Longtime Boston Bruins Announcer Jack Edwards to Retire After 45-Year Career

He had been NESN's play-by-play voice for the past 19 seasons.

Jack Edwards is hanging up his microphone after 19 years as NESN's play-by-play voice of the Boston Bruins, ending a 45-year career in sports journalism, he announced Tuesday.

“I grew up a Bruins fan, and who had more fun than us over the last two decades?” he said. “In collaboration with Bruins and NESN leadership, I recently decided that the time has come for me to finish my shift as the voice of the Boston Bruins. I am no longer able to attain the standards I set for myself, to honor the fans, the players, the Bruins organization and NESN with the best they all deserve.”

Edwards, known for his unbridled passion and downright aggressive announcing, pulled no punches during his broadcasts and was as into the game as any broadcaster working any sport.

“I retire from broadcasting not with a heavy heart, but gratefulness for a 19-year-long joyride,” he added. “I owe my career, my own pursuit of happiness, to the love and support of my family. I thank every member of the Bruins and NESN for your loyalty, helping me to achieve and live out a lifetime goal, high above the ice.”

National sports fans may best know Edwards from his stint at ESPN from 1991 to 2003, where he served as a SportsCenter anchor as well as an announcer for NHL, MLS, the Little League World Series, the X Games, and the FIFA World Cup.

Back in February, he opened up to the Boston Globe's Chad Finn about speech issues that have plagued him in recent years, saying he remains in "robust" health.

“It doesn’t fit in any slot,” he told Finn. “There have been a couple of guesses, but they haven’t made a definitive diagnosis and they’ve been working on me for a year and a half. It’s very frustrating, as you can imagine, for me to have this slowdown in my speech.”

Edwards, now 67, got his start in broadcasting when he was a student at the University of New Hampshire, calling hockey games for the college radio station. He then moved onto a sports anchor role at WNEV-TV in Boston before making his way to Bristol and then, eventually, into the booth at NESN.

He joins Celtics announcer Mike Gorman as Boston sports fixtures calling it a career this week.