Budd Lynch was 32 years old when he went to work for the Red Wings. That was in 1949. By then, Lynch had already lived one heck of a life. Lynch had lost his right arm to a German rocket as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces during the Normandy invasion. Taken out of infantry service, Budd used his radio experience to aid the BBC for the remainder of the war before returning to North America.
The Detroit Red Wings hired Budd Lynch as a play-by-play announcer in the 1949-50 season. Budd brought good fortune with him to Detroit, calling four Stanley Cup Championsips for the Wings in his first five seasons. Lynch continued his service in that capacity to the Wings until 1975, where he was talked out of retirement by then-GM Alex Delvecchio. Lynch served as the team’s director of publicity for another ten years until he had to be talked out of retirement again. This time, it was Marian Ilitch who convinced Budd Lynch to take over as the team’s public address announcer.
Budd served in that role with the Red Wings until his death on October 9, 2012.
If you’ve been to the Joe Louis Arena for a Red Wings game any time in the last 29 years, you’ve heard Budd Lynch’s voice over the PA. If you’ve been a fan of the Red Wings any time in the last 65 years, you’ve experienced Budd Lynch. To this day, his voice can still be heard, as the in-arena announcement for the last minute of play of a period is a recording of Lynch’s voice. If you hang around here, you know that any goal scored within the last minute of a period is called a Budd Lynch Goal specifically for that reason.
One day, the Wings may decide to do what they twice talked him out of and retire Budd Lynch’s signature voice. Currently there are no plans to do so. He was already decades into his work with the Red Wings before I was born, let alone became a fan of the team, and I can’t imagine experiencing a Detroit Red Wings home game without him.
Happy Veteran’s and Remembrance Day to our service members current and former out there. Thank you all for your service and thank you, Budd Lynch, for your continued service.
