Jeff Rimer: The Design of a Legend Celebrating a Broadcasting Career

Get ready to celebrate a master of the broadcast design! Today, we’re thrilled to introduce Jeff Rimer, the recently retired play-by-play announcer for the Columbus Blue Jackets. With a career spanning over three decades, Jeff has painted the picture of thrilling NHL action for fans across North America. He kicked off his journey in Calgary, called games for the legendary Montreal Canadiens, and even captured the excitement of the 1976 Olympics as a gymnastics commentator! From the Capitals to the Panthers and finally to Columbus, Jeff’s dynamic voice has been a defining design in the world of hockey broadcasting. After calling over 2,000 NHL games, he’s leaving us with a legacy that will resonate for years to come. Let’s dive into the life and career of the one and only Jeff Rimer!

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• 0:00 iDesign Lab Podcast Open
• 1:54 Welcome Jeff Rimer

Transcript

iDesign Lab Podcast 18

The Design of a Legend Celebrating Jeff Rimer's Broadcasting Career

Guest: Jeff Rimer

The following podcast, iDesignLab, is an SW Group production in association with 5 Star and TW Interiors. This is iDesignLab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Curator of interiors, furnishings, and lifestyles.

Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer, and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband, Scott. iDesignLab is your ultimate design podcast, where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design, and its constant evolution in style and trends. iDesignLab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles, and everything in between, to better help you style your life.

Through advice from trendsetters, designers, influencers, innovators, fabricators, and manufacturers, as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate, and excite. So whether you're listening to iDesignLab during your commute, or in a cozy nook in your home or office, grab a coffee or a chardonnay, and join us on this elevated, informative, and lively journey into the world of all things design. Get ready to celebrate a master of the broadcast design.

Today, we're thrilled to introduce Jeff Rimmer, the recently retired play-by-play announcer for the Columbus Blue Jackets. With a career spanning over three decades, Jeff has painted the picture of thrilling NHL action for fans across North America. He kicked off his journey in Calgary, called games for the legendary Montreal Canadiens, and even captured the excitement of the 1976 Olympics as a gymnastics commentator.

From the Capitals to the Panthers, and finally to Columbus, Jeff's dynamic voice has been a defining design in the world of hockey broadcasting. After calling over 2,000 NHL games, he's leaving us with a legacy that will resonate for years to come. Let's dive into the life and career of the one and only Jeff Rimmer.

Welcome to the iDesignLab. We've got a great guest today, a very dear and old friend, and someone we're very excited to be sitting with, Jeff Rimmer. Jeff, how are you doing? I'm doing great.

Thanks for having me. So recently retired, but let's jump in a little and talk about, tell us about your career. Tell us like where you've been.

Give everyone an overview. It started a long time ago. And you've got the iDesignLab here.

Yeah. I self-designed my career. I wanted to be a National Hockey League player.

In fact, my great friend, and you certainly were a big part of it when we did our national radio show on 110 stations in Canada and the U.S. I'm speaking of John Davidson. He talked me into trying out for AAA hockey in Calgary. Now, I grew up in Toronto, went to high school in Calgary, walked into a homeroom.

And the first person I met was JD, John Davidson, who has had an illustrious career as a hockey player for the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues. Great broadcaster for NBC. From there, he worked at Madison Square Garden in New York with the Rangers for so many years, then became a hockey executive.

But the end result was he talked me into trying out for this AAA hockey. So I had no idea. You guys went to school together? Oh, yeah.

We've been best friends since the 10th grade, still are today. We've already talked this morning about 7.30. We talk pretty well every day. So he talked me into trying out for this AAA hockey team.

I'm the first player in the history of AAA hockey to be cut before practice started. And so you started out as a player wanting to be a player. I wanted to be a player.

I got tapped on the shoulder and told that House League would start Monday. I went to House League and it was on the snowbank on Monday. Needless to say, on an outdoor rink and not being on the ice, I said, I've got to design my future career because I love hockey.

And I made up my mind in the 10th grade, 16 years of age, that I was going to be a hockey broadcaster. And of course, I've had the good fortune of doing Olympics and other sports, gymnastics, now here come an H. I've done Major League Baseball in Montreal with the Expos and Baltimore with the Orioles. And my good friend, Cal Ripken, Jr., and have done football pro in college.

So six decades as a broadcaster. I'm only 29, by the way, and I've had just a phenomenal career time that now I spend here in South Florida. So you spent a lot of years at the Panthers.

That's where we met in the beginning when the Panthers first launched. What team were you with the longest? The Columbus Blue Jackets. So I just finished my 20th season.

Great organization. I don't know if you or anyone has seen on YouTube just how they saluted me. I did.

