On Nov. 17, 2000, Steve Mears hopped in his car and made the drive from northwest Ohio to the state capital.
Then a student broadcaster at Bowling Green State University, he traversed Interstate 75 and state route 23 through rural Ohio on a chilly, overcast day and then drove into downtown Columbus to watch the 20th game in Blue Jackets history from section 215.
And he did it with a dream in mind.
“I distinctly remember looking up over my left shoulder and looking at the broadcast booth,” Mears said. “I did that all the time if I was at any NHL game. I used to always peer up at the broadcast booth and just dream of being there once.
“If you told 19-year-old Steve at Bowling Green that he’d get a chance to call Blue Jackets games somewhere down the road, even if it was just one game, it would have been the ultimate fantasy camp for me. Now to follow the journey of this team and live in such a wonderful community, it’s almost surreal.”
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It’s fair now to say Mears has come full circle. Tomorrow night when the Blue Jackets begin the season at Minnesota, Mears will be in the broadcast booth alongside analyst Jody Shelley as the new television voice of the team on Bally Sports Ohio.
When Mears interviewed for the job this summer, he put the ticket stub from that 2000 game against the Florida Panthers in his jacket pocket for good luck. It’s one of a number of coincidences – or perhaps signs – that Mears was meant for the job.
Another? As Mears was staring up at Nationwide Arena’s press row that Saturday night 24 years ago, the man he’s replacing in Columbus, Jeff Rimer, was there that night working for the Panthers.
It is a task to fill the shoes of the man who spent 20 years calling Blue Jackets games, but Mears is ready. Most recently the radio voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins – more on that in a second – Mears comes to Columbus with more than two decades of experience calling hockey games dating back to his time at the Slater Family Ice Rink in Bowling Green.
Originally from Murrysville, east of Pittsburgh, he grew up enjoying all sports, but hockey is the one closest to his heart.
“Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, I fell in love with the sport right away,” Mears said. “I love all the other sports, but hockey is my first love. I still play. I’ve played since I was 10 years old, and it’s just the greatest game. I just wanted to be around the sport in any capacity – it could have been doing PR, it could have been sales, it could have been Zamboni driver. I just wanted to be around the game.
“That was the path; there really was no plan B. I tell students that was very foolish because I put all my eggs in the hockey basket, which was incredibly stupid, but it worked out. I’m very lucky that it did.”
While he may hail from rival territory, Mears said it feels like he’s an honorary Ohioan. It started when he went to Bowling Green, a school with a proud hockey history that provided an excellent opportunity to break into the business calling games on the student radio station.
It also introduced Mears to the Buckeye State, as he had roommates and made friends from all around the state who he remains close to. Upon moving to Columbus this summer, Mears said he immediately felt the same Ohio hospitality that he first found at BGSU.
“As far as the warmth from the people, I’m not surprised at all because I saw that firsthand working at Bowling Green,” Mears said. “This is a continuation of college, and something I’ve said all along, it’s come full circle. This is the first state where I was on the air for the first time, where I called a hockey game for the first time, where I was on the radio for the first time. Now here I am back where it started, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.”
That was reciprocated by Blue Jackets fans during the preseason. Before the first home game of the slate, Mears posted on social media that he would be meeting fans by the goal cannon during the first intermission. He did the same for the second preseason contest, and that casual introduction to the CBJ fan base quickly became part of his gamedays.
“By the third home preseason game, I didn’t have to put it on social because people were already there,” Mears said. “I met some fans, shook some hands of wonderful people from all over Central Ohio that are such passionate hockey fans and knowledgeable about the team and the game. I got to talk with some people and show my face and introduce myself and thank them for all the support and thank them for what they will be doing, watching all season long and giving Jody and I a bunch of support. I had so much fun doing that.”
From his first game at Bowling Green, Mears wanted to be in hockey, but like anyone in broadcasting, it wasn’t an easy road. His first job out of college was with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs of the Central Hockey League, a now-defunct league with teams in such outposts as Amarillo, Odessa, Lubbock and San Angelo, Texas.
There, broadcasting is just 5 percent of the job, Mears said, and he did everything from load skate sharpeners into frigid arenas to scheduling postgame meals for players. But it was the best education to learn all that it takes to put a hockey team on the ice, and Mears still stays in touch with many of his coworkers from that time.
He clearly had an aptitude for the broadcasting side, too, earning CHL Broadcaster of the Year honors in 2005. He then joined the New York Islanders as the club’s radio play-by-play announcer from 2006-09 before returning to Pittsburgh as a host on the Penguins Radio Network and contributor on PensTV from 2009-12.
From there, he worked for NHL Network, serving as a show host and the voice of such events as the IIHF World Juniors. In 2017, he returned to the Pens as a television and radio broadcaster.
Along the way, inspirations from such notable voices as Doc Emrick, Gary Thorne and Pittsburgh legend Mike Lange helped shape his style. But the most important thing that he hopes comes through in his work is a joy for the game.
“That is a huge part of it,” he said. “It’s not dentistry. There’s a place for stats and analytics and all that, but you have to have fun. That’s why I think we’re going to be a really good team, because Jody is one of my favorite people in the business. We’ve gotten along for a long time. I’m a big fan of his on the air and off the air. I loved watching him play and have such admiration for the role that he played in a long professional career, so I can’t wait. We’re going to have a lot of fun.”
And as for those Pittsburgh ties, don’t think he’ll secretly be wearing the black and gold underneath his new CBJ colors. All of the old Pens gear quickly found a new home, replaced by union blue and goal red. The Mears family, including his young son Carter, is true blue now.
“The first thing we bought was my son got a Blue Jackets jersey,” Mears said. “He will have no recollection of being born in Western PA. He’s going to be a Blue Jackets fan from day one. His earliest hockey memories will be at Nationwide, and he’ll probably learn to skate here in Ohio at one of the Chiller rinks. That’s pretty special to think that he’s going to be raised in such a wonderful place. That means more than anything.”
Add it all up and Mears feels like he’s in the right place at the right time. The only thing left to do is get started.
“I don’t know if I could have gotten any more of a perfect landing spot,” Mears said. “To end up in this type of organization and see the side of the city I was not aware of, it’s almost too good to be true. Now it’s time to get to work and put together the best broadcast that we can every single night.”
