Play-by-play man Commo battles Parkinson’s disease

Maybe it is the University of Vermont men’s hockey team’s run to the Frozen Four featuring Martin St. Louis, Eric Perrin and Tim Thomas.

Or it could be one of the three national championships for the Norwich men’s hockey team.

Or maybe it’s a thrilling high school state title game at Patrick Gymnasium, Gutterson Fieldhouse or Barre Auditorium.

Whatever your favorite Vermont sports memory, it’s a pretty sure bet it features the voice of George Commo, a longtime play-by-play announcer.

“You name it, I’ve done it,” Commo said Wednesday from the warm room at South Burlington’s Cairns Arena, where he would later call a high school boys hockey doubleheader for the Northeast Sports Network, an online media broadcast company based in Lyndonville.

After 42 years describing battles on the ice, the gridiron, the diamond and the hardcourt, Commo finds himself lending his voice to a more personal fight after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease last year.

“Consider it another new adventure,” Commo said. “I have always told people that I don’t want to continue doing what I am doing if I am not doing it well enough. Right now, I still feel capable of doing everything that I do and I plan to continue.”

After more than four decades behind the mic, it seems right that Commo announced his Parkinson’s diagnosis on the air.

Jack Healey, another voice familiar to Vermont sports fans who co-hosts a Web radio show on NSN with Commo, said his partner mentioned it at the end of a show in late November.

The next day, Commo shared the news on Facebook.

“We are sitting here talking and my hand is shaking and people start wondering what it is all about,’ Commo said. “I figured it would be best to get the word out there.”

Commo is in the early stages of the disease, which affects the nervous system. Parkinson’s is a chronic disorder that affects movement and worsens over time, according to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation website.

“It is an ongoing thing, progression is going to be there, it’s not going to get better, it’s going to get worse,” Commo said. “What I have to deal with so far is manageable.

“Right now I am normal, I want to stay normal. Normal is good.”

With his symptoms limited — Commo’s hands shake occasionally, to varying degrees — the longtime Burlington resident has no plans to slow down his legendary career. He is going full steam ahead with a slate of high school games for NSN, the Norwich men’s hockey season on the Central Vermont radio station WDEV and co-hosting the daily online radio show.

“I figure I have about another 10 years of work life left in me,” the 66-year-old said. “After that, what happens, happens. I also want to be an example that people can ... have this and continue to do what they have been doing.”

That attitude is no surprise to Eric Berry, who brought Commo on board with NSN in 2008.

“I have no doubt that George will kick any symptom’s butt,” Berry said “(He will) continue to be at Kreitzberg Arena and any other game that he is assigned and loving it and doing a fabulous job.”

But Commo had one big question for the doctor. How would the disease affect his instantly recognizable voice?

The early verdict: No problems, at least not yet. However, it is something they will have to monitor over time.

“The voice is something, you either have it or you don’t,” Commo said. “It’s a natural, God-given gift.”

Commo’s iconic voice was first heard on the Burlington airwaves in 1972 but it wasn’t calling hockey games. It was delivering news clips.

“All I had to do was wheels of elevator music go around and around and do one news show for two minutes at the top of every hour,” Commo said. “That is not really why I got into this business.”

Two years later, Commo made the jump into the sports world, something he had wanted to do since he was a kid.

“I am one of the few people I know who ended up coming out of high school doing exactly what I set out to do,” the 66-year-old said. “The sports thing was what I really wanted to do.”

Commo called his first game at the Boston Garden in 1975, bringing ECAC hockey action between the Catamounts and Boston University and Cornell to Burlington listeners.

Since that auspicious start, Commo has called games from the hallowed halls of Kreitzberg Arena, Patrick Gym, Barre Auditorium and Gutterson Fieldhouse. But he has also sat in high school gyms and local rinks across the state, delivering the action to anyone willing to listen.

“They are different,” Commo said. “College you have more exposure, there is more travel involved, sometimes the stakes are a little bigger.

“But there is nothing quite like the enthusiasm with the kids and noise of a state tournament game at Gutterson or Patrick or Barre,” he added.

Known best for his ice hockey calls — Commo spent 18 years with the UVM men’s hockey team and is in his 18th year broadcasting Norwich games — the Burlington native has provided audio for everything from wrestling to lacrosse to volleyball.

