By Rick Pusiak
The radio voice of the Sudbury Wolves is about to unplug his microphone for the last time.
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Local radio personality Jeff Giffen has tendered his resignation at Rogers Radio Inc. and will sign off Oct. 2.
He begins a new career and a government job Oct. 7. Giffen has been hired as regional issues media co-ordinator with the Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC) and will work out of offices on McFarlane Lake Road.
The Crown corporation manages provincially owned buildings and property.
Giffen hails from the small community of Mount Brydges just outside of London, Ont.
He graduated from Fanshaw College in the spring of 1988 and was hired on at the radio station on Lasalle Boulevard in August of that year.
Â?It was a few days before Wayne Gretzky was traded from Edmonton to LA,Â? joked the walking sports encyclopedia.
Giffen loved Sudbury so much he never left and spent his entire 14-year stint in radio with CIGM and Q92 (formerly CKSO).
He met his future wife Cathy at the radio station in the mid-90s when she was on a college placement.
The couple were married at the Lutheran church on Regent Street a few years later.
They have two children with number three on the way.
Giffen said the big highlight of his radio career was being picked two years ago as the play-by-play man for CIGM AM 790Â?s live broadcasts of Wolves road games.
It was a dream job for the now 34-year-old.
Ever since he was four years old Giffen used to do play-by-play in front of the TV.
Years later he did play-by-play for the London Majors, a team in the inter-county hardball league in southern Ontario.
And although he did colour commentary for Wolves games from almost the day he arrived in town, play-by-play was the slot he was after.
Giffen enjoyed a special camaraderie with Wolves players and will never forget a certain humorous bus ride to a game in southern Ontario two years ago.
During the gruelling seven-hour road trip Giffen and a couple of jokesters (Wolves captain Derek MacKenzie and winger Mike Vaillancourt) pulled blankets from the overhead compartments and created makeshift pup tents inside the bus.
Â?ItÂ?s so childish but when youÂ?re on a bus for seven hours you do funny things,Â? laughed Giffen.
And then there was the dark game at St. MikeÂ?s in Toronto last year.
Â?WeÂ?re in the middle of a playoff game when all of a sudden the place goes pitch black,Â? recalled Giffen.
The players took their skates off and went outside.
OHL officials decided to finish the game the next day and Giffen resumed his play-by-play broadcast.
Turns out a squirrel found its way into some hydro equipment and got fried in the process.
The broadcaster had to make 34 out-of-town trips with the Wolves every year during regular season.
He loved the assignment, but was quick to point out it was taxing on his family.
That weighed heavily on his decision to apply for the opening at ORC.
Reflecting on the successes and failures of the Wolves over several seasons Giffen said the arrival of coach Bert Templeton three years ago definitely had a positive effect.
Â?He commands respect both of his players and other executives in the league,Â? said Giffen. Â?He had a top (Wolves) team that he took a long way and now heÂ?s starting to rebuild it, and who better to rebuild from scratch.Â?
Giffen said the current Wolves squad is young and will have growing pains but thereÂ?s a lot of reason to be excited about prospects for the end of this year and the next couple of years.
Giffen isnÂ?t the first news and sports announcer on Lasalle Boulevard to make the jump to the civil service.
Three years ago Q92's Jim Butticci left Sudbury for a job in the media relations office at Queen's Park.
He later transferred to a position at ORC and continues to work out of the Crown corporationÂ?s Toronto office.
