'Just as I left it': Bob Costas revisits Johnstown's War Memorial, ties to start of his legendary broadcasting career

Feb. 3—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Ninety minutes before the puck dropped on Friday, Bob Costas opened the door and peered into the visitors' radio booth above the ice at downtown Johnstown's 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial.

"Just as I left it," Costas said, smiling, before the Johnstown Tomahawks' game against the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks in the amateur North American Hockey League.

Costas certainly is familiar with the press box at the historic arena, where the motion picture "Slap Shot" was filmed.

The 28-time Emmy-winning sports broadcaster and longtime NBC Sports icon called Syracuse Blazers games against the Johnstown Jets more than 50 years ago.

A producer at Syracuse, New York, radio station WSYR had asked 21-year-old Costas if he could broadcast hockey games. Even though Costas only had an audition recording of him working a basketball game, he said he could handle the microphone at hockey games.

The first of those was at the War Memorial during the Jets' home opener against the Blazers on Oct. 12, 1973, in the then-professional North American Hockey League.

"I was paid $30 a game, with $5 meal money," Costas said.

Venues, sporting events and the compensation certainly evolved throughout a distinguished career. One of the most recognizable voices in sports, Costas has called World Series, Super Bowls, NBA Finals, Olympic Games and Winter Classic NHL games.

Family bonds and nostalgia brought Costas back to the city for two Tomahawks games this weekend. He dropped the ceremonial first puck before Friday's game against the Jr. Hat Tricks and received a loud ovation from a crowd of 2,129 fans. He will return on Saturday.

Costas, 71, reached out to the Tomahawks last month about the possibility of his visiting the War Memorial with his son, Keith Costas.

During Friday's first intermission, Costas left a suite and returned to the broadcast booth to participate in an interview on the Tomahawks' streaming broadcast with play-by-play man Rick Hull and color commentator Ed DeMartino.

"Keith (Costas) is a producer at the Major League Baseball Network. In the offseason he does reports on the morning show called 'Hot Stove,'" Costas said of his son. "He's been around almost everything I've done since he was 5 years old.

"I took him to every NBA Finals during the Michael Jordan era in the '90s. He was at every World Series and All-Star Game I did for NBC. The Super Bowls. Olympics. He experienced almost all of it, but there really wasn't that much hockey."

Bob Costas worked a few of the NHL's Winter Classic games, including the inaugural event between the Pittsburgh Penguins and host Buffalo Sabres on New Year's Day in 2008.

"Apart from that, we haven't been around much hockey together — a few games together, just as fans," Bob Costas said. "I wanted Keith to see where my career began, so we flew to Pittsburgh, rented a car and drove in."

During the Kraft Hockeyville USA celebration, Costas and Mike "Doc" Emrick fronted the NBC Sports team that worked the NHL exhibition game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning at the War Memorial in September 2015.

"When Johnstown was named Hockeyville, even though I wasn't doing hockey regularly for NBC, the guys knew about my connection to hockey," Bob Costas said. "I came to Johnstown. The Hanson Brothers came down."

During Hockeyville, Costas posed for a photo with the bespectacled Hanson Brothers of "Slap Shot" fame. Brothers Steve and Jeff Carlson and Dave Hanson, real-life Johnstown Jets, played the movie roles.

His time in the Blazers' radio booth provided Costas with lasting memories of Johnstown and the arena.

Costas often tells a humorous story about one of his early games involving the Johnstown Jets. He had spent time memorizing the Jets lineup, only to find that Johnstown General Manager John Mitchell had sprung for new uniforms with different numbers.

Costas said he made Johnstown Jets standout Galen Head a do-everything player on that night because he used Head's easy-to-remember name on nearly every play he called involving the Jets.

He also was on hand for a wild playoff game at the War Memorial that prematurely ended after a brawl on March 30, 1974. The Blazers refused to return to the ice from the locker room, resulting in a 1-0 Jets forfeit win. The incident necessitated a significant police presence, including K-9 dogs, to eventually help the Syracuse team get onto the bus and leave town.

The Jets then refused to travel to Syracuse for the next day's game in the playoff series, probably fearing the reception they'd receive from Blazers fans during the road game.

Johnstown forfeited that game, handing the Blazers a bizarre 4-1 series win that made quite an impression on Costas.

During Hockeyville, Costas told The Tribune-Democrat that Syracuse players were huddled in the locker room, sticks raised as clubs in case they would need to defend themselves.

"Like they're on the ledge of the Alamo waiting for Santa Anna's troops," he said.