“There’s not a lot I’ve missed,” Commo said. “I find myself, with NSN, landing assignments that I have never done before. Stuff that I never even thought about doing in all the years I was doing strictly radio.”

But his first love has always been baseball, so during the summer he spends his nights perched high above Centennial Field providing play-by-play for the Vermont Lake Monsters, which he has done since 1998, when the team was the Expos.

“I love doing hockey, I enjoy doing hockey, I think I do a pretty good job with it but baseball is my favorite,” Commo said. “Baseball has always been my favorite.”

Whatever the sport, Commo’s enthusiasm comes through the microphone, said Cory Gustafson, who joins Commo on the Norwich broadcasts to provide color commentary.

“He loves seeing great plays, he loves calling great plays,” Gustafson said. “He’s excited when he sees a great hockey game. He just loves sports.”

It was that enthusiasm for sport that had Berry, the CEO of NSN, reaching out to him as he was looking to expand the company’s reach across the state.

“George is a legend and a recognizable voice and name,” Berry said. “He’s a natural, he’s a guy that you just don’t tune out. He keeps you captivated.”

Commo’s reach has expanded past the radio and into the world of online video. The decade-old NSN has relied on his expertise and experience as it has expanded past its original high school roots and into college athletics.

“For him to have the dedication he has and the professional level that he has done it at is pretty spectacular,” Berry said. “He has brought us a ton of great experience and knowledge about the industry and has really given me some great advice and how we have developed NSN.”

That experience is what helped a new voice behind the mic, Gustafson, ease into the color commentator role last season with the Cadets.

“I was really green and fresh to it in the first games, that was the beginning of understanding of how good George is and how professional he is,” the former Norwich assistant coach said. “I thought what we would talk about what we would talk about more, but he has done so much research. I just try to keep up with a guy that has been doing it for a long time.”

The research and preparation that Commo puts into every game is what makes him so good at his job.

“He’s a real hard worker, he is prepared,” Healey said. “Nobody outprepares George, nobody.”

Healey noted that Commo will be at the rink hours before puck drop of Norwich men’s game, getting the information needed to stay sharp.

“He needs to keep people who are listening aware of what is happening, that takes a special talent,” Gustafson said. “He just does a great job of creating that visual picture for people.”

Whatever the preparation and behind-the-scenes work, Vermont listeners know one thing when it comes to Commo: that voice.

An authoritative yet conversational tone marks all of his broadcasts, with a smooth delivery that helps the audience follow the action.

“He’s just as comfortable talking sports in the lobby of Spartan Arena as he is on the air,” Healey said. “The way he sounds on the air is the way he sounds in person, that’s the ultimate compliment.”

Commo uses the words of his idol to guide how he leads his listeners.

“My idol in this business is Vin Scully, who believe it or not started doing play-by-play for the Dodgers the year I was born,” Commo said. “His point has been, ‘let the crowd tell the story, let the moment tell the story.’ I am not in his league but I try to do that.”

That philosophy has helped Commo through countless memorable calls, from national championships to 1,000th-point scorers –– so many moments that he can’t pick just a favorite.

Or maybe he can?

“The game where UVM went to Albany to play with an opportunity to go to the Frozen Four,” he said. “That would be one.”

Maybe it’s the Expos’ only championship?

“That was kind of fun, they were up a run in the ninth inning and a fly ball is hit to the warning track in left field and caught,” Commo said. “They won the game that way.”

How about a classic Norwich vs. Middlebury matchup?

“A Norwich-Middlebury double-overtime semifinal in 2004,” Commo said. “It was just a tremendous game. That one comes to mind.”

Guess he can’t pick just one.

“There have been football championship games, basketball championship games,” Commo said. “Amazing championship games between Burlington and Rice at Patrick. A lot of stuff.”

Through 42 years, countless game-winners and thousands of miles of travel, there is one moment that Commo has not been on the air for, at least, not yet.

“I am still hoping to get the Red Sox job,” he said with a laugh. “I would kill for one year of doing the Red Sox.”

Editor’s note: NSN and the Free Press maintain a media partnership. Contact Lauren Read at 660-1855 or lread1@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/laurenreadVT