Don Taylor was a big booster of Burnaby and he’s never hesitated to let the world know it.
The British Columbia sports broadcasting icon is the Hall’s first media member to be inducted. This honour follows on the heels of him recently being chosen for induction to the BC Sports Hall of Fame’s media wing.
The 37-year resident of Burnaby first gained notoriety in the Vancouver sports market with his entertaining nightly co-hosting of CKVU’s Sports Page from 1985 to 2000. His highlight packages with his funny phrases were a must-see and hear for local sports fans every night. Who can forget Taylorism like “the mesh ripples,” and “the top shelf where mom keeps the peanut butter?”
He loves to use the phrases made famous by legendary Montreal Canadiens play-by-play broadcaster Danny Gallivan like “it was a scintillating save” or a “Savardian spinarama.” His mimic of former Maple Leaf Gardens public address announcer Paul Morris is spot on to Canadians of a certain vintage.
After the demise of Sports Page, Taylor did a brief stint at CKNW radio before returning to television hosting Sportsnet Pacific’s nightly round-up program, Sportsnet Connected, from 2001 until August 2014. During his tenure there, starting in 2003, he hooked up before his Sportsnet shift with co-host David Pratt for an afternoon drive show on TSN1040 Radio until 2011. After Pratt left the station, Taylor continued with the show with Barry Macdonald and Bob (The Moj) Marjanovich as his co-hosts until Bell Media pulled the plug on the station Feb. 9, 2021. Since April 2021, Taylor and fellow sports broadcaster Rick Dhaliwal have co-hosted a two-hour sports show, Donnie and Dhali – The Team, weekday mornings on CHEK-TV. His voice can also be heard on NHL video games produced by Burnaby-based Electronic Arts.
But no matter what local or national broadcasting outlet he is employed by, Taylor never passes up an opportunity to highlight his Burnaby roots or mention a Burnaby connection to any player or team he’s talking about. It’s where he grew up in a family of four boys. It’s where he attended Capitol Hill elementary and Alpha secondary. It’s where he played minor hockey, ball hockey and, of course, lacrosse for Norburn something every boy from Burnaby did back in the day. It’s where he would debate and rant about sports over a pint at the old Mountain Shadow Inn neighbourhood pub where he claimed he lived part-time. It’s where the genesis of his love of sports began, even if that love contains heartache.
“I want to see a Canucks Stanley Cup win before it’s over for me. That’s big,” Taylor told Postmedia reporter Steve Ewen upon the announcement of his induction to the BC Sports Hall of Fame. “I honestly think I would cry so much that day that I wouldn’t be able to talk to anybody.
“For me, it’s not just the National Hockey League Canucks. My first memory of hockey was seeing the (minor league WHL) Canucks play at the old PNE Forum in the 1960s, before the Pacific Coliseum was built and they were a farm team. The first player that I focused on was Tony Esposito, who was in the Montreal Canadiens organization then. I remember my dad telling me about how he was Phil Esposito’s little brother and how he was well on his way to the NHL himself.”
He would sign off each cast by declaring ‘You’re up to date on the world of sports” while doing a signature full of flair on his script. Now you’re up to date on Don Taylor’s world of sports in Burnaby.
