Ralph Mellanby 1934-2022 – brioux.tv
Ralph Mellanby was the guy who put Don Cherry in Coach’s Corner. The Hamilton, Ont. native died last Saturday, Jan. 29, at 87.
Raised near Windsor, Ont., the innovative executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada was one of the country’s most influential television broadcasters. Back in the ’60s, he was quick to embrace modern techniques such as slow-motion replays and multiple camera angles.
In 1981, he was looking to stir things up between periods on NHL games when he hired former Bruins and Rockies coach Cherry as a TV commentator. Mellanby paired “Grapes” with then HNiC host Dave Hodge and, starting in 1986, Ron MacLean.
The result: for a few years at least, more viewers watched the intermission segments than the hockey game.
Some were startled by Cherry’s brusk manner and combative, bar patron patter. Ignoring the pleas of others at the network, Mellanby gave the coach some valuable advice: don’t change. Never get media training. Stay just the way you are. It worked for over 30 years until it didn’t.
Mellanby, of course, was responsible for much more than simply Cherry picking. Dick Irvin Jr., Howie Meeker, Bob Cole, Dan Kelly and Brian McFarlane all became household hockey names under his watch. At one point he tried to hire future Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek to host Hockey Night in Canada. He wound up taking a chance on 26-year-old Dave Hodge — then the inaugural play-by-play voice of the Buffalo Sabres — instead. (Read more on that from Erik Brady of The Buffalo News.)
Ralph Mellanby was the guy who put Don Cherry in Coach’s Corner. The Hamilton, Ont. native died last Saturday, Jan. 29, at 87.
Raised near Windsor, Ont., the innovative executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada was one of the country’s most influential television broadcasters. Back in the ’60s, he was quick to embrace modern techniques such as slow-motion replays and multiple camera angles.
In 1981, he was looking to stir things up between periods on NHL games when he hired former Bruins and Rockies coach Cherry as a TV commentator. Mellanby paired “Grapes” with then HNiC host Dave Hodge and, starting in 1986, Ron MacLean.
The result: for a few years at least, more viewers watched the intermission segments than the hockey game.
Some were startled by Cherry’s brusk manner and combative, bar patron patter. Ignoring the pleas of others at the network, Mellanby gave the coach some valuable advice: don’t change. Never get media training. Stay just the way you are. It worked for over 30 years until it didn’t.
Mellanby, of course, was responsible for much more than simply Cherry picking. Dick Irvin Jr., Howie Meeker, Bob Cole, Dan Kelly and Brian McFarlane all became household hockey names under his watch. At one point he tried to hire future Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek to host Hockey Night in Canada. He wound up taking a chance on 26-year-old Dave Hodge — then the inaugural play-by-play voice of the Buffalo Sabres — instead. (Read more on that from Erik Brady of The Buffalo News.)
Last edited:
