Flyers broadcaster Steve Coates to retire after 43 seasons

When Steve Coates appeared at the Flyers’ practice in Fort Lauderdale in November, the rink filled with the sound of players yelling “Legend!” and going up to give him handshakes with big smiles.

It’s hard to fathom a day when Coates, affectionally nicknamed “Coatesy,” is not livening up plane rides to road games or telling tales of the time he dumped the puck in when on a breakaway as a player.

But there is now a definitive date for his final road trip. Friday morning, the Flyers announced the longtime broadcaster will be retiring at the end of the season.

“The Philadelphia Flyers organization is unlike any other in professional sports and it has truly been my honor to have been a part of it for so many years,” Coates said. “This organization has given me a home and a family. It has led me to forge lifelong relationships and the very best of friendships with everyone I’ve had the privilege to work with along the way. ...

“Serving as the voice of the team for all my years, the one thing that is undeniable is that the Flyers logo means something special to all of us. For me, it represents a community whose passion for their team is unequaled year after year. You are the heartbeat of this team and I thank you for welcoming me into your lives.”

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According to the news release, “Coates will continue to be active in both team and Flyers Alumni events following the 2022-23 season.” According to veteran Scott Laughton, “We’re going to try and hire him in a different role here.

“I can’t mention it, but [it] might be player-driven,” he said jokingly.

Coates’ voice has carried through first the Spectrum and now the Wells Fargo Center for the last 43 years, during which he has played various roles for the organization’s broadcast teams. For the last nine seasons, he’s been the color analyst on radio.

His broadcast career has spanned both television and radio. It began when he joined Gene Hart in the radio booth in 1980. Coates then acted as a studio host for WTAF-TV (1984 through 1986) and WGBS-TV (1987 through 1991). He then spent six seasons as the color analyst on radio.

In 2000 and 2004, Coates, now 72, won Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards for Best Live Sports Coverage Series.

“The impact that Steve Coates has had on this organization and in the community has been immeasurable during his 43 year career,” said Comcast Spectacor chairman Dave Scott.

From 1999 to 2011, Coates hosted “Coatesy’s Corner.” Justin Braun, who joined the team in 2019 and grew up in Minnesota, never watched it or was featured on it, but he knows all about it from local product Tony DeAngelo. Braun joked that Coates stayed another year so he could work with DeAngelo.

When telling stories about some of the “Coatesy’s Corner” episodes he filmed, Coates will lose his words from laughing too hard. One favorite was when he hosted Sergei Bobrovsky while dressed as Santa Claus.

Winger James van Riemsdyk recalls appearing on the show as a younger player. Van Riemsdyk, who often speaks to the media for the team in difficult situations, said he learned lessons on how to handle that from Coates.

Coates can also share the experience of playing professional hockey with them. Before his broadcasting career, he was a member of the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Firebirds. He spent seven years playing professional hockey for seven different AHL and IHL teams. He also played five NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings. On April 2, 1977, he scored his lone NHL goal.

The players joke that the Emmy-award winning Coates is a “legend.” But there is an underlying respect in their words that speaks to the truth of that title. However, the legend of Steve Coates was not built around stats or awards or success. It was built around the relationships he fostered, the laughs he shared.

There are many stories Laughton could share, but the one he thinks depicts Coates’ character the best comes from a time when Laughton was struggling to establish himself as an everyday NHL player. Laughton ran into Coates in a Starbucks in New York.

“We sat for half an hour and just talked and talked through a bunch of stuff,” Laughton said. “So little conversations throughout the years I think have made a massive impact on me.”

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Morgan Frost said Coates’ pride in the organization has rubbed off on him. At 23, Frost has experienced only the tail-end of Coates’ career. But whether it was Frost, who’s been with the Flyers since 2017, or van Riemsdyk, who first joined the organization in 2007, the words the players used to describe Coates were the same.

Funny. Infectious. Happy. Energetic. Joyful. Icon. ... Legend.