John Saunders
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- For the Chief Justice of New Brunswick, Canada see: John Saunders (judge).
John Saunders is a Canadian-American sports journalist from Toronto, Ontario. He is currently working for ESPN and ABC. According to his ABC biography, "Saunders, an all-star defenseman in the Montreal junior leagues, received a scholarship and played hockey at Western Michigan University from 1974-76." The university's official hockey media guide lists Saunders as having played two games for the Broncos in that time frame, and also lists his hometown as Ajax, Ontario.[1] He was the news director for CKNS Radio (Espanola, Ontario, 1978), and sports anchor at CKNY-TV (Ontario, 1978-1979) and at ATV News (New Brunswick, 1979-1980). He also served as the main sports anchor for City-TV (Toronto, 1980-1982). He then moved to the United States to work as a sports anchor at WMAR-TV (Baltimore, 1982-1986).[1]
Saunders came to ESPN in 1986, is currently the host of ESPN's The Sports Reporters, and was the studio host of ESPN's NBA Shootaround from 2004 to 2006. He was also the studio host for the network's NHL broadcasts from 1992-93 until 2004, and is currently the studio host of ABC's coverage of college football.
He was the play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Raptors from 1995 to 2001, eventually being replaced by Chuck Swirsky.
From 2002 to 2004, and occasionally during the 2007 season, Saunders has done play-by-play for ESPN's coverage of the NBA mostly on Sunday Nights. Saunders also serves as a back-up play-by-play man for The NBA on ABC. He has called most of the Team U.S.A. games on ESPN for the 2007 FIBA Americas Qualifying Tournament.
On November 19, 2004, following a massive altercation between Detroit Pistons fans and Indiana Pacers players at the end of an NBA game, a visibly shaken and angry Saunders referred to the fans in Detroit as "punks" and "sissies." He apologized that same night, clarifying that he did not mean that in relation to all people from Detroit. Saunders currently resides in Waterbury, Connecticut with his wife and children.
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[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Hockey History: Player Register (PDF). 2007-08 Western Michigan Hockey Media Guide p. 80. Western Michigan University Athletics. Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
