DETROIT (CBS Detroit) The Red Wings confirmed that longtime announcer Budd Lynch died Tuesday morning at the age of 95. Lynch, who lost his right arm in World War II, was the Wings public address announcer since 1985.
That means Red Wings fans may not know his name, but they do know his voice.
Lynch, a Wyandotte resident, started his career as the Wings’ play-by-play announcer in 1949 when he returned home from combat.
As luck would have it, the team won the Stanley Cup the first season he joined.
Lynch tried to retire twice, and was foiled both times. In 1975 he was brought back by Alex Delvecchio as the director of publicity; a second retirement attempt failed in the 1980s when Marian Ilitch, wife of owner Mike Ilitch, asked him to stay on.
Current Red Wings radio voice Ken Kal said Lynch was always willing to share his wisdom of the game.
“One of the things that, you know, I always tried to talk to Budd Lynch about was his knowledge of the Red Wings and the history of the Detroit Red Wings,” said Kal. “He was over 90 years old but he could recall games like they were yesterday.”
Kal said he thought of Lynch as a father figure who never lost his cool.
“I’ve never seen him angry in the whole entire time that I’ve known him. I mean he, you know, got along with a variety of people and everybody knew him, no matter where you went … and he was one of the nicest guys you’ll ever wanna meet,” Kal said.
Lynch was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985, and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.
Lynch wrote a book “My Life: From Normandy to Hockeytown in 2007,” where he highlighted his time as a soldier, how he lost his arm to a rocket not long after the D-Day Invasion at Normandy, and how he returned to broadcasting.
