Foster Hewitt Foster William Hewitt , Order of Canada ( November 21 , 1902 – April 21 , 1985 ) was a Canadian radio pioneer . Biography . Early life and career . Born in Toronto , Ontario , Hewitt attended Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto . He was a champion boxer in his student years , winning the intercollegiate title at 112 pounds . Hewitt developed an early interest in radio and as a teenager accompanied his father , W . A . Hewitt , on a trip to Detroit , Michigan to see a demonstration of radio technology sponsored by General Electric . He took a job with Independent Telephone Company , which manufactured radios , and left that job and university when his father — the sports editor of the " Toronto Star " — told him that the " Star " was going to start its own radio station . Hewitt became a reporter at the paper , and was ready to go on the air when CFCA was launched . CFCA ' s first hockey broadcast was on February 8 , 1923 , although it was colleague Norman Albert who performed the play - by - play . Hewitt ' s first broadcast likely was February 16 , of a game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Kitchener Greenshirts . Hewitt recalls the date as March 22 in his own book , but there was no game that night at the Arena Gardens . Hewitt ' s book mentions his first broadcast as being of a game between Parkdale and Kitchener , and the Argonaut Club is based in Parkdale , a neighbourhood of Toronto . He also mentions the game as going into overtime which the Argonaut - Kitchener game did . On May 24 , 1925 , Hewitt and his father made what was said to be the world ' s first broadcast of a horse race . In 1927 , he was invited as guest announcer to broadcast the first game from the new Detroit Olympia . Hewitt was part of the opening night ceremonies for Maple Leaf Gardens in November 1931 , and the broadcast " gondola " where Hewitt would broadcast from was brought into the plans with his input , and the blessings of then Leafs owner Conn Smythe . " Hockey Night in Canada " . For forty years , Hewitt was Canada ' s premier hockey play - by - play broadcaster on Hockey Night in Canada , the first radio program widely listened to in Canada . He coined the phrase " " he shoots , he scores ! " " and was also well known for his sign - on at the beginning of each broadcast , " " Hello , Canada , and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland . " " ( Newfoundland was an independent country before joining Canada in 1949 . ) Hewitt ' s " Hockey Night in Canada " broadcasts were simulcast on television until 1963 when he handed over the television broadcasts to his son , Bill Hewitt . In 1951 , he started his own radio station in Toronto , CKFH , initially at AM 1400 kHz , until moving to 1430 in 1959 . The station carried Leafs games until losing the rights in 1978 . In 1981 , the station was sold to Telemedia and was renamed CJCL . Later life . Hewitt retired from television in 1963 , but came out of retirement to broadcast the 1972 Summit Series ( with colour commentator Brian Conacher ) . Hewitt was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder in 1965 . In 1972 , he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada . The Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame is named after him , as is the media gondola at the nearby Air Canada Centre . Hewitt ' s original gondola from Maple Leaf Gardens was dismantled , then dumped into an incinerator in August 1979 to make room for private boxes , under the MLG leadership of Harold Ballard . Hewitt died at age 82 .