Don Cherry is a former Canadian ice hockey commentator. He used to play hockey and coach for NHL.
Let’s dive into some unknown trivia and facts about him.
- His full name is Donald Stewart Cherry
- He was born on February 5, 1934
- He is a former Canadian ice hockey commentator
- He is also a sports writer
- As well as a retired professional hockey player and National Hockey League (NHL) coach
- Cherry played one game with the Boston Bruins
- He later coached the team for five seasons after concluding a successful playing career in the American Hockey League
- From 1986 to 2019, Cherry co-hosted Coach’s Corner
- This was a segment aired during CBC’s Saturday-night NHL broadcast Hockey Night in Canada, with Ron MacLean
- Nicknamed Grapes, he is known for his outspoken manner and opinions, and his flamboyant dress
- By the 2017- 18 NHL season, Cherry and MacLean have hosted Coach’s Corner for 33 seasons
- From 1984 to 2019, Cherry also hosted Grapeline
- This was a short-form radio segment with fellow sportscaster Brian Williams
- He also created the video series Rock’em Sock’em Hockey
- In 2004, Cherry was voted by viewers as the seventh-greatest Canadian of all-time in the CBC miniseries The Greatest Canadian
- In March 2010, his life was dramatized in a two-part CBC movie, Keep Your Head Up, Kid: The Don Cherry Story
- This was based on a script written by his son, Timothy Cherry
- In March 2012, CBC aired a sequel, The Wrath of Grapes: The Don Cherry Story II
- Cherry has sometimes proven controversial for making political comments during Coach’s Corner
- Having faced criticism for remarks regarding of Canada’s lack of support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq
- Insinuating that only “Europeans and French guys” wore visors on their helmets, and denying climate change
- In November 2019, Cherry was fired by Sportsnet from Hockey Night in Canada after receiving significant criticism for comments suggesting Canadian immigrants benefit from the sacrifices of veterans but do not wear Remembrance Day poppies
- Cherry was born in Kingston, Ontario
- His parents were Delmar (Del) and Maude Cherry
- His paternal grandfather, Sub/Cst. John T. (Jack) Cherry, was an original member of the North West Mounted Police and a Great Lakes ship captain
- His maternal grandfather, Richard Palamountain, was a British orphan of Cornish parentage who was emigrated to Canada as one of the Home Children
- The name Palamountain is a corruption of the Cornish language “pol-mun-tyr” meaning “pool by the mineral land”
- Palamountain was also a veteran of the Canadian Expeditionary Force
- Cherry’s father Del was an amateur athlete and worked as an electrician with the Canadian Steamship Lines
- On the March 15, 2008 edition of Coach’s Corner, Cherry wore the green and gold colours of County Kerry, Ireland
- In his segment following the game, he claimed ancestry from that region
- Cherry’s younger brother, Dick Cherry played hockey at various levels
- Including two seasons in the National Hockey League with the Philadelphia Flyers
- In his first year with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League, he met his future wife Rosemarie (Rose) Cherry
- Rose was hugely influential in Don’s life
- Because of Don’s minor-league hockey lifestyle, they moved 53 times
- They rarely had decent housing or furnishings
- And Don was often away playing during major events
- Such as the birth of their daughter and first child, Cindy Cherry
- Six years after Cindy’s birth, Rose gave birth to son Tim Cherry
- When Tim needed a kidney transplant at age 13, Cindy donated one of hers
- The two currently live across the street from each other
- Around the corner from their father, in Mississauga
- Rose died of liver cancer on June 1, 1997
- In honour of her perseverance, Don created Rose Cherry’s Home for Kids
- Her name has motivated Cherry to always wear a rose on his lapel
- Cherry contributed in developing Rose Cherry’s Home for Kids
- Which has since been renamed to The Darling Home for Kids, in Milton, Ontario
- The Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, is located on “Rose Cherry Place”, a street named for his late wife
- In 1999, Don married his second wife, Luba
- On November 14, 2005, Cherry was granted honorary membership of the Police Association of Ontario
- Once an aspiring police officer, Cherry has been a longtime supporter of the police services
- In his own words, “This is the best thing I’ve ever had”
- In June 2007, Cherry was made a Dominion Command Honorary Life Member of the Royal Canadian Legion in recognition of “his longstanding and unswerving support of … Canadians in uniform”
- In February 2008, Cherry was awarded the Canadian Forces Medallion for Distinguished Service for “unwavering support to men and women of the Canadian Forces, honouring fallen soldiers on his CBC broadcast during ‘Coach’s Corner’ a segment of Hockey Night in Canada”
- In 2004, Cherry ranked at number 7 on the CBC’s miniseries The Greatest Canadian
- Cherry remarked that he was “a good Canadian”, but not the greatest Canadian
- He was personally rooting for fellow Kingston resident, Sir John A. Macdonald
- In 1992, Cherry lent his voice to the charity song “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Techno” for Canadian techno group BKS
- As part of his fame, Cherry has also branched out into some acting roles
- He was cast as Jake Nelson in the television series Power Play
- Nelson was the coach of the Philadelphia team playing against the Hamilton Steelheads in the playoffs during the first seaso
- Also, he and Ron MacLean provided voices for themselves in the animated television series Zeroman, which starred Leslie Nielsen
- He also appeared on an episode of Goosebumps called “Don’t Go to Sleep!” where he plays a hockey coach
- His voice was also used in Disney’s animated feature The Wild, as a penguin curling broadcaster
- He also appeared alongside the Trailer Park Boys in The Tragically Hip’s video “The Darkest One”
- His voice was also used in the Mickey Mouse episode “Bad Ear Day”, as an ice hockey game announcer
- In 2008, he also appeared on an episode of Holmes on Homes, the widely popular home improvement show
- While not appearing scripted, Cherry apparently lived in the neighbourhood and he is shown speaking with Mike Holmes about the construction business and the ongoing project at his brother-in-law’s house
- Cherry has lent his considerable persona to several charitable causes, most significantly, organ donation awareness
Got anything to add?