I saw that, too. We loved them beyond everything that I ever expected. And in fact, I've been invited back in December to come back for a week, see three games and then the outdoor game for the first time.

We played in Ohio Stadium. It'll be 115,000 Columbus Blue Jacket and Red Wing fans. I'll be there for that as well.

So when you when you started out, you said, what, 10th grade or 10 years old? No, 10th grade, 10th grade, 16 years of age. At that point, you knew you wanted to be a broadcaster. I mean, that was my design.

You definitely have the voice of a broadcaster. Well, thank you. I think so.

Right. I mean, do they teach you that in school? Like to. Well, I was told that in Calgary, I talked the radio station to giving me my own radio show.

And when I finished high school, I went to Mount Royal College, which is now Mount Royal University. They had a radio television program, and I was fortunate enough to get in it. So you did attend and yeah, I've gone to a small town to do late night television and radio sports and news, by the way.

In fact, there was even a weatherman that my wife says now because I watch the weather here in Florida. It's very important. So I'm all over the weather.

And I said to her, I said, yeah, I could probably get a job. That'll be your second act. Absolutely.

As long as it's here in Florida. Interesting. So is there any individual you mentioned? J.D. John Davidson.

Is there any other individual that really inspired you or in the beginning of your career or maybe through your career? Yeah, I think of one name. I don't know if he inspired you, but I know that he was a significant individual that you've always talked about. The two of us.

Who's that? Larry King. Oh, yeah. Larry had a big influence on my career.

Quick story there. I'd left Montreal. I was actually hired for a second time by the general manager who hired me in Montreal, went to Baltimore and became the general manager of the radio TV station.

He said, Jeff, I want you to come with me. I know you want to get back into the States. I went with David Barrett, who would later run the Hearst Broadcast Division.

They've got radio and television stations all across the country. In fact, one here in West Palm Beach. And David and I became very, very close.

I was sports director and all kinds of things. I ended up doing baseball pre and post game for the Orioles. And Larry King, you're right.

Larry King would listen to me before he went to mutual radio before CNN. And I'd already approached the Washington Capitals where I would eventually spend 10 years with the Capitals. But they wanted to hire me the following season as their TV host before moving into play by play.

Well, unbeknownst to anybody at home team sports, then the TV network and the Washington Capitals, David and or rather not David, David Poyle was a general manager. But Larry King invited me to come on in between periods while he was negotiating to go to CNN and was going to continue his mutual radio show. So he says, Rema, Rema, he used to call me and he said, you've got to come down and be my guest.

You know so much about hockey and blah, blah, blah, blah, went, put my best suit on and sat in a studio like this. And you won't believe it. But Larry turned to the camera like this and he says, I'm starting on CNN Monday.

This is Jeff Rimmer, your new host of Washington Capitals hockey. So I had him over a barrel because they had to sign me to a deal. Larry basically introduced me as the new television host of Washington Capitals hockey.

So when you joined the Washington Capitals, did you have like an agent or a manager or did you do it yourself? I've never had a manager. I could do my own negotiation. Why should I pay somebody to do it for me? Again, design.

I design. I knew what I needed to do. And you know, that's one of the things that when I was doing some research on the podcast and speaking to you, it's such an interesting career because it's not a nine to five.

So what does that look like? Like, what is your routine, your design of your day look like when you're traveling, number one, and working at different hours? Because most people think is that you're pretty much working at night. Yeah. Because games, most games are at night.

Not a chance. But from what I know of you, your morning starts early. Just an overview.

The reason I retired now is I've got to give my wife and my grandson some time, my daughter. And my wife raised my two kids who, you know, Josh and Kylie. And I need to spend some time with her because I was three hundred and sixty five days a year because I went in Washington.

I went did hockey. I lived halfway between Washington and Baltimore in the corridors, they called it. If I was doing baseball in the baseball season, I'd go to Baltimore.

If I was doing hockey, I'd go to Washington. And I that's, you know, basically as an aside, but it's three hundred and sixty five days a year, 24 hours a day. I'm on the computer.

And before that, I would buy newspapers. I used to have a stack of newspapers that I went through. I'd go to the newspaper store downtown and buy about 20 newspapers and read them.

A lot of preparation goes in. You're doing a three hour hockey broadcast. Right.

I'm doing six hours of preparation for it. I'll watch the team before before we play them on their previous game. Excuse me.

I'll talk to broadcasters. I'll make phone calls. So you've got to do your prep.

It's not just showing up and sitting here and saying, OK, turn the mic on the camera on. Here we go. Yeah.

Like we say, prep is another aspect of design. Exactly. Designing and setting up what you're 100 percent for the day.

But but just, you know, you think about a broadcast like yourself, the memory and the things that you need to know in terms of every night is a whole new group of players. So numbers, last name, stats. Your brain is sharp.

