One Hockey Broadcaster's Story - Puget Sound Radio Dot Com

Mike Lange's inimitable style makes him a broadcast legend
By Keith Barnes
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, January 20, 2008

Before the puck is ever dropped on a hockey night in Pittsburgh, Penguins radio play-by-play man Mike Lange goes through a lengthy routine that includes going to the morning skate and a thorough review of the notes handed out by every team.
It might seem like a lot of preparation for a three-hour broadcast, but most fans of Lange's effortless delivery would agree it's worth it.

"To be quite honest, I never looked at it as a job," Lange says. "I've been really fortunate to do something that I've wanted to do ever since the time I was 9 years old, so I've lived a dream. ... it's just a matter of wanting to broadcast and be a part of it no matter what sport it would be."

Lange, 59, grew up in Sacramento when the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants moved to the West Coast to take up residence in Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively. He got to listen to Lon Simmons and Russ Hodges on Giants' broadcasts and the legendary Vin Scully on Dodgers' games, inspiring his dreams of becoming a baseball announcer.

Hockey, as it turned out, was almost an accident.
"When I was in college (at Sacramento State), I did the radio broadcasts for baseball, football and basketball, and a college roommate of mine (suggested) that I go out and see the Industrial League in Sacramento, and I had no idea about hockey," Lange says. "His exact words were 'You never know,' so I went out and worked as the penalty-time keeper. They had a PA announcer broadcast the games in the building ... and they paid him $5 a game. The next year, he wanted $10 a game, and they said they couldn't afford to pay him and asked me if I wanted to do it."

Lange began broadcasting hockey full-time in 1970, when he became the play-by-play man for the Phoenix Roadrunners of the Western Hockey League, then moved on to the WHL's San Diego Gulls before he was offered the Penguins job in 1974.

"The World Hockey League came in and the Western Hockey League went defunct, and the general manager there was a big help and he helped me get some contacts," Lange says. "Then KDKA hired me and I worked for the Penguins, and that's how it came about."

All these years later, there are Web sites dedicated to Lange's signature calls of two Stanley Cup championship teams and great moments in team history -- moments created by the likes of Jean Pronovost, Rick Kehoe, Randy Carlyle, Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. T-shirts are available on the team's Web site with Lange's caricature calling out some of his most popular catchphrases -- lines like "It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh," "Buy Sam a drink and get his dog one too" and "Michael, Michael motorcycle."

Players and fans never seem to tire of Lange's signature catchphrases.

"They're as popular as they ever were, even with these players even before they came to Pittsburgh. Even when I was growing up in Boston, I knew he had all those different sayings. He's a legend," former Penguins forward Phil Bourque says. "I think Pittsburgh fans realize how lucky they are to have him in our market," adds Bourque, who works as Lange's partner in the radio booth.

"I used to listen to him a lot, because, riding around a lot on buses in the International Hockey League and in the American Hockey League, KDKA (the former Penguins flagship station) came in very clear," NHL broadcaster Mike Emrick says.

Although Lange's been doing games for more than three decades, one goal stands out among the thousands he's seen.

"There's so many things I've called over the years," Lange says. "But it definitely has to be Mario's goal against Chicago in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals in 1992 to cap that big comeback. That was as exhilarating a goal as has ever been scored. And the roof did come off -- it was that kind of goal."

It didn't take a younger Lange long to figure out he could make a career of talking -- although he wasn't calling games at the time.

"My first job, I worked for the Sacramento Bee doing telephone sales, and I was very good because I was able to talk to people and communicate, and that was probably what inspired me and kept me going to want to be in the communications business," Lange says. "It's been a natural for me. I can't write, but I can talk."

And he can listen, too. In particular, Lange enjoys the blues, and he's always eager to see the genre's practitioners work their magic firsthand.

"If I had one dream, I probably wish I could have been a blues player, but I never could and it keeps the dream alive, when you see guys playing and you know just how naturally good they are and it impresses me so much," says Lange, who counts Kenny Neal, Tinsley Ellis and John Coltrane among his favorites. "I can just sit there and melt right into the woodwork and enjoy it."

Lange's laid-back, conversational delivery and trademark sayings have made him one of the elite in his field. In 2001, he received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award by the Hockey Hall of Fame for outstanding work as a broadcaster.

One person Lange cites as a mentor is former Pirates announcer Bob Prince. The two became fast friends when Lange came to Pittsburgh in 1974.

Lange employs much of "The Gunner's" advice to this day.

That was apparent in 1986 and '87, when Lange expanded his professional horizons and began calling Pirates games on KBL, the network that eventually would become FSN Pittsburgh. At the time, Lange was paired with a neophyte color analyst known more for winning Game 7 of the 1971 World Series.

Despite not working together for in two decades, Lange and Steve Blass remain close to this day.

"He was kind of a mentor to me, and he was and remains, to me, the consummate professional," says Blass, who still serves as a color analyst for Pirates home games. "We had a friendship before, but it was really solidified with the help he gave me learning this end of the business," Blass says. "The one thing he showed me was to let the moment speak for itself without a lot of jabbering on top of it. The people are seeing that moment -- don't distract them by talking too much. That was one of the big fundamentals that he taught me."

Blass has worked with others along the way who've made a name for themselves in broadcasting. Longtime color analyst Paul Steigerwald now does play-by-play on Penguins' television broadcasts for FSN Pittsburgh after the network opted not to renew Lange's contract. After his playing days, former Pens head coach Eddie Olczyk also worked with Lange. Now Olczyk does color work for the Chicago Blackhawks, Versus and NBC.

Bourque appreciates Lange's help.

"He's very subtle about it," Bourque says. "He doesn't try to force anything on me, but he tells me that here may be a better way to do that, or you might want to try this, so, in a way, he wants to always try to help me, but not help me too much, and there's a nice balance between he and I," Bourque says. "I think our relationship started when I was playing, and I think, what I value, is that we have a great friendship, and I respect him more than words for what he does as a broadcaster, and I hope that he respects the kind of player that I was."

His status as a local icon hasn't changed the humble Lange, a North Hills resident whose wife died several years ago and whose two grown sons live outside the area. For Lange, the game is what matters, not the trappings that come along with it.

"I think the defining moment for a broadcaster is where you can get to the point that I would sit down and the game would flow from my body," Lange says. "I know that sounds really weird, but when you've become accomplished and somewhat proficient at something, there's a day in your life when it just kicks in, and the only thing I can compare it with is a blues guitarist who's been doing it for a lot of years and he feels this rush and he can play in any situation."

Lange has no intentions of hanging up his headphones any time soon.

"I still enjoy what I do, and maybe when it stops being fun I'll decide to take another avenue and try something different," Lange says. "I wouldn't be afraid to do that. I have no fear at all about accomplishing things, because I know when I put my mind to something that I can make it happen."

Keith Barnes can be reached at kbarnes@tribweb.com or 724-853-2109.