Nothing seemed to faze Don Chevrier, who was always the perfect foil for whatever colour commentator he happened to be with working with — Howard Cosell, Tony Kubek, Don Duguid, Doug Maxwell or whoever else happened to be in the booth with the cool, calm and collected play-by-play man.
Chevrier, who died unexpectedly Monday at age 69, lived in Mississauga for many years while working for CBC and broadcasting the Blue Jays games.
He was the consummate professional and seemed unflappable. As Mississaugan Chris Zelkovich, former news editor of The Mississauga Times, reports today in The Toronto Star, Chevrier was once faced with interviewing legendary Chicago Cubs owner/pitchman Bill Veeck on-air with all of 30 seconds' warning.
Chevrier, who never used written notes and seemed to have a library for a memory, brought the interview off with aplomb. Veeck told producer Ralph Mellanby after the experience that he was impressed with Chevrier's baseball smarts.
Former Mississauga News Sports Editor Mike Toth recalls another instance when "Chevy" proved to be a major league pinch-hitter.
The broadcaster frequently co-hosted the annual Mississauga Sports Dinner in the late 70s and early 80s.
One year, another eminent Mississauga broadcaster, Dave Hodge, was lined up to make his debut at the dinner, co-hosting with soccer's Graham Leggatt.
At the last second, Hodge came down with laryngitis and a panicky Toth had to find a substitute. He thought immediately of Chevrier and he phoned his Mississauga home only to find that he was in the midst of flying home from a Florida vacation.
"I went to the airport and he was a little surprised to see me," says Toth, "I asked if he could emcee the dinner. 'Of course,' Don said. 'When is it?'"
"About two hours from now," a relieved Toth said.
"I'll be there," replied Chevrier. He went home, got into his tux and made another run back to Malton, where the dinner was being held that year at the Airport Hilton.
"Everything went off without a hitch, thanks to Chevrier," says Toth. "He played straight man to Graham and they were an excellent combination."
Chevrier always had the host's ultimate gift of making sure the spotlight shone on the guy who was supposed to be the star.
As well as co-hosting several Sports dinners with Leggatt, Chevrier also found time for many years, to appear on the telethon supporting The Mississauga News Christmas Bureau Fund, as it was then called.
Condolences go out to the Chevrier clan, many of whom have Mississauga connections. Son Mal formerly worked in retail sales at The News and still lives in Port Credit. Tim was a staff photographer at The News and worked for years at Credit Valley Hospital. Jeff freelanced for the paper for some time and has a very successful digital photo business in town.
Don's ex-wife Donna is a former business etiquette and image columnist for the paper and has expressed her thoughts eloquently over the years in numerous letters to the editor.
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized.
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There was a big turnout Friday to say goodbye to the grandmother of hockey in Mississauga, Mabel Boyd. The funeral service ended with a powerful, spontaneous rendition of Stompin' Tom's (or Skatin' Tom in this instance) Good Old Hockey Game.
It's been a rough week for Mississauga's sports fraternity.