FTS Remembers Bruce Glasier

glasier_0025_Layer 2Like a lot of people these days, one of the first things I do when I wake up is to look at my phone.  Email… Weather… Social media…  What’s happening?  What’s going to happen?  On the morning of October 2, I, like a lot of people in Maine, was saddened to hear of Bruce Glasier’s passing.  We at Fill The Steins all grew up with Bruce’s sports reporting for WCSH/WLBZ, and we offer our most sincere condolences to all those who knew him.

 

Bruce, 69, had been battling lung cancer after his retirement (which came in 2012).  But from 1977-2012, he was the dean of Maine sports on television.  His reporting was perfectly-timed with the rise of widespread sports journalism, with ESPN’s ascension to be the “Worldwide Leader” – throughout Bruce’s tenure at WCSH, sports became more and more a part of people’s media consumption.  But despite this, Bruce maintained that sports were “not all that important,” compared with the rest of the nightly news; his goal was to have fun with sports, because sports are fun.

 

From my viewpoint, as someone who did not know him, Bruce’s favorite stories always seemed to be those stories that highlighted the goodness of sports – instead of reveling in the stories of DUIs or drug abuse that are too often front-and-center on the sports pages, Bruce seemed to like to focus on the positivity of sports.  His Varsity Club segment did just that – it brought to the forefront the decency of local athletes, and showed the side of athletics that builds character and produces productive members of our communities.  He gave his audience the scores, but always much more than just that.

 

Earlier in 2014, Bruce was inducted into the Maine Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, after his 35-year career on TV (and before that, as a newspaper and radio reporter).  And rightfully so – Bruce was passionate about pro sports (the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins, and New York Giants) and UMaine sports, but he always came back to local sports, and the kids who played them.  In addition to Varsity Club, Bruce also pioneered, with friend of Fill The Steins, Lee Goldberg, The 5th Quarter, which reported on Bruce’s beloved high school football.  Lee’s remembrance is posted on WCSH6.com today, and speaks far more eloquently and with much more familiarity than I can; I recommend watching it.

 

There was a generation of kids like me – and, I suspect, many of you in FTS Nation – who wanted to grow up to be a sportscaster, at least in some small part, due to Bruce Glasier.  He will be missed.

 

mgrondin@fillthesteins.com

@matteegee

 

 

Photo courtesy of WCSH6.com

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