Foster Hewitt
Plot 3, Lot 7
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Foster Hewitt was born on November 21, 1902. He was the son of William “Billy” Hewitt, sports editor for The Toronto Star where, after graduation from the University of Toronto, Foster obtained a job writing a weekly column on the newest wonder of the age, radio. One afternoon Foster was dispatched to Mutual Arena where he was to repair broadcast equipment installed by the newspaper’s radio station CFCA. He was also told to be ready to broadcast that evening’s OHA senior playoff hockey game between teams from Kitchener and Toronto if no-one else could be found. No-one was found, so on the evening of March 22, 1923 Foster Hewitt broadcast his first hockey game. Coining the never-to-be-forgotten words, “He Shoots, He Scores!”, Foster Hewitt remained Canada’s ”voice of hockey” for an incredible 56 years. In addition to hockey games, Hewitt also broadcast wrestling matches, football games, and marathon swims held off the CNE’s waterfront. Without doubt, the event that gave Hewitt his biggest thrill was the final game in the Canada - USSR hockey final in 1972 when Toronto Maple Leaf Paul Henderson scored the winning goal for Team Canada. Hewitt was also a shrewd businessman. In 1951 he purchased a small Toronto radio station, CKFH (the “FH” stood for Foster Hewitt), and sold it 29 years later for $4 million. He was also vice-president of CFTO-TV, part-owner of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, and director of several mines in northern Ontario. Foster Hewitt died on April 22, 1985 at the age of 82.
Mike Filey
Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide
Second Edition Revised and Expanded