Play-by-play announcer Bob Ridley calls the game during the farewell game at The Arena on Saturday, March 14, 2014. - NEWS FILE PHOTO
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Tuesday marked the end of an era in Medicine Hat.
Medicine Hat Tigers long-time broadcaster Bob Ridley announced via the team that he would be stepping away from the mic and entering retirement.
Ridley told the News on Tuesday that he is in good health and the decision was one he had been pondering while undergoing cancer treatments last season.
“Laying around in the hospital and going through treatments, I finally thought maybe it’s time to step away. Fifty-two years broadcasting Tigers hockey and 60 years in the business, you can’t ask for a better career than that,” Ridley said. “So it’s time to move aside and let some younger guy with a little bit more energy and better knowledge of electronics and everything else, move in there and start another era with this Tigers team.”
The 78-year-old had famously missed only one game in 52 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. That game came a week after the Tigers unveiled a banner at Co-op Place in honour of Ridley’s career alongside alumni Tom Lysiak and Lanny McDonald.
He finishes his WHL broadcasting career with 4,022 games on the mic, an unprecedented amount, alongside driving the team bus for 45 seasons. Ridley said one thing he will miss most, is getting to know the players.
“As they grow up, graduate, I am going to miss that camaraderie. It is something that is hard to explain,” Ridley said. “I’m also going to miss stepping up into the broadcast booth as well and doing a couple of hours of prep work for a game. I enjoyed doing the play-by-play, I really enjoyed the call and I enjoyed the excitement that major junior hockey has to offer. There’s lots of things I’ll miss but time moves on and I’ll find other things to do, at least I hope I will anyway.”
Tigers associate coach Joe Frazer opted to stick on the bright side.
“He has more time to stop into the coach’s room for coffee,” Frazer joked. “We’ll still get to see him lots but an unbelievable career and we’re just so fortunate to have been able to be a little part of it.”
Ridley said he will remain in Medicine Hat until someone drives him out of town and will always be a Tigers fan. He plans to continue to be at games enjoying a pre-game coffee with head coach Willie Desjardins, Frazer and the rest of the coaching staff.
Desjardins said those pre-game coffees will be hard for Rids, as he won’t be as wound up as the coaching staff, but said the door is always open. He said people truly appreciated Ridley because he always tried to make things better.
“With the kids, he would always try to let them see the best side of it,” Desjardins said. “With the fans he always tried to help them see the best side of the team and we don’t have enough people that look that way anymore, that always try to find the best.”
Desjardins called Ridley a great friend and said he is someone he’s been able to confide in, and who the players were always able to trust.
“He was a player confidant where the players would come up and talk to Rids and they would seek him out. Maybe they’re away from their own fathers or family and it’s something you can’t talk to the coaches about, but you could always talk to Bob Ridley,” Desjardins said. “Because Rids would give you the best advice and he would tell no one. You could always talk to Bob.”
One of those former players Ridley had an impact on is forward Mark Rassell, who was a Tiger from 2015 to 2018, when he was captain. Rassell said Rids has earned the time off and said the two of them would just talk like friends about hockey, life and what his plans were for his future. Rassell said Ridley impacted him the most with how he called the games and how he didn’t give any player special treatment.
“He was fair, he didn’t give a benefit out to a first-rounder or a guy like me who came in as a free agent. If I was playing good, he was going to compliment me, if I was playing bad he was going to let people know that I was struggling. But it was the same thing for first-rounders,” Rassell said. “If they’re playing good, he was going to let the people at home on the radio know they’re playing well but he wouldn’t try to hype up all the first- and second-rounders, he was fair with everyone. My parents were listening to the games and watching the games from home and they’re hearing Bob and I get a text, ‘Bob had a lot of really good things to say about you.’ It really helped the confidence as a young guy.”
McDonald, the Hockey Hall of Famer and Tigers legend, called Ridley a superstar and said he was proud to be around during the Ridley era in Medicine Hat.
“It’s not only how he called the games, how he treated people, how he passed on that passion for the game and love of the game,” McDonald said. “To all of those people listening on the radio, they all believed that they were at the rink every time and they could just close their eyes and knew exactly what was happening because Bob was describing the play to a tee and allowed them into his world.”
Ridley thanks all of the Tigers fans who supported him and the team throughout his career.
“I’ve really appreciated it and some years weren’t all that great, and if it wasn’t for the fans offering their encouragement, things might have been a whole lot different, I may have ended my career lot sooner,” Ridley said. “I want to thank the fans for what they have given me and certainly I hope in some small way, I’ve given something back to them.”
