Mike Mastovich: Costas' return to War Memorial bookends incredible broadcasting career

Jan. 12—Bob Costas, one of the most recognizable and respected personalities in sports television broadcasting, has a storied connection to Johnstown and 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial.

Another chapter is about to unfold in the hockey saga.

Costas, 71, will appear at two Johnstown Tomahawks games against the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks on Feb. 2-3.

The 28-time Emmy Award winner will be part of Johnstown Hockey Heritage Weekend. Both games will be at the War Memorial, one of the arenas where Costas first broadcast professional North American Hockey League games for Syracuse's WSYR radio as a 21-year-old.

"Hockey has been here for 70-plus years now. We are simply trying to write our own piece of that history," Johnstown Tomahawks local minority owner Craig Saylor said.

Costas called Syracuse Blazers games against the Johnstown Jets in the pro NAHL at the start of a distinguished broadcasting career that included a tenure with NBC Sports from 1980 to 2019. Costas was a prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from 1988 through 2016.

He and Mike "Doc" Emrick led NBC's television coverage of the Kraft Hockeyville USA preseason game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning in September 2015.

Costas' next Johnstown "homecoming" is steeped in a bit of nostalgia, as well as family ties.

In fact, according to the Tomahawks, Costas placed a call to the team's Napoleon Street office, essentially initiating his link to the Hockey Heritage Weekend.

"Bob called like any regular Tomahawks fan would," said Brandon Shaffer, the amateur NAHL team's director of ticketing.

"He said he wanted to come to our game, tour the arena and show his son where he got his start. It was a cool phone call to get."

In past interviews, Costas recalled working one of his first professional hockey games at the War Memorial, covering the Syracuse Blazers against the Johnstown Jets for WSYR more than 50 years ago.

As Costas told it, legendary Jets GM Johnny Mitchell uncharacteristically purchased new jerseys for his team right before the game, negating the hours the fledgling broadcaster had spent memorizing the uniform numbers of the opposing players listed on an old roster sheet.

"There was no time to relearn the numbers, so when the first Johnstown player on the ice was a guy wearing No. (5) named Francois Ouimet, I decided that he was about to play the game of his life."

At least on the Syracuse radio that night, Ouimet did almost everything on the ice — pass, check, shoot, score. (Note: The story also has been told with No. 8 Galen Head being the do-everything Jet).

Costas later was in Johnstown for the North American Hockey League playoffs on March 30, 1974. The game ended after a second-period brawl spilled over into the crowd. The Blazers refused to return to the ice, and the Jets received a forfeit victory to cut a series deficit to 3-1.

During Hockeyville, Costas told The Tribune-Democrat that Syracuse players were huddled in the locker room, sticks raised as clubs in case they would need to defend themselves.

"Like they're on the ledge of the Alamo waiting for Santa Anna's troops," he said then.

In the broadcast booth, Costas spent a lot of time filling air any way he could until the mayhem settled and the game was called.

He later joined the team in an escape from Johnstown. The Blazers clinched the best-of-7 series with a 1-0 win the next night in Syracuse.

"Cops show up with riot dogs and everything, and they disperse the crowd," Costas said during the 2015 interview.

There were no unexpected uniform changes or brawls when Costas brought his talents to the War Memorial during the inaugural Kraft Hockeyville USA game in 2015.

He was joined on the set by Liam McHugh and Mike Milbury, while Emrick, Pierre McGuire and Jeremy Roenick called the action as the Penguins and Lightning played. Costas even posed for photographs with the bespectacled "Slap Shot" Hanson Brothers — former Johnstown Jets Steve and Jeff Carlson and Dave Hanson.

Nearly nine years later, Costas will be among the main figures during Johnstown Hockey Heritage Weekend. It will cap a long journey that began in the days when he earned $30 a game and $5 meal money to cover the Blazers against the Jets.

Mike Mastovich is a sports reporter and columnist for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5083. Follow him on Twitter @Masty81.