Longtime TSN host Darren Dutchyshen has passed away.
He was 57.
While no official cause of death was listed in the TSN release, the broadcaster had been public about a cancer diagnosis that kept him off the air for much of 2021 and 2022.
“Darren Dutchyshen was a legend of Canadian sports broadcasting, a great teammate, and an essential part of TSN for the last three decades,” said Stewart Johnston, senior vice president of sales and sports at Bell Media, in a statement posted to TSN.
A Regina, Saskatchewan, native, Dutchyshen began working for TSN in 1995.
“A larger-than-life personality, Darren’s incredible sense of humour and magnetic energy made him a natural broadcaster who connected easily with viewers. His enthusiasm reminded us every day of why we love sports. Most significantly, Darren was a friend to all of us at TSN, and we will miss him dearly. Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with his loved ones,” Johnston added.
On his first show back on the air in September 2022, Dutchyshen detailed a bit of his health struggle.
“It’s not the kind of cancer where you ring a bell. So it’s still in the base of my skull, my ribs, my legs, hips, and stuff like that, but it’s treatable, and I feel really, really good. And the place that I feel best is right here,” Dutchyshen told co-host Jennifer Hedger, in addition to a national audience. “I had 54, 55 years of really good health. And then you really appreciate what [the doctors] do, and the people in your lives, and what you get to do for a living so it’s fun. It’s nice to be back.”
The network added they plan to honour his memory in the coming days, with coworkers and friends sharing their stories of “Dutchy.”
“He passed as he was surrounded by his closest loved ones,” the Dutchyshen family said. “His sharp wit remained until his final moments, classically delivering plenty of jokes – most of them pretty good and all of them inappropriate.”
- You might also like:
- Ex-TSN announcer Rod Black has heartwarming call for son’s MLB debut