Bill Clement, Al Morganti receive Hockey Hall of Fame media awards
Broadcaster Bill Clement and hockey writer Al Morganti were both named 2022 Hockey Hall of Fame media award recipients on Tuesday.
Clement will receive the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster and Morganti will receive the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for excellence in hockey journalism.
Clement, who played 11 seasons in the NHL and won two Stanley Cup championships with the Philadelphia Flyers, has been a broadcaster for ESPN, NBC, ABC, TNT, CTV, CBC and Rogers Sportsnet. A native of Quebec, he has broadcast four Olympics and more than 20 Stanley Cup Finals.
"Bill Clement's long-time consistency, glibness and professional approach to bringing hockey fans in the United States and Canada the nuances of the game make him extremely worthy of this distinction," Chuck Kaiton, president of the NHL broadcasters' association said in a statement. "No color analyst has done more US National broadcasts than Bill (1,002), and his 21 years of covering Stanley Cup playoffs are a true credit to the quality of his work."
Morganti, who began his career at the Boston Globe, has been a beat writer at the Atlanta Constitution to cover the Calgary Flames and the Philadelphia Inquirer to cover the Flyers. He currently is a co-host on WIP Sports Radio and provides pregame and postgame analysis for NBC Sports in Philadelphia.
"The Hockey Hall of Fame has a long history of recognizing players who were dominate forces over a concentrated period of time. Think Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure and Cam Neely. That is the level of impact Al Morganti had in hockey writing circles," Frank Seravalli, president of the professional hockey writers' association, said in a statement. "For a decade and a half, Morganti was a true difference-maker. Philadelphia Flyers' fans were privileged to read Morganti in the morning in the Inquirer, followed by fellow Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award winner Jay Greenberg in the Daily News in the afternoon. Back and forth they went, toe-to-toe every day for 10-plus years. Morganti was a superstar staring down stringent deadlines with witty and informed copy that had enough 'bite' to satisfy the appetite of a hard-nosed and hockey-crazed city."
Clement and Morganti will receive their awards on Nov. 14 in Toronto at the Hall of Fame's media awards luncheon, and their plaques will be displayed in the Esso Great Hall at the Hall of Fame.
