Pat Marsden

Patrick Frank Marsden (November 8, 1936 - April 27, 2006) was a Canadian sportscaster and voice of the Canadian Football League play-by-play coverage in the 1970s and 1980s. He also worked as host for the historic 1972 Canada-Soviet Union hockey Summit Series sports telecasts.

Marsden was born in Ottawa and attended St. Patrick's High School (Ottawa), where he started his sportscasting career at local station CKOY.

He later became sports director at CFTO in Toronto, and became immersed in all local and national sporting events. He even appeared as "John Marsden" in an episode of "Bizarre" (filmed at CFTO), in a Super Dave Osborne stunt at Toronto's CN Tower.

Fired in 1985 after a physical altercation with his boss Ted Steubing (he threw Steubing over a desk), Marsden then was hired by his CTV football broadcasting partner Bill Stephenson at CFRB, went to TSN, and later surfaced at The Fan 590. After helping to rebuild and essentially help create the image for The Fan 590, Marsden's contract was not renewed after 2004 and he left the world of broadcasting for good.

Marsden spent most of his time in Florida due to what he felt was the "socialization of Canadian society", but he continued to maintain a home in Toronto.

He returned in 2003 to live in Toronto with his family joining him and died of lung cancer on April 27, 2006, aged 69, at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre.

He is survived by his wife Terryanne (and ex-wife Barbara) and five children (Taylor, Connor, Mike, Patti-Lee, and Ruth Mary) by both of his marriages.

References

* [http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1146133747010 Pat Marsden, 69: Colourful broadcaster] , Toronto Star
* [http://www.canada.com/topics/sports/story.html?id=2462f009-92d9-4b20-8020-14c505f743f8&k=63722 Pat Marsden loses battle with lung cancer] , Canada.com