Legendary journalist Pat Hickey joins the EMSB to provide special sports coverage

Legendary sports journalist Pat Hickey, who recently retired from The Montreal Gazette Newspaper after 58 years in the business, is joining the English Montreal School Board as a sports reporter.

Throughout his career, Mr. Hickey has covered  every facet of professional and amateur sports, from the Montreal Canadiens hockey beat to the Olympic Games. At the EMSB he will file stories for our website at www.emsb.qc.ca/sportsnews about activities going on at the school level. As well, he will tell the stories of  sports personalities in this city who have  a connection to the EMSB.

Mr. Hickey will contribute to EMSB publications and be available to visit schools and meet with students as part of ECA (Extra Curricular Activities). He is even open to becoming a substitute teacher.

Pat Hickey

“I have worked for six newspapers across this country, starting with the Montreal Star in 1965,” Mr. Hickey recalls. “I’ve made stops at the Gazette, Toronto Sun, the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Vancouver Sun with multiple stops at three of those papers. Life lesson number one is to never burn your bridges. I’ve covered stories on four continents   I’m proud of all we’ve accomplished at the Gazette, particularly in recent years. I valued the time during the pandemic when I left the toy department and worked as a general news reporter. I joke about being on the demonstration beat but, on 10 consecutive Saturdays, I covered a total of 11 demonstrations, ranging from tenants upset with landlords in Mile  End to women whose partners were trapped outside Canada by immigration red tape to the grand-daddy of all protests which saw thousands of anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers and every other disaffected group marching through Montreal.  I wish all my colleagues, past and present, well. “