Hal Kelly
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Joseph Harold "Hal" Kelly (July 9, 1920 – March 23, 1998)[1] was a Canadian sportscaster who covered the National Football League and the Montreal Expos Major League Baseball team for CBC Television.
Kelly was born on July 9, 1920, in Ottawa.[1] His father died when Kelly was sixteen and he helped his mother raise his three brothers and sister.[2] Kelly attended Saint Patrick's College. He was a member of the school's football team, although injuries limited his playing time. After graduating from Saint Patrick's in 1939, he became an English-language newscaster at CKCH, a bilingual radio station in Hull, Ontario. After six months, he joined CKCO in Ottawa as a sports announcer, calling Interprovincial Rugby Football Union football and Allan Cup hockey games.[3] After a two-year stint as a navigational instructor with the Royal Canadian Air Force, Jack Kent Cooke hired Kelly to call Toronto Maple Leafs baseball games on CKEY.[1]
CBC
Kelly was a part of the CBC's IRFU and Queen's Plate broadcasts. In 1961, he became the host of the network's National Football League broadcasts.[3] He was the television play-by-play announcer the Montreal Expos during their inaugural 1969 season.[4] In 1971, the CBC replaced Kelly with Dave Van Horne at the behest of the Expos.[5]