Jim”Shaky”Hunt Legendary sports journalist

A Walk with Shaky: Remembering Jim Hunt

On a walk through the ravine area of St. James-the-Less Cemetery in Toronto, with a few sports items in hand, I came across the grave of Jim Hunt.

“Shaky,” as he was known, got his start at the Toronto Star on the city desk, but it wasn’t long before his sports journalism career took off. In 1953, he moved down the hall to work under the legendary Milt Dunnell — a decision that would define the next five decades of his life.

The legend, Milt Dunnell. 

Hunt’s job gave him access to some of the biggest names in sports and pop culture. He interviewed Muhammad Ali, Mickey Mantle, had lunch with Marilyn Monroe, and once shared drinks with Queen Elizabeth II aboard her private yacht during the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

One of his most infamous assignments came in 1956 while still at The Star. Tasked with testing the security at Maple Leaf Gardens during a Leafs–Red Wings playoff game, Hunt brought in a wooden replica of a gun inside a case. He managed to get past the ticket-takers without incident — and the next day, the Star ran a photo of him and the gun case on the front page. You can imagine the fallout that followed.

His career later took him to radio as sports director at CKEY. In 1983, he joined the Toronto Sun as a daily columnist and became a familiar voice to many — including me — as co-host of Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown, one of my favourite radio programs.

Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown and co-host Jim “Shaky” Hunt, 1995-2000.

Jim Hunt was also the author of All Work and All Play: A Life in the Outrageous World of Sports. He passed away in Toronto on March 9, 2006, at the age of 79.

1926-2006