Where are they now: Jiggs McDonald, former Islanders TV play-by-play voice

Even at 86, his name, his face and especially his voice resonate with Islanders fans, no matter where they find themselves in 2025.

For example: In the fish department of a Publix supermarket in southwest Florida, where a worker named Gary never fails to chat up Jiggs McDonald.

“Every time we stop, we have to talk about Bob Bourne, Bobby Nystrom, [Clark] Gillies,” McDonald said with a laugh.

“Gary is a character. I have no idea what his last name is, but he talks about Dr. Generosity’s and he talks about The Salty Dog, and nights after games at the Coliseum.”

None of that is unusual for McDonald, living history for Islanders fans of a certain age who are inclined to remember not only players but Long Island bars from the 1980s glory days.

He frequently runs into them, and they not only want to talk about the old days but also about current events, such as No. 1 overall draft pick Matthew Schaefer.

McDonald loves all of it.

“I do,” he said. “It’s fun.”

Why not?

In a career that included stints with several other teams, including the Kings and Flames, he is best known as the TV play-by-play voice of the Islanders from 1980-81, their second Stanley Cup season, to 1994-95.

He filled in for Howie Rose and later Brendan Burke well into the 21st century, most recently for home games against the Kraken and Blue Jackets in early 2022. (McDonald called Burke the best play-by-play man in the NHL, “absolutely head and shoulders above everybody.”)

When the Islanders honored McDonald in 2017 for 50 years of calling NHL games, co-owner Jon Ledecky summed up his place in the organization this way: “He’s part of the family. He’ll always be part of the family . . . I think the fans connect with him. Let’s face it: When Jiggs is doing the game, don’t we all feel a lot younger?”

McDonald emceed the pregame ceremonies when the Islanders played their first game at UBS Arena in 2021.

But even though he remains an avid watcher of NHL games, those 2022 Islanders games were the last he intends to call.

“I still try to stay up to date as much as I can, but it’s not with the feeling of getting a call [to work],” he said. “If I did get a call to do a game, I’d say, ‘No, I’m finished.’

“I wouldn’t want to embarrass the game, the team, myself. I know I couldn’t stay up to the pace of today’s game.”

Still, McDonald remains sharp and active. He lives in South Fort Myers and golfs in the cooler non-summer months. He made his first hole-in-one in March.

“I shortened up a little bit on a seven [iron] and I saw it bounce, saw it land and I thought it had rolled on by,” he said. “The other three guys are screaming and yelling, ‘It’s in!’ . . . I get up there and sure enough, that old Maxfli was at the bottom of the cup.”

McDonald’s wife of 61 years, Marilyn, died on Mother’s Day in 2024. The two Ontarians had been together for their entire adult lives. “I’ve said we were born married,” Jiggs said.

One of their two daughters, Kelly, lives nearby and visits daily. The other, Susan, lives in Minnesota. In the spring, McDonald drove to New Orleans for his granddaughter’s graduation from Tulane.

Naturally, he has friends all over the hockey world. He still sees his old TV partner and friend, Ed Westfall, who lives in Florida in the winter.

In July, McDonald was in upstate Troy for induction into the New York State Hockey Hall of Fame. He received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990.

As McDonald said, his live broadcasting days are behind him, but he remains a trove of knowledge and experience.

During the 2022-23 season, he did some on-air work for select games of the Florida Jr Blades youth hockey team, where he also mentored other announcers.

They included Jake Maurice, who currently is the voice of the ECHL’s Florida Everblades and whose father, Paul, has coached the past two Stanley Cup winners with the Panthers.

“Young Jake is outstanding,” McDonald said. “He is really, really good. So there wasn’t a whole lot I could help him with.”

It was not McDonald’s choice to leave Islanders broadcasts after the ’94-95 season. His contract was not renewed by SportsChannel. “They pulled the rug,” he said.

But that disappointment did not stop him from returning to the fold during the ensuing 30 years. Fans always know the name, face and voice, whether they are working at the fish counter or wearing a fisherman logo jersey.

Said McDonald, “We had a great run.”

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.