Daniel Leo Gallivan (April 11, 1917 February 25, 1993) was a Canadian radio and television broadcaster and sportscaster.
Early life
Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Gallivan was an avid athlete and was a baseball pitcher on the St. Theresa's parish team from Sydney that won the Maritime Intermediate Baseball Championship in 1937. Gallivan started the deciding game against the Pugwash Maple Leafs in the best-of-three series and pitched a three-hit gem while striking out 11 batters in the game.
In 1938, Gallivan was invited to a New York Giants training camp as a power pitcher, but an early injury to his arm ended any thoughts of a major league career.
Hockey Night in Canada
In 1946, Gallivan moved to a radio station in Halifax where he became sports director and voice of the St. Mary's junior hockey team. His colour commentator for 18 years was Dick Irvin Jr., from 1966 until his retirement in 1984. From 1980 to 1984, Mickey Redmond joined the pair as the third man in the broadcast booth.
On October 9, 1970, he had the distinction of announcing the Vancouver Canucks' first-ever game in the NHL, a 3–1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on CKNW radio.
"Gallivanisms"
Gallivan was known for his colourful descriptions of action on the ice. Hard shots became "cannonading drives"; saves were "scintillating", "larcenous" or "enormous" rather than merely spectacular, and after a save the puck tended to get caught in a goalie's "paraphernalia" (goalie equipment). If the goaltender made a fantastic or impossible save, he would refer to it as a "hair raising save" or that the goalie "kicked out his pad in rapier-like fashion" to foil a "glorious scoring opportunity".
He would use words such as "anemic" to describe an ineffective offence or powerplay. He also coined phrases like "nowhere near the net" when a shot would go wide, and commented that "there has not been a multitudinous amount of shots" to describe a game with a "dire dearth" of shots on net. Passes from the corner and through the crease area would always feature Gallivan shouting "centred right out in front!!". Players were also known to "dipsy-doodle" with the puck or come out of their own zone "rather gingerly".
Gallivan would comment that late in the game was an "inopportune time" for a team to take a penalty, would mention that a penalty killer was "wasting valuable seconds in the penalty" when he was ragging the puck, and would almost always announce, "and the penalty has expired!" at the end of a penalty.
When a university professor wrote to Gallivan protesting that there was no such word as "cannonading", Gallivan wrote back: "There is now."
The ultimate Gallivanism was another word he coined: the "spinarama," which described a player evading a check or deking a defender with a sudden 180- or 360-degree turn. Its chief practitioner was Montreal Canadien Serge Savard so that the move was also known as "The Savardian Spinarama". The Canadian Oxford Dictionary now includes an entry for "spinarama".
Later life
Gallivan retired after the 1984 Stanley Cup playoffs when a severe illness rendered him blind in one eye.
Personal and legacy
Gallivan was married to Mary "Eileen" Gallivan (née MacPhee, 1925–1981) of Prince Edward Island, until her death three years prior to his final year on Hockey Night in Canada in 1984. In the early 1940s, Eileen transferred from UPEI to St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish where she eventually met Gallivan. Together they had four children: a son Danny Jr., and daughters Pat, Paula and Susan.
In the mid-1950s, Gallivan was known to assist with the Department of Education's Physical Fitness Division's annual hockey school in PEI, along with NHL chief referee Red Storey and NHL star Buddy O'Connor.
Cape Breton University awards the Danny Gallivan Memorial Fund Bursary in his honour, and St. Francis Xavier University awards an annual scholarship in his name. The Danny Gallivan Golf Tournament was created by Gallivan, Red Storey and a group of Halifax businessmen 30 years ago to raise research funds for the fight against cystic fibrosis. It continues to be one of the longest-standing, and most successful fundraising events of its nature in Atlantic Canada. The Tournament has raised nearly $1,400,000 for cystic fibrosis.
Tribute
Upon learning of Gallivan's death, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman issued the following statement, "I join with hockey fans throughout the world, and particularly the millions in Canada whose lives were touched by Danny Gallivan, in expressing the NHL's sadness at the loss of a broadcast legend."
Honours and awards
- 1974 - ACTRA Sportscaster of the Year Award
- 1984 - Hockey Hall of Fame Media Honouree
- 1990 - Broadcast Recognition Award - Atlantic Broadcasters' Association, in acknowledging Danny's contribution to the broadcast industry
- 1991 - Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame