Four summer Olympics, three Commonwealth Games, and several Stanley Cup and world championships–these are a few of the highlights in the career of sports journalist Jim Kearney.
He has brought the triumphs, tragedies, and personalities of many sport heroes to a generation of British Columbians.
His career began 59 years ago at the Victoria Times, fresh out of high school. In 1943, he moved to The Vancouver Sun, where he remained for the most part. His resume also lists the Canadian Press, Reuters and The Province, as well as running the British Information Services’ Canadian office.
Jim holds the durability record at The Sun for a sports columnist, writing five columns a week—totalling more than 3000—for seventeen years. Along the way, he won the 1966 National Newspaper Award for a two-part series on drugs in sport, and was runner-up for the same award in 1974. After leaving The Sun, he joined Sport BC as its media relations director, and in 1986, wrote Champions, A British Columbia Sports Album, regarded as the definitive guide to a century of sports history in this province.
Jim remained active in semi-retirement. He contributed to the CBC Radio and to the North Shore News. He was honoured with numerous awards including Sport BC’s Daryl Thompson Award, membership in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame’s media section, and by having the CBC Radio student journalism award for commentary named after him.