Veteran sportscaster John Kelly bleeds blue.
You have to when you’re the play-by-play announcer for the St. Louis Blues (it’s in the contract). Kelly draws on a family legacy of sportscasting, from his father, the great Dan Kelly, whose 20-year career of radio play-by-plays for the St. Louis Blues inspired his two sons to get off the ice and into the press box.
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John has been announcing Blues telecasts since early 2006 but has been part of the fan club since he was a kid, when he and his family moved from Ottawa to plant roots in St. Louis. Here, he made hockey his lifelong passion.
What’s a typical day for a Blues sportscaster? Every day I’m watching games, reading articles, and following social media, so I’m always up to date on what’s happening around the NHL. On game days, I’ll start prepping in the morning and go down to practice to work in my notebook where I keep scores, notes on line combinations, teams, and players. I’ll observe the practices, talk to the players and the coaches, chat with other broadcasters, and try to get a storyline scoop on the other team and then get ready for the game.
It sounds a lot more involved than just getting on the mic and hyping up the fans. My main job as play-by-play guy is to call the game and that takes memorization skills. I’m not trying to sound boastful, but it makes it easier when you know the teams and the game as well as I do. It can be challenging when you play a team that you don’t see in your division a lot, but I think good broadcasters are in tune with the leagues.
How has sportscasting changed for you over the years? One of the biggest changes I’ve seen is the number of people who cover the Blues on a daily basis—or any NHL team for that matter. When I first started, you might have a couple of reporters, one radio guy and maybe a TV person who would come in after practice. Now, you might easily have 25 reporters and journalists in there. That’s a lot.
Did you ever have a desire to get on the ice? I had dreams of playing in the NHL, but I quickly realized that I just wasn’t fast enough, I was too small and too slow—a bad combination. I enjoyed playing hockey until I was 19 in St. Louis. But I knew there was no way I was going to go pro, so I turned to a career in broadcasting because my dad was a broadcaster and he had such a great life. I thought it would be pretty cool to do what he did. I’m glad I went down that path.
What was the most important lesson you learned from him about this business? I think the biggest thing I learned was to be prepared and professional but to always be respectful of the players, the coaches, the officials, and the game itself. And don’t take your position in the game for granted. My father was never one to be critical of referees or players or things like that, but he was always very professional, and I try to do that as well and be respectful of everybody in the game.
How important is cultivating a recognizable voice for this line of work? I think that for a play-by-play announcer, it’s nice to have a really good voice, but it’s not everything. There are some play-by-play announcers that I would consider to have average voices but are extremely talented broadcasters. I think it’s part of the overall package if you have a great sounding voice—like a Jack Buck voice—but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t.
What’s the best game you’ve called? To be honest, I have to go back to my days announcing for Colorado: game four in 1996, Avalanche vs. Blackhawks. They were down 2–1 in the series, and they won game four in Chicago in triple overtime. That tied, and they went on to win the series and then the Stanley Cup. When I look back at the magnitude of that night, it was one of the most exciting games that I’ve ever had a chance to broadcast.
Speaking of winning the Stanley, what do the Blues need this season to go all the way? I think they have an excellent team right now. They’re a bit faster and more skilled, but I still think they’re in that transition phase, and injuries have really hurt the team this season. Losing a player like Robby Fabbri for the entire season is a really big loss to overcome. That doesn’t mean without Fabbri they can’t do well in the playoffs, but it certainly would be more challenging without a player like him on the offense. But we’re still in the playoff spot, and I think the window is open for them to do well because this team has got a lot of really great, young players.
What’s special to you about the St. Louis Blues? I just have such a strong bond with the team because of my father’s legacy. I bleed blue like a lot of fans, and I’m still waiting for that day when they win the Stanley Cup. I hope it comes soon—not for me personally, though I’d love it—but for the loyal fans who’ve been following this team since 1967. They’ve had a lot of great teams over the years in different eras, so it just shows you how hard it is to win the Stanley Cup. They’ll get their break soon.