That's a lot of memorizing. That's a lot to guys get traded. Right.

You make friendships with people. And the next thing you know, they're your best friend on the team. Yeah.

Traded. Perfect example of that. Again, here in South Florida, former Montreal Expo, who resided in Palm Beach Gardens here, the late, great Hall of Fame player, Gary Carter.

Now, when I went to Montreal, my wife's from California. Gary's from California, as is his wife, Sandy. And we lived around the corner.

I'd go to the ballpark with with Gary. The wives would come with the kids. And Gary would know when they were there because they used to pile in the van.

And they'd usually be in there about the third inning and leaving the sixth because we had, you know, I had two and Gary and Sandy had three young kids. So, yeah, it was it was really something. Right.

Right. So as a broadcaster, a lot of broadcasters are known for a particular phrase or a call out or, you know, what was the one that Phil Rizzuto used to say all the time? I can't I can't even think of what it is right now. But are you known for a particular, you know, holy cow? I think was it wasn't that what Phil Rizzuto's was? I'll tell you a quick story.

My wife bought me a retirement gift, OK? I've always wanted a 911. And I didn't even know about it. She talked to my friend that's that runs the Porsche dealer in West Palm.

Moreza and Mo got an allocation and a long way to get to my phrase. So one day he called Farrell when the car was being built. And he said, what's Jeff's one of Jeff's great phrases when he does hockey games? And she had to call me because she didn't remember.

So she called me and she said, oh, Mo just wants to know. It didn't say anything to me and said, what was your favorite expression? It doesn't get any better than this. Hockey's the best game.

You score. See a goal scored by Rick Nash. It doesn't get any better than this.

Well, wouldn't you know, I started getting and again, I don't know about this 911. And I start getting emails from Porsche. Your car's in construction.

Your car's being completed. Your car is at the port. It's being sent, being shipped.

And I call Mo and I say, hey, Mo, what's going on here? I didn't order this car. He said, oh, no, no, no. I just used your name because we're great friends and having this car built.

Well, the car gets here and I've already got a notice, but I'm acting dumb. And he calls me and he says, hey, Jeff, come on out. I want you to see this car again by design.

He designed the car. And I have no idea what it looks like, what the options are. So they take me into the showroom just before the cars are delivered, not the regular showroom.

And they open the door. And instead of saying Porsche or Carrera 911, it says it doesn't get any better than this. Really? Like on the frame of the door? What a special tribute to a special, incredible Carrera.

It doesn't get any better than this than a Porsche. Is that the Porsche that you came in today? Yeah. What color is it? It's they call it silver gray, but it's got a blue tint because I've got a blue top on it.

But you'll have to come out and see it, but it's amazing. So he told me, he said, listen, if you don't want this car, you don't have to take it. You do not have to take it if you don't want it, he said, because I can turn around and sell it for over sticker.

I'll give you a deal, but I'll sell it for over sticker. And I mean, hey, it doesn't get any better than this than a Porsche. What a truly good for your wife to go.

Yeah, it's a great story. And Mo and I are great friends. And he he did me right on that one.

So again, by design, because it was designed. It's got every option. So by design, when I just brought this up about the fact that every night you're you're calling it, you were calling a game with a couple of dozen players memorizing their names and so forth.

How difficult is that? What do you have to do? What what is a broadcaster have to do to remember all that? Well, what I did was I'd watch the team, as I said earlier, I'd watch the team play the night before either live. If we had the night off or on tape and I wrote the lines down. OK, so I didn't even I didn't even need numbers.

I wrote the lines down. There's the first line, second line, third line, fourth line and three sets of defensemen and a goaltender. And I would find out if we had a game the night before from the visiting broadcaster or the home team broadcaster, because we were traveling and I'd go to him and I'd say, hey, this is my lineup for your team for tonight's game.

And he'll might say, yeah, there's just one change. So it was very easy because I had my sheet of paper and I would often have to look for it. And players in the NHL, when you've been doing it as long as I have, they've got certain idiosyncrasies.

So, you know, about the size of the player, if it's a big player or, you know, if he's a left handed shot or right handed shot. The difficulty now is hockey's become such a universal sport. You've got all these Europeans and Russians and local names, too.

The names are getting tougher. Even the North American name, right? You meet a kid from Western Canada, a small town Ukrainian kid. And he's got Joe Alphabet for his last name.

I've been watching you for years, you know, and I have rarely ever heard you miss a call or a name. And I'll say maybe I shouldn't say, but you had a partner as a broadcaster for many years for a particular team that he would be like sometimes way off. But, well, hey, it was my job to bring him in, reel him in.

