Don Gillis

Anyone outside of the Boston area probably isn't going to know who I'm talking about, but a Boston sportscasting legend has passed away and it's got me thinking about how fortunate I am to have grown up in such a sports-rich area of the country like New England.

Don Gillis, considered one of the pioneers of the local sports broadcast, passed away yesterday at the age of 85. His obit is here and Boston Globe sports scribe Bob Ryan wrote a great tribute piece for today's Globe.

Gillis retired in the early 1980s and I haven't thought about him in a while, but hearing of his passing brought me back to when I was a kid and (even at the tender age of 7 or 8) I was bit of a news junkie. I can remember the opening theme song to WCVB Channel 5's news (Channel 5 is the ABC affiliate in Boston) and hearing the announcer say, "Now ... Natalie Jacobson, Chet Curtis, Dick Albert with the weather and Don Gillis on sports ... this, is Newscenter 5." Man, I remember the music, the graphics, everything.

Gillis was so cool to watch. He had such a great voice and there was no flash with him, he was just someone who knew sports and wanted to tell the audience what happened. Admittedly, I wasn't a huge sports fan as a little kid, but I always liked his part of the newscast.

He also hosted the Candlepin Bowling show, which actually was fun to watch because, again, it was Don Gillis.

Those of us who tune into our local news for the Sports report can thank Gillis for what we are watching and how it's being presented. He's widely credited with creating the highlight reel and playing highlights and showing graphics during the broadcast.

It's a cliché but it's true ... there'll never be another one like Don Gillis.