Ridley honoured to be Stampede marshal

By JAMES TUBB on July 20, 2022.

Bob Ridley has been named to multiple halls of fame, his picture hangs in the rafters of Co-op Place but he says his greatest honour will be next week.

The longtime voice of the Medicine Hat Tigers is the honorary parade marshal for the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede parade next Thursday.

The 78-year-old said it’s a special honour for him, because it isn’t just from hockey, it’s about community.

“It’s part of being a part of a community and when you get honoured like that, it’s a great fulfillment as far as my overall life and my family’s life is concerned as well,” Ridley said. “It’s so wonderful and I’m excited about it. I hope we have a real nice day and we can not only enjoy that particular moment, the parade. but this entire Medicine Hat Exhibition Stampede. I think it’s going to be a fun weekend.”

Ridley said the honour came as a surprise and he is thrilled while also humbled by the selection to lead the parade. He said he is looking forward to the moment even if people will see his face instead of hearing his voice over the airwaves.

“I just hope people don’t throw stuff at me. After all these years of having to put up with me, I hope somebody doesn’t get all excited and throw apples or tomatoes or anything else,” Ridley joked. “I am looking forward to it, it should be good, something like this comes around once in a lifetime. If they think enough of me to put me on a horse, or put me in a buggy being pulled by a horse, that’s OK and I’ll go along with that.”

He joked that it’s been a longtime since he had rode a horse but would practice if that’s how they wanted him to lead the parade.

Ridley had famously missed only one game in 51 seasons of Tigers hockey before having to undergo cancer treatment in Lethbridge last fall. He returned to the Tigers booth for their final game of the 2021-22 season against the Edmonton Oil Kings on Apr. 15 to continue his streak of calling a game in every season of Tigers history. After the final buzzer of that contest, both teams came to centre ice and raised their sticks as the crowd cheered for Ridley.

He said with everything that’s happened in his life over the last year and how people have shown they cared, it reinforces why he has always stayed in Medicine Hat.

“I couldn’t be happier with the whole thing, that’s why I live in Medicine Hat, the people in this town have been so good to me over all these years,” Ridley said. “I came here in 1968 and I just fell in love with the city at that time and I’ve just carried on and it’s been such a short career. A lot of people say, 50-plus years that’s not short, to me it’s been short because I’ve enjoyed it so much and people have been so good to me.”

Ridley said he hasn’t yet started to work on his wave for the parade but is just looking forward to the day and the weekend.