And yeah, I was very fortunate for the guys that I work with. Yeah. And with that, you know, with hockey and there being so many trades and it's normal for people to switch teams regularly.

What made you switch? Like when you went. That's a great question. That's a great question.

Like when did you know you were ready? I guess. What brought you to Florida? I'll tell you that as well. I've been very fortunate that I've kind of skipped around, but every move I made was the right move and in a better situation.

I told you about you designing a change for. Yeah. Your benefit or it was it was by design again, by design, because I started in Montreal.

Right. I wanted to be a hockey broadcaster. I saw the Canadians win four Stanley Cups.

They had a young guy or younger. He wasn't that young, but younger individual older than me, but younger. And he was going to be around for a while.

So for me, if I want to be a hockey broadcaster, I've got to move. And when David Barrett offered me the job to come to Baltimore and knowing that I would eventually get a chance to work in Washington, it was a no brainer. Then I was there for 10 years and I got a phone call from Bill Torrey, who, you know, may he rest in peace, the late president.

And Bobby Clark, who was the general manager for the first year. And I became not friends, but acquaintances through hockey. He was in Philadelphia and I'm just down the road in Washington.

And he recommended me to Bill Torrey. And I got a phone call saying, are you interested in making a change and making a change? Well, I'm also the first broadcaster in the history of the National Hockey League to do two teams the same year. I did Washington and Florida when they offered me the contract.

After looking at my tape, they said, we'll give you a one year deal. If and again, by design, if you like us, we like you. We'll talk to you long term.

And things went famously. We only televised 33 games here in Florida that first year of the Panthers. Yeah, only 33 games that were on TV.

Wayne Huizenga, a great late owner of the team. He bought the television network and then wanted every game on TV. That's what happened after that.

But the interesting thing there is in that inaugural season, the Panthers almost made the playoffs. They captured the imagination. With the wrap, right? Was that the wrap? There was a few years later.

And they almost made the playoffs. So I got hauled in in Washington to David Poyle's office, the general manager, and said, OK, you got two teams here and it looks like both teams might make the playoffs. Whose games are going to do? Because playoff games are on the same night.

So I kind of bit my bottom lip and I said, oh, of course, I'm going to do the Capitals games. Of course, Florida said, what are you going to do if we make the playoffs? Right. Well, the Panthers lost out on the last week of the season, so I was OK.

And then the executives from the TV network Sunshine at that point and the Panthers executives flew on my birthday to Baltimore to meet with me. I was doing a CFL game, the Baltimore Colts game. They were in the Canadian Football League.

And they came and we had dinner and I did the game. And then the next day we had a meeting and I got signed to a four year contract. Doug McClain, who in 96 coached us at the Stanley Cup final, wanted me to go to Columbus in 2000 when he left to go as general manager and president.

But I said, no, I'm here for four years. I've got a four year contract. But what I did have was a window in that four years in the event that there was going to be a lockout.

And if you remember, 2004, we lost the whole season. Doug said, if you come, I'll pay you during the lockout. They offered me a contract here to stay, but it was ridiculous in comparison to what I got offered in Columbus.

And as it turned out, was the best move I could have ever made. Wow. Maybe you think about a person who wants to be a play by play broadcaster.

I get a lot of young guys calling me about that. But it's it's like it's like a winning the lottery. Yeah.

I mean, because most broadcasters are with the team, you know, for Korea. Right. You know, so to become a broadcaster, I'm very fortunate.

It's really like winning the lottery again. I was very fortunate. As I said, I grew up in Toronto.

My dad passed away. My mom remarried and we moved to Calgary because her future husband lived in Calgary. And I would not have had the same opportunities in Toronto, which is, you know, very aggressive, bigger media market than I had in Calgary.

Now to show you that I never left the stone unturned. I don't know if I ever told you this story. Never tell you the Muhammad Ali story.

Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I don't.

Tell me. All right. After all these years, we've been friends.

Well, Muhammad Ali was stripped of the heavyweight title of the world, if you remember, because he wouldn't go to Vietnam. Right. Correct.

Excuse me. He came to Calgary Stampede grounds to fight for three round exhibitions against four nobodies. Right after he was stripped of the title.

Now, this was a national story, not only in Canada, but in the US. Right. All the major networks came.

I was like a rink rat, as they say in hockey. I was a radio TV rat. And at 19 years of age, I taught cable television, which had just come to Canada, into giving me a half hour TV show.

Similar studio to this one right here. And I went to the press conference and all the locals knew me. All the network TV guys in Canada kind of knew me because I made sure I got my face out there and my name out there.

But I didn't know any of the network people that came from the US. NBC, CBS, ABC. So, again, someone that I got to know later when I moved to South Florida, Angelo Dundee was trainer manager of Ali.

