John Saunders, sports journalist and broadcaster, native of Ajax, Ontario, and original voice of the Toronto Raptors, has died today. He was 61 years old.
Many tributes are already pouring in on Twitter and websites far and wide for Saunders, but I just wanted to take note of the role he had in shaping the sound of those first Raptors teams. While many think of Chuck Swirsky as the definitive narrator of the Raptors basketball, it was actually Saunders who was there on TV from day one. He held the post from the team’s inception in 1995 until 2001, when Chuck took over.