Broadcaster called Blue Jays’ 1st game

Don Chevrier, 69, a longtime broadcaster who covered several Olympics and called the Toronto Blue Jays’ first game, was found dead Monday at his home in Palm Harbor, Fla., according to his daughter, Melanie. The cause of death was not immediately known.

The Toronto native began his broadcasting career in Canada at 16 announcing high school sports. He eventually worked on TV and radio for several networks, including ABC, NBC, ESPN and the Canadian Broadcasting Co. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., he called the USA-USSR “Miracle on Ice” hockey game for ABC Radio.

By one count, Chevrier had broadcast 21 sports, including team handball at the 1976 Olympics.

Chevrier called the Blue Jays’ opener in 1977 and did his best to make the baseball games sound exciting during the team’s dismal inaugural season.

During the 1970s and ‘80s, Chevrier covered some of boxing’s biggest bouts, often with Howard Cosell, on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.”

In addition to doing the play-by-play on “Monday Night Baseball” for ABC Sports, Chevrier called National Hockey League games for ESPN and other networks, Canadian Football League games for ESPN and United States Football League games for ABC Radio.

He spent more than 20 years on radio covering the Kentucky Derby, 14 years as the television voice of curling in Canada and was the longtime host of ABC Radio’s “World of Sports” show.