Media Release

For Immediate Release

May 11, 2009

CBC broadcaster Armitage made honorary doctor by Saint Mary’s

Steve Armitage

Sports broadcaster Steve Armitage will receive an honorary doctorate degree this month from his Alma Mater Saint Mary’s University.

Armitage, who graduated from Saint Mary’s in 1968, will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law at the university’s afternoon convocation ceremony May 22 at the Halifax Metro Centre.

Honorary doctoral degrees will also be presented to Wadih M. Fares, James S. Kinnear, Sister Dorothy Moore, Dr. Samatha Nutt and Dianne Swinemar.

Steve Armitage is an integral part of Canada’s athletic heritage. For more than 40 years, his work has served as the standard for excellence in Canadian broadcasting, and audiences across this country have grown accustomed to his booming voice describing the play by play.

Born in Buckinghamshire, England and raised in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Armitage’s lifelong love of sport – all sport – developed early as a child in Britain where English soccer first captivated his imagination.

After moving to the Maritimes, football became his primary interest as he gained recognition in the Halifax area as a quarterback in the Saint Mary’s football program.

A student at Saint Mary’s from 1964 until 1968, his years at the university were memorable – playing on some of the best Huskies football teams ever, including the 1964 team that ended a 47-game winning streak by St. Francis Xavier University, en route to an Atlantic Bowl championship – the first the university’s history. He was inducted in the Saint Mary’s University Sport Hall of Fame as a member of that 1964 team in 1999.

Armitage graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968 and later played two years of semi-pro football with the Halifax Buccaneers. He even served for a time as Sports Information Director at Saint Mary’s until the CBC sent him to cover sports on the west coast in 1973.

He began work at CBC on a part time basis in Halifax in the spring of 1965, writing – not reading – the CBC late night sportscast. Since then, his CBC career has taken him across Canada and around the globe as he covered some of the biggest sporting events in history – everything from Hockey Night in Canada and Grey Cup championships, to the World Cup of Soccer and 13 Olympics (winter and summer).

He won the ACTRA Foster Hewitt Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting for his play-by-play coverage of the 1982 World Cup of Soccer from Madrid. It marked the first time that Canadians were able to watch live coverage of the World Cup on home television.

He has also won two Gemini Awards recognizing the consistent quality of his work and the respect it has earned within the industry.

The honorary degree from Saint Mary’s recognizes Armitage’s commitment to professionalism, his desire to learn more and his dedication to excellence that has served the people of this country. He has long served as one Saint Mary’s greatest ambassadors on the world stage.

Armitage will address the graduating class at the afternoon ceremony. He will be introduced by Paul Dyer, the Regional Vice-President, Eastern, Scotiatrust and the immediate past chair of the Saint Mary’s University Board of Governors.

For more information about the Saint Mary’s University convocation ceremony, please visit: http://www.smu.ca/registrar/grad_spring.html

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For More Information:

Blake Patterson
Public Affairs Officer
Saint Mary's University, Public Affairs
(902) 420.5514
E-mail: blake.patterson@smu.ca
www.smu.ca