Retiring Joe Bowen witnessed the wildest times of Maple Leaf history
From a Walt Poddubny goal at old Chicago Stadium when it seemed his Maple Leafs' broadcast debut was doomed, Joe Bowen will have put in 44 years behind the microphone when he retires next year.
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He's seen it all with this team, except a Stanley Cup to date, and those memories are sure to be part of a wonderful final season, even if there's no farewell tour after cost-conscious Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment saw fit to ground him and sharp witted colour man Jim Ralph in recent years.
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With the 74-year-old Bowen announcing Friday that the 2025-26 season will be his last, some of our favourite stories from the Hall of Fame broadcaster in many interviews with the Toronto Sun:
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CAREER LIMITING START
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When Len Bramson, head of Telemedia Sports, called Bowen in Halifax in September of 1982, with an offer to move up from the Nova Scotia Voyageurs and call the Leafs, Bowen thought it was a prank.
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He'd had heard nothing for weeks after sending in his audition tape from the AHL and the OHL Sudbury Wolves and had just put down a mortgage on a new house in anticipation of another season down east. Convinced it was a prank by his friend, overnight host Allan Davis at CJCL, the flagship Leaf station, Bowen just bellowed 'F- you,' into the receiver 'I don't need you being an a-hole.'
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There was silence and then Bramson politely repeated himself, with Bowen slowly realizing this call was for real.
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'I'm like Jackie Gleason, 'humana, humana,' trying to figure out how to apologize. My dream job and I'd just told the guy to screw off. I'd have slit my wrists if there was anything sharp around.'
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Bramson, trying to stifle his laughter, said he'd call back in 10 minutes to let Bowen compose himself. A much different chat followed, Bramson telling him the energy he unleashed on the phone was exactly what the network wanted in its new play-by-play man.
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Bowen was already familiar with Maple Leaf Gardens.
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Bill Plaunt, who ran Sudbury's TV and radio station, was part-owner of the junior team and a good friend of the Bowen's father, local doctor Joe Sr. He gave the University of Windsor grad a shot with the Sudbury Wolves, bringing him to Foster Hewitt's famous gondola five storeys above the ice.
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