Stan Fischler could be called Brooklyn's Answer To The Renaissance Man.
The multi-talented, award-winning television personality has written more than one hundred books and is considered an authority in such realms as ice hockey, the New York subway, American humor American history.
A four-time Emmy-award-winner, Fischler was a journalism professor at Columbia and Fordham universities as well as Queens College. He also is a lecturer who occasionally as done stand-up comedy.
His sports career is rooted in the newspaper business. Working for Hearst's flagship evening daily, The New York Journal-American, Stan covered the Brooklyn Dodgers' 1955 World Series victory over the New York Yankees and in 1969 also covered the New York Mets' first World Series triumph at Shea Stadium.
Known as "The Hockey Maven (Expert)" in both local and national circles, Fischler is one of the most outspoken authorities on the game of hockey. The only Madison Square Garden Network's hockey announcer who has been broadcasting since 1975 (New York Islanders telecasts), Fischler currently handles studio interviews and provides special pre- and post-game features and reports for the Rangers, Devils and Islanders.
During the 2007-08 season, Stan co-hosted a new program, "Hockey Night Live,." along with Al Trautwig. He also appeared on such popular MSG shows as "The Vault" and the Emmy Award-winning "Greatest Moments In Garden History."
His most recent critically-acclaimed books encompass many areas. These include: "The Subway And The City." "Subways Of The World" and "Rangers -- Greatest Moments And Players."
Stan has drawn laughs, lecturing on "American Jewish Humor" as well as "The Funniest Moments In Sports" as well as "When Baseball Was Brooklyn."
Fischler can also be seen offering NHL analysis on the Garden's "MSG,NY" program and on MSG's Rangers telecasts. A one-time Vice President of the Rangers Fan Club, Fischler's first job out of Brooklyn College was as Rangers publicist during the 1954-55 season under PR director Herb Goren. It was the first of many hockey-related positions for Fischler, who has since covered hockey either in print or on the air for more than a half-century.
The Brooklyn native began his writing career in the mid-1950's, writing first for the "Brooklyn Eagle" and then for the "New York Journal-American" from 1955 through 1966. While at the Journal-American, he won many awards for his creativity in the area of headline writing. In 1966, he took over as New York Bureau Chief for the Toronto Star, a post he held for the next 11 years.
Fischler began his broadcasting career in Boston as analyst for the New England Whalers of the WHA on WKBG-TV in 1973-74. In March of 1976, he joined SportsChannel New York (now MSG-Plus) and has been covering the metropolitan area NHL teams ever since.
With the help of his wife Shirley, Fischler has authored or co-authored a variety of books on the game, including "The Hockey Encyclopedia," "Everybody's Hockey Book" and most recently "Metro-Ice: A Century of Hockey in Greater New York," focusing on the Islanders, Devils and Rangers franchises. Fischler's other passion is the New York City subway system and its history. He often writes about transportation and also authored "The Subway - A Trip Through Time on New York's Rapid Transit." On that subject he once taped a regular feature for the MetroGuide Channel called the "Subway Series."
Over the last five decades, Fischler has written for many publications, including "The New York Times," "Sports Illustrated," "Sport Magazine," "Newsweek," and "Hockey Digest." In 1962, Fischler's article on Eddie Shore, which originally ran in "Sports Illustrated," appeared in two compilation books of exceptional writing ("The Realm of Sport" by Herbert Warren Wind and "Press Box: Red Smith's Favorite Sports Stories"). Currently, Fischler's prose can also be found in "The Hockey News," where he serves as a guest columnist, and in "The Weekly Fischler Report," which is the only 52-weeks-a-year hockey business newsletter. Stan's regular blogs can also be found on the MSG Network web site. One of his works was selected for inclusion in the book "Best American Sports Writing of the Century," published in 1999.
Fischler, who resides in Manhattan with his wife Shirley, holds a master's degree in Education from Long Island University and has taught news and feature writing at Queens College, Columbia University and Fordham University. In January 1999, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani designated Fischler a Centennial Historian of the City of New York. Fischler enjoys bicycling, speed-walking, hiking, and reading and is an advocate of organ donor awareness.
