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.”
![amie at Convocation with his parents on either side of him.](https://magazine.torontomu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/TMUM-S24-Convocation-Jamie-with-parents.jpg)
Jamie Campbell at his convocation in 1989, with parents Nancy and Peter Campbell.
![Five people posing together for a photo.](https://magazine.torontomu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/TMUM-S24-March-1988.jpg)
Jamie and fellow RTA '89 grads seen in March 1988, from left: Heather McCrae, Jamie Campbell, Evan Faintuck, Susanne James and Steve Assam.