Jamie Campbell, the Sportsnet broadcaster and self-described “cancer thriver,” was having a conversation on the patio of an east-end Toronto coffee shop. And then he would have another one, and another, and even more after that, as a procession of friends, neighbours and well-wishers stopped by to say hello.
The barista knew him by name and his order by memory, and knew that he brought his own reusable cup. Back outside, a friend working with a rival television network leaned over the railing with a handshake, while another neighbour interrupted an interview for this publication.
“He's doing a little piece on me for the alumni magazine,” said Campbell.
“Are you not over-exposed yet?” the neighbour asked with a chortle.
“A little bit,” said Campbell, laughing, “a little bit.”
Now 57, Campbell has been a face of Sportsnet's coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays for a generation, as a play-by-play voice and then as a studio host. He has accomplished plenty in Canadian broadcasting as a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University's Radio and Television Arts program (`89), but his time in baseball is what helped make him a household name for viewers across Canada – including in my home.
“If you sat with your dad watching baseball when you were a kid, and you're still doing that today with your own children, that's a tradition that's passed along,” said Campbell. As the host, he has become part of those family traditions.
“I have to respect what your family's been doing all those years: This life-long love of a baseball team,” he said. “I knew, right away, that you can't come off as some bombastic asshole trying to stir up things and make a name for himself – because people were here long before you arrived.”
Jamie Campbell at his convocation in 1989, with parents Nancy and Peter Campbell.
Jamie and fellow RTA '89 grads seen in March 1988, from left: Heather McCrae, Jamie Campbell, Evan Faintuck, Susanne James and Steve Assam.
