, 2013). "Five named to city's Hall of Fame". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
- ^ Canadian Centre for Addictions
- ^ Myself Loved one. "Jim McKenny". Canadian Centre for Addictions. Retrieved 2016-08-12.
External links
- Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database