Don Wittman | |
|---|---|
 Wittman broadcasting the2002 Winter Olympics | |
| Born | Donald Rae Wittman[1] October 9, 1936[1] Herbert,Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Died | January 19, 2008(2008-01-19) (aged 71) |
| Other names | Witt |
| Occupation | CBCsportscaster |
Donald Rae Wittman (October 9, 1936[1] – January 19, 2008) was aCanadiansportscaster.
Born inHerbert,Saskatchewan, Wittman attended theUniversity of Saskatchewan and got his start in the field of broadcasting as a news reporter withCFQC radio inSaskatoon in 1955.[2]
Wittman began his long association with CBC Sports on January 1, 1961. He joinedCBWT's supper-hournews program24Hours in 1970 as sports anchor alternating with Bob Picken. He also worked onWinnipeg Jets television and radio broadcasts.[3]
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wittman hostedWestern Express, a half-hour weekly program broadcast in Western Canada that consisted of lottery ticket drawings for the lottery of the same name. The series format included Wittman co-hosting with media and community personalities from towns and cities across the region and conducting interviews between ticket drawings. (Western Express later changed its name to The Western and converted to a scratch-card lottery format).[4]
During theMunich massacre crisis at the1972 Summer Olympics, Wittman andBob Moir crawled through a hole in a fence to access theOlympic Village and give live reports, while posing as medical staff on the1972 Canadian Olympic team.[5][6] Wittman and Moir were 50 metres (160 ft) away from theIsraeli Olympic team building, and could see the nine hostages sitting in a circle, guarded by the Palestinian terrorist groupBlack September. They filed radio reports to the CBC, and remained on location all day until the hostages were loaded onto a bus.[7]
In a 1994 interview, Moir discussed the decision to sneak into the Olympic Village by saying,
"We were young and stupid, I guess. [Wittman] and I have always done things like that. We always went after the story."[7]
As a sportscaster, Wittman covered many sports includingathletics,baseball,basketball,golf, and was most known as a commentator and announcer for the CBC'sCFL coverage, onHockey Night in Canada, and for major Canadian and internationalcurling tournaments.[2]
Famous events covered by Wittman includeDonovan Bailey's 100m sprintworld record at the1996 Summer Olympics[2] and theinfamous brawl between Canada andthe Soviet Union at the1987 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.[8]
On January 19, 2008, Wittman died as a result of cancer in a Winnipeg hospital surrounded by his family.[9][10] He was seventy-one years old, survived by his wife, Judy, two daughters, Karen and Kristen and a son, David.
Wittman won twoACTRA awards,[2] was named Broadcaster of the Year by Sports Media Canada in 2002,[11] and named to the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame in 2003.[12][13] He was inducted into the CBC Sports Hall of Fame in January 2008.[14][15] Wittman is an "Honoured Member" of theManitoba Hockey Hall of Fame. He was inducted into theCanadian Football Hall of Fame in 1990.
| Preceded by None | CBC Television LeadCurling announcer 1961–1968 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | CBC Television LeadCurling announcer 1983–2006 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Stanley Cup FinalsCanadian network television play-by-play announcer 1985–1986 (Wittman called games inEdmonton in 1985 and gamesCalgary in 1986 on CBC | Succeeded by |