John Badham (sportscaster)

John Badham was born on April 1, 1937, in Brock, Saskatchewan, and was the son of an Anglican priest. His family moved around to several locations in Saskatchewan, then settled in Weyburn where he finished high school. He then worked at the Weyburn Mental Hospital and met his future wife, Dorothy Issac, who was a nurse. He and his wife had four children. Badham began his sports career doing radio broadcasts for the Weyburn Beavers senior ice hockey team during the 1957–58 season. He then did play-by-play commentary for Saskatchewan Roughriders games in the Canadian Football League from 1959 to 1969, while working for CKCK-FM based in Regina, Saskatchewan. ==Middle career across Canada==

Badham moved to Toronto in 1969, and did play-by-play for the Toronto Argonauts, including three tenures on three separate radio stations. While working for CBC Sports, Badham covered the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. For his commentary at the canoe and kayak events, neither he nor the director knew anything about the sport and relied on fellow commentator Marjorie Homer-Dixon who represented Canada in kayak events at the Summer Olympic Games in 1968 and 1972. Badham became the play-by-play announcer for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on CJJD-AM in 1978. He later moved to Vancouver to be the play-by-play announcer on CFUN for the BC Lions until the 1983 season. Badham covered the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo for CBC Sports. He also covered the Commonwealth Games, a Super Bowl, and Canadian and World Curling Championships. ==Later career in Peterborough==

Badham departed Ottawa for Peterborough after he was hired at CHEX-TV in 1988, by Wally Macht who knew him when they were competing radio news anchors in Saskatchewan during the 1960s. CHEX operated both Kruz 100.5 and The Wolf 101.5, for which Badham appeared on air until he retired from full-time work in 2011. but resigned after a few games to remain as a journalist for the team. Badham returned to radio part-time in 2013 as host of the show The Regulars on Extra 90.5 until early in 2016, then hosted a noon-hour current events show until July 2016. He died on December 8, 2016, at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre due to liver cancer. ==Honours and legacy==

The Regina Leader-Post noted that Badham had a reputation for "energetic play-by-play" commentary of the Canadian Football League, and "became known for his colourful and sometimes controversial news reports and interviews". He was inducted into the media section of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1995. ==References==