Keith Quinn (broadcaster)

Keith Quinn, MNZM (born in Te Kuiti, 1 September 1946), is an author, and one of New Zealand's most experienced television sports commentators.[1]

Quinn was educated at Wellington College,[2] and after leaving school joined the state broadcaster the NZBC as a cadet in 1965.[3] Quinn commentated his first game of rugby for radio at the last British Lions tour test in 1971, (the New Zealand v British Isles 4th test on 1ZB) and for television in 1973, a year after the NZ Rugby Football Union first allowed rugby games to be telecast live. His first rugby call for TV was New Zealand v England at Eden Park in 1973.

He has also covered nine Olympic and ten Commonwealth Games from Munich 1972 - London 2012, and has commentated on everything from swimming, tennis and table tennis.[4]

In 1977 Quinn wrote the first of 15 books about sport, Lions '77. Quinn's other works include three editions of The Encyclopedia of World Rugby and his 2000 autobiography Keith Quinn - A Lucky Man. In that book he rated presenting 1999 television show The Legends of the All Blacks as "one of the most enjoyable and stimulating experiences of my life". The programme explored the history of the New Zealand rugby team through interviews with past All Blacks, and some of the international teams that had played them.[5]

Among his other titles are Quinn's Quirks and Quinn's Quips which are both collections of sporting yarns and stories. In 2012 he wrote The A-Z of Meads which was his collection of the best stories about All Black great Sir Colin Meads.

Quinn was awarded the MNZM (Member of the New Zealand order of Merit) for his services to sports journalism in 1997. In 2004 he was awarded the International Olympic Committee's 'Sport and Media' Award for services to reporting New Zealand teams at the Olympic Games. In 2010 he was awarded by the New Zealand Rugby Union the 'Steinlager Salver' for 'Outstanding Services to Rugby.'

In July 2007, TVNZ announced Quinn would be made redundant from the state broadcaster, along with fellow sports broadcasters John McBeth and Geoff Bryan.[3] At that stage he had completed 42 years continuous service with the State Broadcaster.

In 2011 Quinn was part of the commentary team for Māori Television's coverage of the seventh Rugby World Cup, held in New Zealand.

In 2014 Quinn is still a regular free-lance commentator for the IRB Sevens World Series coverage and commentates for the Sky TV Rugby Channel's College Rugby coverage. He attended the 2014 Youth Summer Olympic Games in Nanjing, China. There he commentated rugby's return (in its sevens format) to the Olympic Games programme of events.

He has a website; www.keithquinnrugby.com

References

  1. ↑ Booker, Jarrod (19 September 2009). "Audience slings and arrows part of caller's lot". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  2. ↑ Romanos, Joseph (23 April 2009). "The Wellingtonian interview: Onny Parun". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 McNaughton, Maggie (12 July 2007). "Job queue replaces the autocue for TVNZ sports commentators". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  4. ↑ "My Olympics: Keith Quinn". The New Zealand Herald. 11 July 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  5. ↑ "Keith Quinn - Commentator". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 9 September 2011.