MIKE LYNCH
I knew of Mike Lynch before I knew Mike Lynch.
This was the case with a lot of folks who dotted my youth, particularly athletes.
Somehow it would be less embarrassing if I were referring to scholars, laureates, gifted writers or concert pianists for example. But it was what it was; sports and all things related consumed my interest and to a somewhat lesser degree still does. I loved the games and the competition and for that I could never, nor would I apologize.
Though he’d be loath to admit it, Lynchie has me by a year or so.
Back in the day he went to a high school with a wildly successful football program in one of Massachusetts’ most scenic towns located in Essex County on the North Shore.
The North Shore of Boston, on the ocean. An idyllic community straight out of a fairy tale.
It was the best place with the best teams, although rivals and naysayers may have sung a different tune then, composed with residual trace notes of rife nonsense, jealousy, bias, perhaps a begrudging respect and who knows what else.
The tune didn’t carry well and the message was weak.
Swampscott had an unmistakable aura all its own aesthetically and on the gridiron. The Big Blue football team never lost; at the time it was the North Shore’s version of the Celtics or UCLA.
As the son of a coach, Lynch gravitated toward sports at an early age and distinguished himself admirably.
He was the quarterback and placekicker on the football team, a guard on the championship basketball team, and a first baseman on the baseball team.
In the 1969 Thanksgiving Day game against neighbor and archrival Marblehead with 1:14 remaining on the game clock the 16-year-old junior nailed a 21-yard field goal to preserve a Big Blue 26-game winning streak. Final: Swampscott 15–14.
By one newspaper’s reckoning or another’s he was a three-sport All-Scholastic athlete by the time he graduated from high school in 1971.
From there he did a postgraduate year at the esteemed Exeter Academy and then it was on to Harvard where he played football and baseball.
The beauty of Lynchie was and still is his self-effacement. A regular guy, an average Joe, his string of triumphs notwithstanding. A sharp sense of humor and honed ability to kid, all-the-while feigning hubris rounded out his personality nicely.
In the fall of our senior year in college (1975) Lynch kicked the winning field goal with 33 seconds remaining to beat Yale 10–7 in New Haven, clinching the Ivy League title outright before 66,846 fans.
The teams had entered “The Game” with identical 5–1 league records. Needless to say, this was a pretty big deal and when it was over my pals and I stormed the field and tackled Lynch, bringing him to the chewed-up turf while pounding him with joyful wallops. He was laughing so hard inside his helmet that breathing must have been tough.
The next day upon returning to Cambridge the first person we saw ironically was Lynchie walking toward our residential House with an armful of local and national newspapers fanned out and folded open to showcase game coverage and headlines.
This could not have been scripted any better. He was proud surely but really he was making light of the unthinkable happenstance no more than 24 hours prior.
And getting away with it. That was Lynchie.
In March of 1982 Mike Lynch joined Channel 5 in Boston as a weekend sports anchor and was promoted to principal sports anchor in September 1985. Leading the SportsCenter 5 team ever since, he has become one of the most respected sports broadcasters in Boston television history.
He was voted Massachusetts “Sportscaster of the Year” by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association in 1985–1991; 1999; 2003; and 2006–2012 totaling 16 times, the most recognition received by anyone in the history of the award.
In 1987 SportsCenter 5 won the United Press International Award for “Best Sports Reporting” in the country.
In early May Lynch announced that he will retire on the 15th. of August after 37 years in front of the camera and transition into a part-time role at the station as a special sports correspondent.
Said Bill Fine, WCVB Channel 5 president and general manager, “Mike is unquestionably the Dean of Boston sports broadcasting, and it’s difficult to imagine WCVB’s sports coverage without Lynchie at the helm. Not only does he have the absolute respect and trust of everyone in Boston’s professional sports community, but he’s also beloved by the high school sports community for his commitment to advancing high school athletics. Lynchie has been featuring the achievements of student athletes in his segment ‘High 5’ for more than three decades, and his encyclopedic knowledge of, and deep admiration for, the region’s schools and players is evident.”
Paige Harrison, WCVB Channel 5 News Director echoed the sentiment.
“Mike is a legendary sports journalist in Boston who brought unmatched access, expertise, and insight as SportsCenter 5’s principal anchor. Whether anchoring here at Channel 5 or reporting remotely from various Super Bowls, World Series, Championship Parades, or any number of high school games across the region; Mike has set the gold standard for sports reporting. And we’re glad that he’ll continue to contribute to SportsCenter 5 in retirement.”
And so are we.
Well-played and congratulations my friend!!!
And not for nuthin’ Lynchie, but do you remember that afternoon at the IAB forty-five years ago give or take, when some half-pint ran you around pretty good while torching you?
Again and again?
It’s okay.
That’s one that got away. We don’t have to talk about it.
[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in May 2019.]
