Saunders in a class by himself

There have been many legendary Sportscasters in Saskatchewan history who have had their influence on the thousands of die hard sports fans in this province though I doubt if there is any one who made a bigger impact than the legendary Lloyd Saunders .

Lloyd was born in North Battleford and was active in all sports with a particular flare for hockey ,softball and football. He played four years of junior and senior hockey with the Saskatoon Quakers and the Saskatoon Navy team.before deciding to retire.from active participation.

Saunders always told it like it was and loved to talk to anyone who would listen about his thoughts regarding current sports issues and finally at the urging of a couple of his closest friends took the big plunge after doing some minor sporting gigs on CFQC in Saskatoon and became the Sports Director of CKCK radio in Regina the provinces number one rated radio station.

The year was 1945 and after three years in the navy Lloyd welcomed the new challenge with open arms. He immediately became a hit on CKCK with his colorful tell it like it was style of broadcasting and when you coupled that with his authoritative voice you knew a broadcasting legend was in the making.

He did four Sportscasts daily beginning on May 1st 1945 at 8.10am 12.45 pm ,5.35pm and 10.15pm. usually of ten minutes duration but sometimes they would last longer if Saunders got hung up on some controversial issue. His best efforts were usually saved for Sunday morning at 10.00am when he did a half hour Sports show entitled "Crossley Sportslight" as it was the first of its kind and had an incredibly large listening audience as people would listen to it before they went to church.The program covered every sport with a strong emphasis on The Roughriders and The Regina Pats. The most popular show of all though was STC,s Wednesday night Football Show with first legendary Rider Quarterback Glen Dobbs in 1951 and in following years the different Rider head coaches.This program ran from the beginning of Rider training camp till one week after the Grey Cup final.

Lloyds dynamic exciting style of play by play broadcasting soon became the talk of the province as he broadcast all Saskatchewan Roughrider and Pat home games and went on the road for the critical playoff games involving these teams. He annually hooked up with Maurice Burns to do Curling broadcasts of Saskatchewan teams involved in the Brier playoffs.

Saunders became so involved with the Roughriders that in 1951 with the teams fortunes at a very low point and finances strained to the limit.and Taylor Fields run down fence badly in need of paint he organized a provincial campaign to solicit donations of green paint from football fans throughout the province.. Then he organized a painting day in which 150 volunteers under his direction painted the entire fence which ran more than two city blocks in length.He later became instrumental in the Riders getting floodlight's for Taylor Field as he constantly hammered the City and Provincial governments for financial aid to make Taylor Field a true modern day park as it was the only CFL Football facility that did not have floodlights to accommodate night football.


Lloyd was recognized nationally for his broadcasting brilliance to the point that he was the first Saskatchewan broadcaster to do play by play commentary on the Grey Cup game in 1948.as his colourful style had caught the fancy of the CBC Radio network producers. His colour commentator on Rider and Pat games during his early years was the legendary Al Ritchie known as " the Silver Fox '' because of his smooth delivery and vast wealth of knowledge garnered from coaching both football and hockey for years. Peter Martin a retired Rider offensive guard succeeded Ritchie as Saunders colourman after his death and provided a different but effective style.of analyisis based on hands on experience. Saunders never did find a permanent replacement for Ritchie on the Pat broadcasts and was forced to carry the majority of the broadcasts by himself.

Lloyd was an intense ,detail oriented broadcaster who was always thoroughly prepared and for these reasons he was used as both an analyst and head announcer on twenty Briar Curling Championships and six Memorial Cup Hockey Championships.

As his reputation grew there were international opportunities presented to him.and he took advantage of them being a commentator for six World Curling Championships ,five Olympic Games and three Commonwealth Games. He even left Saskatchewan for a two year period going to Dallas to do play by play commentary on Cowboy NFL games and big Twelve College games for NBC before returning to Saskatchewan and taking up residence in Saskatoon and working for CFQC.

Saunders worked so hard during his Regina years regularly putting in twelve to fourteen hour days that CKCK management gave into him on a request that he do his morning Sportscast from his home that they let him put a small studio in his basement and the station would courier the Leader Post to his house early in the morning around seven so that he could get material for his 8.10 Broadcast

Saunders has many local admirers who remember him vividly to this day one being veteran Rider broadcast statistician Harvey Johnson who said recently " Saunders truly painted the picture with words so vividly and accurately that you could visualize the game in its finest detail happening in front of you like you were sitting there"

Gord Staseson himself one of the great Sportsmen and Civic Leaders in Regina history told me that " Saunders was as a man a leader who mastered the ability to make everyone realize how important Sporting activities were to the community by the calibre and content of his Sportscasts."


Saunders dedication to fundraising for minor sports was unbelievable as he spent hundreds of hours travelling the province attending Sports Dinners most of the time as the Master of Ceremonies .He spent countless hours speaking to the youth of the province about the virtues and pitfalls of becoming involved in Sports.

Lloyds efforts were recognized locally and nationally as he has been inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame on June 15,1996.and the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame in 1987 . The Western Hockey League annually hands out a trophy entitled The Lloyd Saunders Memorial trophy to the man chosen as their Executive of their Year.

Saunders indeed had a profound affect on the Saskatchewan sporting scene as during his broadcasting career in the Province he became a household word .and there were many a sportsfan who would rather give up a meal than miss a Lloyd Saunders Sportscast.