So at the press conference, I walked up in my shirt and tie and my best suit again. And I said, Mr. Dundee, my name is Jeff Rimmer. I want to talk to the heavyweight champion of the world.

And there were snickers, there were laughs. You know, people were kind of holding their mouths. This young kid here is going to try to get Muhammad Ali to do an interview.

So he says, where's your camera, young man? And he couldn't have been nicer. And I said, sir, I don't have a camera, but I got a studio a mile and a half up the road, a place just like you guys are laughing. All the snickers, everybody laughed.

All right. Press conference ends, all the one on one interviews. And Ali walks over to Dundee and says, all right, let's go.

Angelo Dundee kept his word. He says, see this young man standing next to me here. He wants to talk to you.

And Ali kind of gives me the once over, looks me up and down. And again, the snickers start and he says, OK, where's your camera? And I said, hey, champ, I don't have a camera, but I got a studio up the road a mile and a half. The place breaks out in Bedlam, Bedlam.

Everybody's laughing. Ali looks around and this is when he was at the top of his game. He looks around and he says, OK, kid, turns to the limo driver with his entourage and he says, hey, you know where the studio is? And he says, yeah, the young man is right.

It's just a mile and a half up the road. I race back to the studio, tell everybody to get it ready. Nobody believes me that Ali's right.

Word gets around to all the secretaries. It was a three story building. And the secretaries now are making their way into the office.

It's kind of Bedlam into the lobby. And the next thing I know, the general manager walks in, Mr. Davis, and he says, what's the commotion? What's everybody doing here? And he says, well, Jeff Rimmer says Muhammad Ali's coming. He starts laughing.

Oh, my God. So I finally convinced the studio to get ready. Wouldn't you know it? About five minutes later, in walks Ali with his entourage.

We sit down, we do a half hour show. Now, you'll remember this. But in those days, they had three inch tape.

Yeah. OK. And those were expensive back in the day.

Yeah. And they wanted me to come back for a reunion. 20 years later, I said only if you produce the tape.

But they were bulk erasing them. It was before cell phones. Right.

It was for me. I mean, everybody had cameras, but, you know, they're ricketing cameras. I don't have a picture.

I would have my right arm to have a picture of that memory. And Muhammad Ali or if the phones, the cell phones, I could have videoed it. Yeah, it would have been maybe one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.

Well, that was just to end the interview. What did Ali do? He turned to the camera at the end and he said, I've been on the Dick Cavett show, the Johnny Carson, Jack party goes on and on and on. And this young man, what did you say your name was? Kid, I said, Jeff Rimmer, Jeff Rimmer.

And I predict in five years, he'll be the greatest, the most outstanding, the most controversial sportscaster in the world. I said, thank you. He got up and walked out.

See it in your dreams. And there's no recording of that. There's no recording.

Well, Scott will tell you those three inch tapes were pretty expensive and it was a cable TV station. It was a community channel. So was it live, essentially? It wasn't live.

No, it was taped and they played it over and over and over again. Maybe they wore the tape out. Who knows? You know, there's so many like from just from my life pictures and so forth and things that I've done that that I don't have.

And, you know, just recently I came across some pictures of you and me with with Don King and you and me with Serena and and Venus. Venus. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know if that was that. I know exactly where that was.

It was in Miami. And at the night was that it was at the Doral Hotel. Yeah.

And it was Alonzo Mornings, Alonzo Mornings, because I played in his golf tournament. And then there was the big dinner at night. Yeah, that used to be fun.

Yeah, that was fun. Also, Sergeant Slaughter, the wrestler. He used to have a big tournament at Doral.

Yeah. And I used to attend that one as well. Well, that was another question I was about to ask you was what is the camaraderie like when you as part of the team and as all these charity events come and I've made it a point.

And again, the person that you designed at a point to to be very close to the players. And that's why I have so many great athletes that have been friends forever. And by the way, when they honored me, Terry Francona, former major leaguer and major league manager, did a tribute.

Cal Ripken, Jr. He used to call me. And that's a funny story. His long lost brother.

What happened was very quickly he was driving home one night. The Orioles were struggling. They started the season 0-17.

I'm doing the postgame show and I'm taking calls. Guy calls up and he says, Rimmer, you should change your name from Jeff Rimmer to Jeff Ripken because you're just an apologist for the Ripken family. Billy's can't hit.

He's a good second baseman. Cal shouldn't be playing every inning. The streak doesn't mean everything.

And the old man, Cal, Sr., should be fired. Just change your name. Cal was listening.

And when I left Baltimore to go to Florida, I got called into the clubhouse and Cal called me over to the locker and he handed me a bat that I've got at home. It goes to Jeff Ripken Rimmer, my long lost brother. And in my tribute, he said, people don't know this, but we're brothers.

