ST. LOUIS -- Broadcaster Dan Kelly, the voice of the St. Louis Blues for 20 years and one of the most respected announcers in professional hockey, died of cancer early Friday at his home in suburban St. Louis. He was 52.
Kelly died at his home in Chesterfield, a posh suburb of St. Louis, said Susie Mathieu, a spokeswoman for the team. Funeral arrangements were pending Friday.
Kelly's wife, Fran, and all six of their children were with him when he died, Mathieu said. Kelly's eldest son, John, 28, is a play-by-play announcer for the New York Rangers.
'In my opinion, Dan was the greatest asset this hockey franchise had,' Mathieu said. 'He transcended any player or coach or general manager. He helped educate all the fans and me to the game of hockey for so long.
'It leaves a big void in our franchise because he was our franchise.'
Kelly's death was the second to shake the franchise in little more than a year. Barclay Plager, who played with the Blues as a defenseman in three Stanley Cup finals and later coached the team, died Feb. 6, 1988, after a long battle against inoperable brain tumors.
A native of Ottawa, Kelly came to St. Louis as the Blues' announcer in October 1968 but was forced to the sidelines last fall when he was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Last month, Kelly was honored with the NHL's Lester Patrick Award, the league's highest honor for contributions to the game of hockey off the ice.
Kelly also was selected this year by the Hockey Broadcasters Association for induction into the broadcasters' wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
'You can't dispute the fact that he was the greatest hockey announcer of this era,' Mathieu said.
The award ceremony held last month at a downtown St. Louis hotel was bittersweet because Kelly was too ill to attend. He watched the proceedings from his hospital room via a special television hookup.
Kelly was born Sept. 17, 1936, in Ottawa. His father died when he was 2 years old, and he was raised by his older brother, Hal, who was 15 years older than him.
He began his career in broadcasting as an apprentice engineer at an Ottawa radio station. His first on-the-air job came at CJET Radio in Smith Falls, Ontario, where he broadcast music, sports and news. He later did play-by-play at the station for the junior B hockey team in Smith Falls.
In 1958, he became the sports director at CKSO Radio in Sudsbury, Ontario, and he joined the CBC television network in Ottawa in 1959.
At the start of the 1965-66 NHL season, he joined 'Hockey Night in Canada' as a play-by-play announcer for radio and television broadcasts.
Kelly became the play-by-play announcer for the Blues during the playoffs at the end of 1967-68 season, and held the job ever since.
He had been working on Blues broadcasts early this season when he experienced back pain in September. An examination revealed he was suffering from widespread cancer. He left the broadcast booth in November for hospitalization.
Mathieu said the club would observe a moment of silence in Kelly's memory before Saturday night's home game against the New York Islanders.
