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Steve Armitage

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Steve Armitage
Born (1944-06-20) 20 June 1944 (age 80)
High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
OccupationSports reporter
Years active1973-2022

Steve Armitage (born 20 June 1944)[1] is a retired British-born Canadian sports reporter, formerly with CBC Sports.[2] He reported on and hosted Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts for the Vancouver Canucks for nearly 30 years,[3] the Canadian Football League and Grey Cup for 30 years, the Olympics including speed skating, swimming and diving, and the World Cup.

Early life and education

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Born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, UK, he was raised in Victoria, British Columbia and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.[4] He attended Saint Mary's University, Halifax where he played football quarterback, graduating in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[5]

Career

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In 1965, he began working at CBC on a part time basis in Halifax, writing the late night sportscast.[5]

In 1973, he moved to Vancouver, joining Bill Good Jr. at CBC Vancouver covering local and national sports.[6]

Armitage won the 1982 ACTRA Foster Hewitt Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting and he was nominated for a Gemini Award in 1998 for his coverage of speed skating at the Winter Olympics. In 2006, he was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame.[7]

Armitage was one of the two play-by-play announcers (the other being Nigel Reed) announcing for CBC Sports in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada. Paul Dolan was the analyst alongside Armitage.[8] He reported the swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics for CBC.[9]

Armitage was laid off by the CBC in August 2014 due to cuts to sports programming and the loss of hockey coverage to Rogers Media.[10] He did, however, return to work for CBC at the 2018 and 2022 Olympics to call events such as long track speed skating. Armitage announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2022 Winter Olympics.[11]

References

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  1. ^ "Steve Armitage Collection Archives". Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society. 30 May 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  2. ^ "CBC's Steve Armitage will miss Rio Olympics". Awful Announcing. 27 July 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  3. ^ Baluja, Tamara. "CBC lays off veteran sportscasters Steve Armitage and Mark Lee". j-source.ca.
  4. ^ "Steve Armitage". CBC.ca.
  5. ^ a b "Saint Mary's University | Steve Armitage". smu.ca. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  6. ^ BC Sports Hall of Fame
  7. ^ "Steve Armitage". BC Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Can U-20s give boost to ratings? - Toronto Star". Toronto Star. 28 June 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  9. ^ [1][dead link]
  10. ^ "CBC lays off veteran sportscasters Steve Armitage and Mark Lee amid budget cuts - Toronto Star". Toronto Star. 13 August 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  11. ^ "Longtime broadcaster Armitage announces retirement". TSN. 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
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