We're blood brothers. And Bob Costas did a tribute. And Wayne Gretzky did a tribute.

I mean, it just goes on and on and on. So we've watched some of the video that's out there. To answer your question, I've made a point of it.

And if I miss anything right now, I don't miss the travel. I'm happy to be in South Florida. I miss the camaraderie that I had with the players.

And that's why I'm excited to go back next month just to hang out with the guys. So while you're at the Panthers, I'm going to say in the late 90s, you came to me. And as you've talked about today, the various different things that you've created and designed over the years.

Right. You came to me with an idea and said, listen, I got this idea, Willie. Yeah, I want to do a national television, a national radio show in all of North America.

Right. In the NHL. Inside.

So get your butt and start helping me with this. Yeah. And you did.

And we were on 110 stations. And it was must listening to J.D. If you remember. Yeah.

Yeah. Do the Rangers game Sunday night for two hours. Yeah.

We were in the studio. He raced home. Yeah.

You said, well, you both of you were. I know. And I mean, I was usually with you in a studio.

If you unless you're on the road, unless we're on the road. Right. And we built a little studio in J.D.'s house.

Right. Oh, really? Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. We bought a bunch of few different pieces of equipment. Yeah.

We put the equipment together. And he probably still has it. Might be a little antiquated right now.

It's a long time ago. Yeah. But it was a great show.

I mean, great. We had a fantastic audience listening to it. And that's how it gets.

And then and then the show would have never happened if we didn't have Josh. That's right. Your son.

He was a major, major young. Just just out of school, became a major player for that show. And boy, did he tackle putting together the interviews.

He never never heard or said he heard. No, he he fought it. In fact, I became very close with Bobby Orr.

Right. In my opinion, the greatest player of all time. He just lives up the road in Jupiter.

And Josh called Bobby, who doesn't do a lot of interviews. And I don't know if you'll remember this story, but Josh called and said, Mr. Orr, my name is Josh Rimmer and J.D. and Jeff Rimmer would like to get you on the show. And Bobby said, you say your name was Rimmer, Jeff, your dad.

And of course, I'd already had a few seasons in with the Panthers. And Bobby said, if you tell your dad to call me, I'll decide if I want to do the show. So Josh calls me and I'm cleaning it up a little bit here.

He says, what did you do to Bobby Orr? I never met him. I followed him his entire career. I love watching him play.

And anyway, I said nothing. He said, well, he wants to talk to you if he's going to do the show. So, hey, I give him a call and he said, here's the deal.

I'll do your show. If you come up to Jupiter, play golf with me and have lunch. And I want to give you a couple of golf shirts.

And I want to promote our golf course, Jupiter Hills, a couple of golf hats. I said, I don't want that. Just do the show.

Right. And from that point on, we talked even when I was in Columbus, we used to talk every couple of weeks. He did do the show.

Yeah. He did the show and was great. One time on the show, we had Rod Langway, the former Washington Capitol captain, and he had a bit of a drinking problem.

Oh, and his new wife, he had a new wife. And anyway, he passed out on the show. That's memorable.

Rod Langway, Hall of Fame player. So how do you navigate that? And Scarlett, his wife, got on the phone and said, hey, guys. Hey, Jeff, how you doing? Because in the middle of in the middle of the show.

Yeah. He just passed out. So don't forget to take the good with the bad.

Yeah. So what would be your most memorable interview? My most memorable person that you've interviewed over your career? Well, you have one or two. Well, Ali would have to be Memorial Lemieux, who also has a home down here in South Florida, was was memorable in a playoff series.

They all ended up down this way somehow. I mean, I can just go on the list, Bobby or they were all just great people. I mean, every name that you mentioned, I have a memorable moment or even two with you, with a lot of those guys.

And then a lot of them became friends as well. Right. Mario, when he became the owner of Pittsburgh, he used to come and he used to call me up.

Can I come sit in your suite? So I don't sit out there and, you know, with everyone else. And I said, absolutely. Come sit in the suite.

That's great. That's great. Very nice, humble man.

I remember we did we broadcast at the NHL, NHL All-Star Game in Toronto. I don't know if you remember this. And we did an interview of you and J.D. did an interview with Gretzky.

Right. And I think it was maybe, I don't know, four or five o'clock in the afternoon. We got to go do the interview.

And we're like, sure. But we haven't even decided where we're going to do it. Well, Gretzky, you remember you saying Gretzky's decided where we're doing it.

We're doing it up in his room. And we go to his room. We knock on the door and he opens the door to the room and he's in his bathroom.

Come on in, guys. We had a bucket of beers for us. Yeah, that was Wayne.

