'Hired by the fans': Islanders honor Jiggs McDonald for 50 years in broadcasting

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — Growing up on Long Island in the 1980s SportsChannel was the place to watch New York Islanders games. Of course, my memories begin just after the dynasty teams that helped the franchise to four straight Stanley Cups, but they all start with one voice — that of Jiggs McDonald.

The long-time play-by-play man for the Islanders took to the mic on Wednesday night for the team’s game against the Florida Panthers and hit a milestone worthy of celebrating: 50 years in the business.

McDonald started with the expansion Los Angeles Kings in 1967 (five years before the Islanders came into existence) and then moved on to the Atlanta Flames in 1972 before entering the Islanders’ booth at the start of the 1980-81 NHL season. It was there that he would carve a spot in the franchise’s history over the next 15 seasons.

Through memories like three of the franchise’s four Cups, the Easter Epic, the 1992-93 playoff run and watching the likes of Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, Denis Potvin, Billy Smith and others on a daily basis, McDonald saw a lot in his time calling games for the Islanders.

“I didn’t know what to expect (from Islanders fans) when I first came,” McDonald said Tuesday morning. “History will show that there’d been a lot of broadcasters go through the Islander radio/TV booth before I arrived on the scene. Several people told me it was a graveyard for play-by-play guys. I was like, well, like the Sinatra song says ‘if I can make it there I’ll make it anywhere,’ and took that chance and they seemed to warmed to me and me to them. I think a large part of that was just the quality of the hockey team at the time, how good they were and winning Stanley Cups, of course, made it a pretty easy transition.”

Wednesday’s game was McDonald’s first of the season, and on Feb. 9 he’ll get back behind the mic to do play-by-play for the Kings as they continue to celebrate their 50th season.

Since McDonald retired in 2003, he would fill-in for former Islanders play-by-play man Howie Rose when his baseball duties required him. With Rose now strictly on New York Mets duty and Brendan Burke taking over the play-calling, no one was sure if we would hear McDonald’s doing a game again.

But this past August, during a memorial ceremony marking the one-year anniversary of Al Arbour’s passing, McDonald met with new Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky who inquired how many years he’d been in the broadcast business. When McDonald told him 49, Ledecky responded that he would make sure he would hit 50 years in broadcasting at some point during the 2016-17 NHL season.

“When I got the call from MSG that January would be the date, I said I’ll be there. I’ll be ready,” said McDonald, the 1990 recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame.

So Wednesday night at Barclays Center, McDonald did the honors for the pre-game ceremonial puck drop and then gave Burke a night off and took his spot again behind the mic to call the team’s 2-1 loss against the Florida Panthers.

The crowd gave McDonald a standing ovation and he responded by making a heart sign with his hands. If it weren’t for Islanders fans, Wednesday night wouldn’t have been possible.

“I’ve said forever that I took paychecks, whether it be from the Islanders or from SportsChannel, Cablevision, Madison Square Garden Network or wherever I worked, really I was hired by the fans,” he said. “If what I was doing didn’t sit well with the fans then I would be gone. So, really it’s the fans that paid me and made it all happen for me.”

– – – – – – –

Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy