Don Cherry

Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. He played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins. After concluding a playing career in the American Hockey League (AHL), he coached the Bruins for five seasons leading the team to four division titles and two appearances in the Stanley Cup Final. From 1986 to 2019, Cherry co-hosted Coach's Corner—a segment aired during CBC's Saturday-night NHL broadcast Hockey Night in Canada, with Ron MacLean. Nicknamed Grapes, he is known for his outspoken manner and opinions, and his flamboyant dress. By the 2018–19 NHL season, Cherry and MacLean had hosted Coach's Corner for 33 seasons. From 1984 to 2019, Cherry hosted Grapevine, a short-form radio segment with fellow sportscaster Brian Williams. He created and starred in the direct-to-video series Don Cherry's Rock'em Sock'em Hockey from 1989 to 2018. In 2004, Cherry was voted by viewers as the seventh-greatest Canadian of all time in the CBC miniseries The Greatest Canadian. In 2010, his life was dramatized in a two-part CBC movie, Keep Your Head Up, Kid: The Don Cherry Story, based on a script written by his son, Timothy Cherry. In 2012, CBC aired a sequel, The Wrath of Grapes: The Don Cherry Story II. Cherry has expressed controversial political views for which he has faced criticism, including remarks he made regarding Canada's lack of support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and denying climate change. In November 2019, Cherry was fired by Sportsnet from Hockey Night in Canada for making controversial statements that have been variously described as anti-immigration, xenophobic, or racist, about Canadian immigrants during his show.