Blackhawks’ Announcer Pat Foley Says Next Season Is His Last

Chicago sports is losing another play-by-play man, but not to another team. When Len Kasper announced he was leaving the Cubs, it was to move to the White Sox. Pat Foley seems to be calling it a career.

However, going into his 39th season, you can understand where he might want to give the voice a bit of rest after all these years of high-volume exclamations. Plus, does he have anything left to do or prove at this point?

Pat was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014. Along the way, he's also picked up five Emmy awards for excellence in sports broadcasting, not to mention the fact that he got to call not one, but three Stanley Cup championship seasons for the Blackhawks. Not a lot of unchecked boxes on Pat Foley's to-do list.

That's a pretty good run for a kid from Glenview. Or any other Illinois city.

Growing up with a dad who wasn't really a hockey fan, I didn't have much exposure to the sport until I was in my early 20s in the 1980s. That was when my friend Jack Lambiotte introduced me to the sport by watching Chicago Blackhawks games. Jack loved the way Pat Foley called a game, and even did a killer impression of Foley.

I think this call alone made me a fan of Pat Foley:

https://youtu.be/tyrt3F1-9k8

If only he could have shown some enthusiasm. Fast forward about 20 years to another great call by Foley:

https://youtu.be/YRkl1AfO8D4