Don Cameron’s legacy deserves to be honoured
‘Keep the focus on the players, not me’
KITCHENER — Don Cameron would hate this column.
The voice of the Kitchener Rangers, who passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, at 82, wasn’t one for the spotlight.
Oh, people tried to honour the P.E.I. native.
At one point, the Rangers offered to send him and his wife, Carole, to Scotland to honour all his work in the radio booth over five-plus decades.
“We weren’t trying to embarrass him, just acknowledge him,” said team COO Steve Bienkowski.
“His comment to me at the time was: ‘All I’m proving when I’m here a long time is that I’m old.’”
The Rangers talked about onice recognition, too, especially when he retired three years ago.
At one point, 570 News had a gold ring earmarked for the one fans dubbed “The Legend.” Don would have none of it. Even in retirement, he refused special treatment. He still attended every Rangers home game, but insisted on paying for his ticket.
And he only stopped by the media room — named in his honour — when he was an emergency fill-in for current play-by-play announcer Mike Farwell; or when the visiting Owen Sound Attack needed help on their broadcasts.
He was old school that way. Keep the focus on the players, not me. That was his motto.
You don’t find guys like Don — personally and professionally — anymore. Cuts and a new media landscape have changed the way the game is covered.
Which is why it would be nice to see his legacy kept alive.
Few — if any — have covered the ground he has at any level in the hockey-calling business.
There’s his 50-plus years behind the microphone; and more than 4,000 games worked in the regular season, playoffs and at Memorial Cups.
And he followed the KitchenerWaterloo Dutchmen during their silver-medal push at the Squaw Valley Olympics in California in 1960.
But his reach went deeper than the day-to-day duties.
If we’ve learned anything from the outpouring since his death, it’s that Don was a mentor to many announcers around the Ontario Hockey League.
And that’s big in a business that can be very unforgiving to budding broadcasters.
“The biggest thing I noticed was when you went to other rinks, the type of respect people would have for him,” said Bienkowski. “It wasn’t because he was older, he had a reputation.”
Maybe it’s ambitious, but Don would be an ideal candidate for the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Foster Hewitt Memorial Award.
The award is dished out annually to a member in the radio and television media fraternity who makes “outstanding contributions to their profession and the game during their career in hockey broadcasting.”
The recipient is selected by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association, and usually goes to someone covering a professional team.
But you’d be hard pressed to find a candidate who has delivered more dandies in the booth than Don.
Or maybe the Canadian Hockey League could create an award in Don’s name and present it to a media member who covers a team in the outfit each year.
The Don Cameron Award? That would make him cringe.
But it would be fitting for a man who gave so much time and effort and brought so much joy and passion to the rink every night.
Maybe it’s ambitious, but Don would be an ideal candidate for the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Foster Hewitt Memorial Award.