TORONTO (CP) - Veteran sports columnist Jim Hunt has died after suffering a heart attack. He was 79.
The Toronto Sun confirmed Thursday that Hunt had passed away after suffering a heart attack Wednesday.
Hunt spent some 50 years on the sports beat, covering Stanley Cups, the Masters, U.S. Opens, Canadian Opens, British Opens, Super Bowls, Olympics and the 1972 Canada-Russia series.
The tall, gangly columnist attended every Grey Cup game between 1949 and 1999.
Hunt was known as Shaky thanks to his intramural goaltending career at the University of Western Ontario, where he was part of the school's first journalism graduating class.
Upon graduating in 1948, the native of Sarnia, Ont., was hired as a news reporter by the Toronto Star. He worked in the Star's Queen's Park Bureau before moving to sports in 1952.
In 1961, he switched to the Star Weekly Magazine to write sports. He moved to CKEY in 1967 as sports director of the AM radio station, eventually becoming news director.
In 1983, he moved to the Sun as sports columnist at the Toronto Sun.
''I have been lucky,'' Hunt once said. ''I guess you could say I have had trouble keeping jobs. But I have only applied for one job and that was the first one I had at the Star. I blundered into the other jobs.
''The CKEY job gave me the opportunity to cover the 1972 and 1974 Canada-Russia hockey series. The best job was at the Star weekly because it afforded me the opportunity to travel around the world. But the job I enjoyed the most was writing a column for the Sun.
''All my life my ambition was to write a column. Jim Coleman was my idol because he could be funny, serious and opinionated. I wanted to be like him.''
In 1991, Hunt began a nine-year stint at the all-sports Toronto radio station Fan 590.
He continued to write a weekly column for the Toronto Sun.
Each Tuesday, it started with the same introduction: ''Some Tuesday morning musings on some of the things that amuse, confuse and even amaze a fellow in the wonderful world of fun and games.''
In 2001, Hunt was honoured by Sports Media Canada, the Canadian arm of the international sportswriters' association, with an achievement award.
Hunt also co-authored All Work and All Play: A Life in the Outrageous World of Sports, with Steve Simmons.
A visitation is scheduled for Monday, 7 to 9 p.m., at the Humphfrey Funeral Home, 1403 Bayview Ave., in Toronto. A memorial service is slated for 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Cuthbert's Anglican Church, 1399 Bayview Ave.