A broadcasting legend is about to hang his headset up for the last time in his remarkable career. Luckily for Blue Jackets’ fans, they get eight more opportunities to hear Jeff Rimer call their team’s games.
On Saturday night before their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Blue Jackets held a pregame ceremony to honor his over 40 years in the broadcast booth including the last 20 with the Blue Jackets. You can see the ceremony below.
Besides the Blue Jackets, Rimer has called games for the Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers. He has also been involved in other sports such as baseball and the Olympics.
We were able to catch up with Rimer this past week before his ceremony to talk about a variety of things including how he started with the Blue Jackets, how he wants to be remembered, some amazing stories throughout his years and what he plans to do after he hangs up the head phones.
Rimer Almost a Blue Jacket Lifer
Rimer started with the Blue Jackets as a result of the NHL Lockout that took away the 2004-05 season. The team actually wanted him to be their broadcaster right out of the gate in 2000. However, he was under contract at the time and unable to leave. In the event of a lockout, the contract he signed was for two years plus two which would allow them to renegotiate. If there was no lockout, the contract with the Panthers would be automatically extended.
The Blue Jackets then made a counter offer to Rimer after the lockout. Although his agent told him to not sign the deal, Rimer came to Columbus and worked out a deal to become their TV broadcaster. It was Doug MacLean who ultimately hired him.
For Rimer, joining on with the Blue Jackets was an easy decision. It didn’t take him long to fall in love with the city and the team. In his words, there’s something special about a Blue Jackets’ fan.
“The passion in the community. I’ve worked in a number of major markets in baseball and hockey, but Columbus was a unique market,” Rimer said. “There’s something about the South, the Midwest sports fan that is unique to this area and especially for the Blue Jackets. And I noticed very early in my stop here, just the passion, the dedication and the love of the franchise. It was different than anywhere else that I’ve been. And it proved to be right 10 times, a hundred times over.”
Who told Rimer about how great Columbus was? It was former Ohio State linebacker Stan White. While they hosted a football show together in Baltimore, it was White always going out of his way to tell Rimer how great Columbus was. “He would tell me how great Columbus is. You gotta go there sometime. Wouldn’t you know 15-20 years later, I ended up in Columbus and everything he said to me about the city and the area and the passion of the sports fans, 100% accurate.”
Rimer’s Humility Stands Tall
Perhaps this amongst everything Rimer has done in his career to date is where he shines the most. Anyone who has had the chance to meet him in person will all say the same thing. There are very few in the world that have the humility he has.
Case in point. I asked Rimer how he wanted to be remembered. In typical fashion, he responded with this that showed off what was most important to him.
“Oh, boy,” Rimer said. “I want to be remembered for my passion, my preparation, my love for the sport, and the fact that as well as being a broadcaster, I’m a fan of the greatest game that there is.”
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Rimer’s passion and preparation was always on full display. But where he put himself into his own category was how he treated people. This is a staple of the way he handles himself.
It never mattered if Rimer encountered someone who’s been around for 40 years or if they were at Nationwide Arena on day one. He made everyone feel important.
Not only would Rimer say hi to you, he’d go out of his way to ask how you were doing and then would say something to uplift you. In my 10 years covering the Blue Jackets, this was almost a daily occurrence when we spoke not just to me but to everyone he spoke with. If you were there, you were important to him.
Countless Stories Including a New Name?
Anyone that has had the chance to sit down for any length of time with Rimer know that he can share stories for days. He’s gotten to know a lot of folks in the sports world, the news world and in entertainment.
Perhaps the best story Rimer shared on Thursday was about the one time baseball-great Cal Ripken Jr. came to his defense after a radio show. This was when Ripken had the streak in tact but was struggling at the plate and in the field. Rimer was the host of a talk show in Baltimore. Let him take it from there.
“It was about a quarter to 12 and I started taking a few calls and staying on till midnight,” Rimer said. “The last call I took was from a guy who was irate with me and he said, you’re just an apologist for the Ripken family. This was before Cal broke the streak. Cal was struggling. Playing every inning of every game. He was struggling at the plate making errors. He wasn’t a hundred percent physically. Billy (Ripken) was playing second base and no hit. And of course, Cal Senior had been fired as a manager after they went 0-17. So this guy calls up and just starts ripping me up one side and down the other and he said, Rimer, you should change your name from Jeff Rimer to Jeff Ripken. Because you’re just an apologist for the Ripken family.”
“The next day, I go in the clubhouse to do my pregame interviews, and the clubhouse boy comes up to me and says, Jeff, Cal wants to see you. He’s over in his locker. So I go over to Cal and he smiles and he says, oh, I was listening last night on a post game driving home to Aberdeen, Maryland. And he was laughing and he turns behind him in his clubhouse stall and he hands me a bat. In the bat, an autograph. And it says to Jeff Ripkin Rimer.”
To this day, the bat sits in Rimer’s mancave at his house.
John Davidson on Rimer
Before becoming an executive in the front office, John Davidson was known as one of the best color commentators in hockey. If it was a big game, Davidson was probably a part of it.
Then it should come as no surprise that Davidson had plenty of time to talk about Rimer and his impact. Here is what Davidson had to say about him.
“All he wanted to do was talk hockey,” Davidson said. “He’s a big hockey fan. And he put me on the phone with him and it was a great conversation. What a nice man. One of the amazing things with Rims is he was pretty close with Gary Carter when they were both with the Expos. And then Gary passed away, and Jeff has remained friends with Gary’s family. This game, the sports world is a business. It’s a great life, but it’s also about people. And a person like Jeff who’s got all of these friendships from all different sports for all these different decades, it’s quite remarkable. And then when he finally retires, he’s still gonna have all those friends. Yeah. It’s a nice way to through life, to have good friends, loyal friends, and he’s a loyal guy.”
“(With Jeff) I think passion and work habits (stand out). You could have a great voice, you could be funny, you can do this and that. If you don’t work, it catches up. He works every day. I don’t know when the last time was he missed a game day skate. It’s just what he does. And then you build relationships and you talk to many different people. You find out good information that you can weave into your broadcast. He’s, a passionate man regarding his job. He’s got as much energy now as he did when he started.”
Rimer’s Not Done After Broadcasting
Rimer’s impact on the game and the many people he’s met through the years will be remembered for a long time. Although he will be done broadcasting himself soon, he’s nowhere near done making an impact on others.
Jeff and his wife Farrell plan on living on Florida. But Rimer said he will be back around Columbus quite a bit. He said he wants to be a mentor and help the next wave of broadcasters and writers find their voice and find their path.
So you will still occasionally see Rimer around the Blue Jackets. That’s the best outcome for everyone involved because he pours his time and effort into making sure the people he interacts with are better.
Humility. Grace. Talent. Hard working. The best. That’s Jeff Rimer. That’s who he’s been for the last 41 years broadcasting. That’s who he’ll be in the next chapter of his life.
The best news? His phone will no longer interrupt a press conference. We wish him nothing but the best in whatever comes next.