Saunders is undoubtedly one of the most famous faces on air for the sports news media house, ESPN. He hosted the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs (1993-2004), Baseball Tonight (1990-93), SportsCenter’s coverage of the Final Four (1991-93), the World Series (1990-92) and Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game (1990-92).
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Storm announced her colleague’s death live on Wednesday morning’s SportsCenter, and shortly thereafter, ESPN president John Skipper released a statement. He was host of “The Sports Reporters”, a Sunday roundtable of sports journalists, since 2001.
Mr. Saunders has been the master of ceremonies at Vitale’s gala and V Foundation fundraiser in Sarasota, Fla., in 10 of 11 years the event has been held, said the longtime college basketball analyst.
Again, condolences to the Saunders family, as we truly lost one of the greats in the sports industry today.
It was at Ryerson that John Saunders took an interest in broadcasting.
“He was very proud to be Canadian”, said Leo Rautins, the former National Basketball Association player who teamed with Saunders on Toronto Raptors’ telecasts.
John Peterson Saunders was born February 2, 1955, in Toronto and grew up in Montreal.
Following news of his death, Saunders’ friends and colleagues started sending out their sympathies.
John Saunders was incredibly generous to me in every single instance.
Born in Canada, Saunders was an all-star defenseman in the junior hockey leagues of Montreal. He was the main sports anchor for CITY-TV in Toronto from 1980-82 as well as ATV News in New Brunswick (1979-80) and CKNY-TV in Ontario (1978-79). As a play-by-play announcer he manages to successfully toe the line between hype man and educator.
“I think you’d have a hard time finding anyone to say anything bad about John”, Rautins said. He was very giving, very caring, very intelligent..
Perhaps most importantly, John Saunders is remembered by his colleagues, friends, and family as an inspiration; an excellent person, always kind and helpful.
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Saunders is survived by his wife, Wanda, and two daughters – Aleah and Jenna. “Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this extremely hard time”.
