George Retzlaff
CBC Sports Producer of Hockey Night in Canada 1952-1984

My father was head of CBC Sports and executive producer for Hockey Night in Canada, almost from it's inception and for the following 20 years. Hockey Night in Canada was his baby and he worked very hard to make it the best live sports broadcast.

Not only did he invision and implement an experimental range of camera angles, zoom lenses, but he was also the first to try what we all know as 'instant replay', though at the time it wasn't well recieved and was shelved for many years.

In hundreds of of thousands of home across Canada and USA, Saturday nights were filled with my Father's creative ability to bring the game of Hockey into peoples livingrooms just like they were actually in the arena.

The late Scott Young said in his book The Boys of Saturday Night: “What Retzlaff produced in 1950s television action was so seamless that whole generations of viewers hated to go to the toilet in case they missed something.”

One Saturday he produced two NHL games in two countries — first a game in New York, then caught a plane to Toronto to produce the Saturday night game in Maple Leaf Gardens.

During a 1955 Hockey Night in Canada broadcast on CBC Television, producer George Retzlaff used a "wet-film" (kinescope) replay, which aired several seconds later (wikipedia).

He also produced or directed CFL games, including Grey Cups; horse racing; golf; many Olympics, including the Munich Olympics, and Commonwealth Games.