TV host Brian Williams has been selected by the Football Reporters of Canada to be inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame Football Reporters wing.
Williams was selected in honour of his contributions to the CFL through his outstanding work throughout his career and will be inducted in a ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 28 in Edmonton.
Williams has covered Canadian football throughout his career, including more than 30 CFL championship games.
The Football Reporters of Canada annually select inductees for the Canadian Football Hall of Fame Football Reporters wing.
Williams was long associated with CBC-TV sports broadcasting, having joined that network in 1974, following stints in radio at Toronto's CFRB and CHUM.
Williams served as the studio host for the CBC's coverage of the CFL, Formula 1 and horse racing and was the play-by-play announcer for the network's coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays. Along with Terry Leibel and Ron MacLean, he was a regular studio anchor for CBC's Olympic Games coverage. Williams also worked with Peter Mansbridge during CBC 2000 Today, CBC's coverage of the millennium. He also currently co-hosts Don Cherry's Grapeline, along with Don Cherry.
He announced plans in December 2006 to rival CTV, and its sports network TSN. However, the CBC fired Williams, and he moved immediately to CTV/TSN as on-site host of TSN's CFL coverage. Williams also headed the CTV broadcasting team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and will continue to do so for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Williams joins TSN founding President, Gordon Craig, broadcaster John Wells and Executive Producer Paul "Mac" McLean as just the fourth member of the TSN family to be recognized with this prestigious honour.
This year, Williams heads to Edmonton to host TSN's coverage of the 98th Grey Cup alongside Dave Randorf and also contributes to special features that will air leading up to Sunday's big game. "Brian is one of our country's greatest broadcasters. He is a true champion of the CFL and certainly a deserving recipient of this tremendous honour," said Stewart Johnston, President of TSN. "Brian's in-depth feature stories and powerful interviews are an integral component of our CFL ON TSN broadcasts. We're extremely proud to have Brian as a part of our team at TSN and we congratulate him on this wonderful achievement."
"Inducting Brian into any Hall of Fame immediately increases its prestige. His thorough, compassionate work as a journalist and broadcaster is legendary, from the Olympics to the Grey Cup," said Darrell Davis, Secretary-Treasurer, Football Reporters of Canada. "As a member of the FRC wing of the Canadian Hall of Fame myself, I'm honoured to have him join our group."
Williams' professionalism, style and hard work has endeared him to millions of Canadians from coast-to-coast. He has also won praise from critics and numerous accolades, including eight Gemini Awards, two Foster Hewitt Awards and earlier this year was given the Sports Media Canada's Outstanding Sports Broadcasting Award for his work on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
One "old School" sportcaster that drives me insane. This guy would never cut it today but hey good on him. "Professionalism, Style and hard work" blah!---just never liked the style I guess, but have to agreee he is a hard worker and pro.
The "Air Farce" parodies of Williams were always brilliant. "Alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll-RIGHT!" (complete with fingers tapping on the table in front of him.
Never been a big fan of his work, but good on him, 'cause he's a huge CFL supporter, and there's not enough of those.
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