At 11:50 PM 10/18/95, Wayne Smith wrote:
>Dan Hannigan replaces long-time popular announcer Joe Carr. Joe retires
>to spend more time with his family. "Thanks!" and best of luck to you,
>Joe ... Maine Hockey was in good hands with you at the mike. (Joe was
>always an expert on college hockey, but I'd like to think his HOCKEY-L
>participation over the past few years has helped a bit :-))
Could be...although I think Joe has certainly given HOCKEY-L more than he
has taken from it.
I've known about this for a little while as I suspect many people have, but
now that Wayne has officially announced it on the list, I'd like to take a
minute here to say a few words about Joe.
Last December, while Joe's color man Joe Clark was away, I had the
fortunate experience of filling in and working four Maine games with Joe on
WZON: a pair of Maine at Merrimack games, and the Maine-Miami and Maine-RPI
games in the RPI Invitational.
It was undoubtedly one of the more enjoyable experiences of my broadcast
career. Joe is a consummate professional. When working with someone of
his caliber, as I have done before when Danny Roche used to call Merrimack
games, I feel challenged to try to keep the level of the broadcast high and
to make it interesting to the listeners. It was easy to see why Joe has
received the accolades he has from other people in the game. He is a true
fan of the game and provides a professional, unbiased and easy to
understand synopsis of the action taking place. He tailors the broadcast
to the Maine listeners with his anecdotes and sense of humor. But even an
opposing fan will enjoy and learn something from a Joe Carr hockey
broadcast. Remember, here you had a Maine-Merrimack game (two of them)
being worked by a Maine fan and a Merrimack fan. I hope the Maine
listeners enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed doing it.
I have certainly heard no one better than him call a game. One of the
treasures I'll always keep is the tape of the Maine-Merrimack game that I
worked with him last year. I like to listen to tapes to learn how I can
improve, but now that Joe has retired, this one is all the more special.
Joe is also a great human being. Having run into him many times at other
games as I now do with many of the people around HE, it's always fun to
talk about hockey with him and even things not related to hockey.
Maine hockey fans have had a wonderful experience in having one of the true
legends of college hockey radio cover their team for the last decade or so.
I wish Joe luck in his other endeavors and I also wish to state the great
respect I have for the decision he has made. At some point, everyone who
is somehow involved with the game has to make the tough decision to back
away from it to devote time to the important things in life, like family.
I know Joe has a lot of great memories from his time behind the mike, but
he's got a lot more great ones ahead of him as he watches his children grow
up.
Someday soon I'll be in that situation too, and I think that seeing how Joe
has enjoyed his time and then moved on, it will make it easier for me to do
the same thing.
So while Joe is certainly irreplaceable as the Voice of the Black Bears,
perhaps it's best to look at it as if Dan Hannigan is not replacing Joe -
he is succeeding him. In ten years (or sooner), we may well be heaping the
same accolades upon Dan for his work. But right now, it is well worth it
to thank Joe for all he has given the game and for the chance we have had
to hear him (and for me, to work with him, as brief a time as it may have
been).
See you 'round the rink, Joe.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] *HMM* 11/13/93
>> Co-owner of the College Hockey Lists at University of Maine System <<
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