Norm Jones hangs up his mikeCourtesy
MLB.com
(January 13, 2010) Norm Jones has hung up his microphone as a full-time broadcaster. The longtime Denver sports announcer, most recently one of the voices on Avalanche broadcasts, was under contract with Altitude Sports and Entertainment through the end of 2009. Jones now will do occasional freelance work, including on Altitude game broadcasts for the Central Hockey League's Colorado Eagles, but he — and Uncle Sam — consider this to be a retirement.
"I'm really enjoying it," said Jones, 66. "While this may have come about at an earlier time than I anticipated, it really is enjoyable. I don't miss the travel. When you're doing the job, you just kind of fall into the routine. But having been away from it, it really is very comfortable to not have that aspect to worry about. I still enjoyed doing the games. I miss that, but the retirement aspect of this isn't bad at all." Jones was born during World War II in Midland, Texas, where his father was stationed in the Army Air Forces as a bombardier instructor. His family soon moved to Colorado Springs, and he attended Fountain Valley High School and enrolled at the University of Denver. "I always was interested in broadcasting, but I wasn't confident I was going to get there, so I got a degree in finance," Jones said. He worked in banking and at a brokerage firm for six years and dabbled in broadcasting on the Colorado College hockey games. Eventually, he got an offer from the minor-league Denver Spurs and took the broadcasting plunge. He did Spurs games for two years, or until Denver joined the World Hockey Association. Next, he was with KOA as a producer and jack-of- all-trades before joining the NHL's Colorado Rockies as the play-by- play voice in 1979. The Rockies left Denver in 1982, and Jones switched over to DU games and, in that same time period, also did baseball play- by-play for the minor-league Denver Zephyrs for eight years. Eventually, he worked for minor- league hockey's Denver Grizzlies as director of broadcasting and did announcing on the limited number of telecast games, and moved to the Avalanche when the NHL franchise arrived in 1995. He was Mike Haynes' radio analyst for nine seasons, then the play-by-play voice through last season. Marc Moser moved to a solo role in the radio booth for 2009-10, and Jones worked in a studio role for Altitude through the end of the year. "I would say thank you very much to those who have listened to me over the years," Jones said. No, Norm. Thank you. _______________________
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