Jim Robson, the longtime voice of the Vancouver Canucks and one of Maple Ridge’s most famous citizens, has died at the age of 91.
Robson was the play-by-play commentator for the Vancouver Canucks from their start as an NHL expansion team in 1970, through two Stanley Cup finals appearances, until he retired in 1999.
City of Maple Ridge Mayor Dan Ruimy was saddened to hear of Robson’s death.
“On behalf of city council and the residents of Maple Ridge, I extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and countless fans of Jim Robson on his passing,” said Ruimy.
He said Robson was a beloved hometown hero whose impact on the community, and on Canadian sport, will never be forgotten.
Robson grew up in Maple Ridge, explained Ruimy, attending Alexander Robinson School before moving on to Maple Ridge Junior and Senior High School.
“He was well known locally as an athlete, playing basketball for Maple Ridge High School and baseball for the Haney Junior team,” said Ruimy.
Robson went on to become the trusted ‘Voice of the Vancouver Canucks’ for more than 25 years calling more than 2,000 NHL games and covering Stanley Cup finals, NHL all-star games, and international competitions, including the 1984 Olympic Games.
In 2017, the City of Maple Ridge officially named the section of 105th Avenue from Lougheed Highway to the traffic circle at Tamarack Lane, Jim Robson Way. There was a celebration in January, 2018, that Robson attended.
“We will always take pride in the fact that one of Canada’s most iconic voices came from Maple Ridge,” said Ruimy.
“I played all the sports, but I didn’t excel at any,” said Robson in a 2018 interview with The News, noting that he knew since he was six years old he wanted to be a sports broadcaster.
Robson’s family moved from Saskatchewan in 1943 to Barnston Island, across the Fraser River from Pitt Meadows, where his uncle had a dairy farm.
In April of 1944, they bought a small farm on what is now 236th, off Dewdney Trunk Road, when he was nine years old, where he would sell eggs to his neighbours.
He attended Alexander Robinson Elementary and got his start in sports on a softball team.
In high school, Robson tried playing every sport he could, but not hockey because the closest arena at the time was in New Westminster.
He also wrote a sports column in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Gazette.
When he reached Grade 11 he contacted managers at seven radio stations asking for summer work, and landed a job at CJAV in Port Alberni, where he did sportscasts and broadcasted basketball games.
In 1956 he moved to CKNW, where he covered the Vancouver Mounties baseball, the B.C. Lions, and the old Vancouver Canucks of the minor professional Western Hockey League.
He became “The Voice of the Canucks” in 1970.
His final radio broadcast was the 1994 Stanley Cup finals between the Vancouver Canucks and the New York Rangers and then spent his final five years as the Canucks TV announcer.
According to the BC Sports Hall of Fame, Robson received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award by the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992 and was inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998 and into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2002. The media broadcast gondola in Rogers Arena also bears his name.