Yeah. Still to this day. Yeah.

Memorable moments. Very. So any other memorable moments in your career that stand out as a broadcaster? There's so many, as I said, I'm very, very fortunate during the Olympics in 1976 in Montreal.

This is before I moved to Montreal and having the women's gymnastics and men's gymnastic is my event. And the women's gymnastics was the event in the Olympic Games. And if you recall, Nadia Comaneci with all the tens.

Yeah, that was 76. She was a phenom. And yeah, that was certainly a highlight.

So what you wanted to say? Well, I was just going to say, since he designed such an amazing career and with many, many highlights, how do you look forward to designing retirement? How do I look forward to designing retirement? Oh, boy. Well, I don't think you want to fully retire. No, I'd like to do something.

I mean, I'm going crazy. I can imagine after being as busy as you have been and as much as you prepared. I was excited to come here to be on the show with you.

I haven't done very much. I had some surgery that I put off, right? Some cervical surgery, which I'm great now. I'm going to get a chance here to see my doctor and about a week and a half and then hopefully get clearance to play golf because six months I haven't been able to play golf, but I got to do something.

I've been asked if I'd be interested in becoming an agent and working with some of the broadcasters that are in the NHL today. Maybe become a consultant for broadcast. Yeah, something that I can make my home base here.

So I'm looking for something, but you're right. I just can't sit around and do nothing. But that's why I'm so excited again to come here today.

And so what advice would you give to an individual who wanted to get into broadcasting today? Be number one, aggressive. Don't be afraid to have a game plan, have a design. And don't accept no.

Network, the truth, network, you guys network in your business. And that's that opens doors that gives opportunities. And don't be afraid to move.

I've moved several times in my career. My first job after college was in a small town of 40,000 people. It's got a lot more now.

Lethbridge, Alberta, small community near the Montana border. About an hour and a half out of Calgary. And I was aggressive on that job, too, because I thought I was getting a full-time job in Calgary.

And someone else got hired before me. I went and knocked on the door and went to the general manager. And I said, hey, I was promised a job.

I didn't get it. He said, you want a job? He made one phone call, the sister station in Lethbridge, said, you want Jeff Rimmer? You can have him. And what would you want him to do? Late night television, news, weather and sports.

And that was a memorable night, because the first time I did it, back in those days, talking tape machines again, the tape machine went down. I had a 15-minute newscast, news, weather, sports. I was basically doing a soft shoe in front of the camera, because I had no videos.

I had no videos. Have you thought of writing a memoir? I've been asked about that, too. But I have so many stories, some of which might get me in trouble.

I love it, though. I think your memoir would do great. Yeah, I've had several people suggest that.

I've actually talked to an author who was going to talk to a literary agent, but he wanted me to put some stuff down on paper, and I haven't done that yet. But I still might do that. He just finished writing a book with Mike Keenan, the former Panthers coach.

And before that, did a book with Doug McLean. And he was thinking of retiring, because he'd written so many books, former sports writer. Scott Morrison's his name.

So Doug McLean did a book? Oh, yeah. Just ask him. Does he still have a place here in Delray? Oh, yeah.

He lives right there on the water. He tells me how much it's worth every day. Yeah, it's gone up a lot, I'm sure, in the last few years.

He was texting me this morning. Doug and I are great friends. He's a guy that loves to punch at the gut.

So he texted me this morning about 5.30. He knew I was up, and I was on the computer. But yeah, we've been great friends. So another kind of interesting question to ask you is, along your career, is there one thing that you learned that you feel was really important for your career? Yeah, what I would tell any young broadcaster, and that is, when one door closes, there's going to be another one open.

And you've got to be aggressive, and don't take no for an answer. Say there's going to be another door, and don't be afraid to move to, as I was about to say, a small town. That's where I started.

And just, you can progress, and have a design, have a plan. And the rest is history. So we always wrap up our podcast by asking our guests some questions.

And the questions we're going to ask you, we want you to answer them based around design. Want to ask the first question on this one? Sure. What is your favorite restaurant? Favorite restaurant? Where? Anywhere.

Anywhere. Boy, that's a tough one. And back in Columbus, there is a steak restaurant that has three locations.

And it's Hyde Park. And it's a great steak place. Having worked there for 20 years, I made a lot of friends there when we dined there.

And that'd be certainly one of them. So you've stayed in an unbelievable amount of hotels through your career. Traveling, too.

Yeah, traveling. Is there one hotel that stands out from a design standpoint that you've? You guys got to go there. And it just opened up here in the last year.

And that's the Four Seasons in Philadelphia. Really? It is spectacular. You've got to go to the 60th floor just for the hotel.

And it's just the lobby there. It's just beautifully furnished. The decor is just.

