THE HAWK IN THE RAFTERS

Some broadcasters are straight ahead and hide their personality from the broadcasts while others are such "homers" that if you care at all about the team that you're listening to it's almost impossible to gauge how they are playing because the voice of the team makes everything they do right, "monstrous" and everything they do wrong, "excused" and there are yet others who think the broadcast is about them and the game is secondary...can anyone say John Sterling?

Then there are others like Bob Costas, Al Michaels, or any of Marv Albert's clan or on the local hockey front, Sam & JD or Sam & Joe who strive for and find that balance between their own fandom and broadcast performance excellence that makes listening to them a total joy. The Hartford Wolf Pack have been fortunate enough in this their 11th season to have such a voice.

Bob Crawford, or "Hawk" as he is affectionately known to his friends, has been the voice of the Hartford Wolf Pack from its inception 11 years ago. Sitting up high in the rafters of The Hartford Civic Center has given the 41 year old veteran of 19 seasons of American Hockey League broadcasting a unique perspective on the game.

I like the high angle because it slows things down a bit for you. It’s tough if you’re up against a team whose jersey numbers don’t stand out real well, but other than that I find it helpful to see plays develop. Also, sometimes you get a better angle than the referees or the fans on whether the puck went in the net or not.

Crawford made the move to Hartford with the New York Rangers’ top affiliate from Binghamton, New York in 1997. Prior to serving as the voice of the Binghamton Rangers for two years, "Hawk" worked with the Providence Bruins and the Adirondack Red Wings. Included among Crawford’s more than 1,000 games behind AHL microphones has been the opportunity to call 3 (three) Calder Cup championships, the Wolf Pack in 2000 and the '89 and '92 Red Wings an experience he recalls,

Being lucky enough to call three championships was obviously a thrill I’ll always treasure. To be able to observe up close how much blood, sweat and tears are involved in getting through an 80-game season and then a march to a title really gave me an appreciation of what a momentous accomplishment it is to pull that off.

"Hawk" doesn't believe in upstaging a game as others sometimes do. When he calls a game he keeps his composure. There have like all of us been exceptions. For example in calling his three Championship games, he says,

It’s impossible not to get emotionally charged up when the team you’ve been chronicling all year manages to accomplish that ultimate goal, and in all three cases, I might not have been as excited as the players and coaches, but I was pretty fired up.

In keeping with his mission of giving listeners the opportunity to feel the game on their own, he never seems to have gone for the seemingly scripted flamboyant signature call even in championship games.

I didn’t have any sort of memorable line to describe the final seconds of any of the three clinching games. If I could have come up with something as perfect as “Do you believe in miracles?” I certainly would have used it, but not having something like that come to me, I thought it better to let the sweetness of the moment kind of speak for itself.

The AHL has also recognized Bob for the outstanding work that he does as he was named the 2000-01 winner in the radio category of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Award for outstanding media coverage of the league.

So having watched 10+ years of Wolf Pack hockey what does Bob think is ahead for this young team for this season?

As far as this season’s team, it reminds me a lot of last year’s. It has plenty of great young legs, a tremendously bright coaching staff that isn’t going to get outworked by anybody, and, as far as I can observe, good team chemistry. Being once again a very young club, there are going to be some bumps in the road to iron out, but I think we’re in for another highly entertaining season.

A native of Chicago, Crawford began his play-by-play career while a student at Harvard University, calling Crimson hockey and baseball games for the campus radio station. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics in 1988, Crawford landed the job with Adirondack and has been part of the AHL broadcasting fraternity ever since.

Crawford and his wife, Martha, live in New Britain with their two sons, nine-year-old Mac and seven-year-old Bill.

(Bob Crawford photo courtesy of HartfordWolfpack.com)

Comments

[Mark]

Mitch, I couldn't agree more with you about "Hawk" (and I've told him so as a side-note with my queries to him at the Pack's site).

It's certainly understandable that reflected in the broadcasts by teams' play-by-play and color callers are their biases for the home team -- after all they're generally on the team's payroll either directly or indirectly (or an entity that's got a business connection with the team).

But the pros control themselves and not let their personal feelings interfere with what their primary job is (defined by one of the great all-time play-by play callers, Red Barber as simply, "To report."

I always considered Marv as the benchmark to which others in his business should be measured. That's because (and I'm specifically referring to his days as the Rangers' radio voice) of his amazing and rarely-found ability to convey the facts - without embellishment, despite his obvious association and responsibility to his team professionally via variation of vocal inflections.

There's a line between conveying excitement and out-and-out rooting that I never heard Marv cross and Crawford (consciously or unconsciously) emulates him. In other words, IMHO Bob's a thorough professional.

(As far as the other guys you cited, I think you're 100% right-on about Sterling and as to the others, let's say they range of agreement I have with your runs the full gamut from "right-on" to "you gotta be kidding."

In any case, we're in agreement about Bob Crawford; I've told him that I hope he makes it to "the show," hopefully Broadway, but if not, somewhere in the NHL.

[laurie]

Couldn't agree more on Crawford. He is one of my favorite radio broadcasters to listen to call a game -- in either the NHL or AHL.

I wish I could say the same about Joe M., but that's another topic for another day. ;)

Finally, it looks like it's Wiikman who's ready to play this weekend, not Montoya. That's according to Bruce Berlet's article in the Courant this morning anyway. (Good to see Bruce back on the beat!) Hopefully it means they're taking their time and won't rush Montoya back this time.