Four Seasons are Tiffany's favorite places to stay at. One thing that I was fortunate, and anybody that's worked in the National Hockey League or Major League Baseball, for that matter, is these athletes stay in the finest hotels. It's usually a Ritz-Carlton or a Four Seasons.

Sometimes it's a Marriott. But that Four Seasons that opened up recently in Philadelphia is spectacular. And you go up the elevator, it's all glass.

Oh, wow. And some people have to turn around because they can't look outside. You see Philadelphia from all angles.

It's spectacular. And the hotel is at the 60th floor? That's where it starts. Wow.

And the floors are above that. Wow. It is great.

So yeah, that's probably, from a design standpoint, the best. That is spectacular. We used to stay in the original Four Seasons, which doesn't even hold a stick.

We've been there when we went to see the Liberty Bell and have some cheesesteaks. Cheesesteaks, OK. I was going to ask you your favorite collector's item, but maybe it's that 9-11 outside.

Yeah, it is now. It is now. From a design standpoint.

Well, that sounds like it was really spectacularly designed. Yeah, I've got some memorabilia. I was handed a crystal microphone by the TV network when I retired.

Funny thing, 5 o'clock, the night that they honored me on the 31st of March, I still had a number of games after. Excuse me. I got a call from the PR.

People said, hey, the guys want you in the room. They want to get a picture before the game. So I walked downstairs.

The players, yeah. I walked downstairs and into the room. And they're all sitting around in their cubicles.

And they've all got Jeff Rimmer shirts on. That's amazing. With a caricature of me.

And they wanted me to say something to them. So I asked the coach if I could give them a pep talk. So I gave the team a four-minute pep talk that was shown on television that night.

Each player came up to me, including the late Johnny Goodreau, just Mr. Hockey and just a great player, and hugged me. And I'll remember that forever. Anyway, then we got a picture taken with all the guys in their Jeff Rimmer shirts.

And I've got that on my wall, autographed by all the players. That's a great keepsake. I've got a Gary Carter bat.

I've got a lot of stuff in my man cave, as they call it. So how did it feel like the night you retire and they're doing a celebration? I mean, is it excitement? Or is it like tearing up? Because it's got to be after all these years. I lost it in the third period.

Because they did a video. They did an incredible celebration for you. They did a video, a short video.

And then they showed me in the booth. And the fans, because on the big screen, the fans stood up and started chanting. I'm getting chills now.

Started chanting my name, Rimmer, Rimmer, Rimmer. And my broadcast partner, who was between the benches working, Jody Shelley, says, Jeff, Jeff, do you hear what they're chanting? And the referees held up the game. They stood back.

And the fans are yelling, Rimmer, Rimmer, Rimmer. And they're clapping. And they're looking up.

And they're waving. And I was overcome with emotion. And anyway, I'm pointing down to the officials, drop the puck, because I'm going to lose it.

I'm going to lose it. And they set up for my last month, they set up a camera just of me, shooting me through every game. And then the last game I did, and again, they put this on YouTube.

And again, unbeknownst to me, when the game was over, and I said good night for the final time, I walked out of the booth. And they put up a big picture of me outside the booth. It's the Jeff Rimmer booth.

It had all kinds of pictures and Blue Jackets broadcaster. I walked out of the booth. The whole staff was lined up down the press box level.

And they started clapping. And again, I was just overcome with emotion. Yeah, that's really special.

I mean, not every career has that highlight. No. A lot of guys, especially in our business, get kicked out the door, and you're gone.

Yeah, you're just gone, and you never hear from them. To really have that value is. That's why I feel you need to design something new.

I mean, maybe it might be in this room doing something. Well, we'll talk about it. Your own podcast.

We'll talk about it. Yeah. Yeah.

So the future looks bright. Hey, we hooked up before. Let's do it again.

Yeah. Yeah. I would be excited to do that.

But we really appreciate and thank you for coming and spending some time today. I've enjoyed it immensely. You guys are great friends.

Yes. We're happy to have you back here. If I could ever do anything for the design folks, I'm there to help.

OK. Thank you. I can design some stuff from the Four Seasons, and we can put that in some of the homes that you guys build around town and in the area.

You got to check it out. I have seen that one on Instagram. I have seen it on Instagram, like just bits and pieces.

There's a restaurant up there too, right? Absolutely. I bet it is. But yeah, you've got to go.

I'll even go with you. OK, I like that. We'll see a hockey game up there.

I'll see the Flyers. But they stink. But anyway.

All right. The kids won't care. Thanks.

My pleasure. Thanks for having me. Thank you, Jeff.

iDesign Labs Podcast is an SW Group production in association with the Five Star and TW Interiors. To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW Interiors, please visit twinteriors.com.