After more than a half-century, PA announcer Lou Nolan’s voice can still get Flyers fans out of their seats

What were the odds that the man who served as public address announcer for Game 6 of the Flyers-Bruins Stanley Cup Final back on May 19, 1974 would still be booming “And the Flyers are going on the PECO Power Play!” these days?
If you guessed long, you probably don’t know much about one Mr. Lou Nolan.
It’s because “Lou-u-u-u” is a gamer. When he starts a job, he finishes it. Of course, we don’t know when that official finish date will be yet but you can bet it will be on his own terms.
Nolan, a South Philly native who currently resides in Lower Merion, says one of the reasons he’s still doing this night after night, year after year is because it’s not a job. It’s a lifestyle.
And a fun one at that.
He gets to watch ice hockey, something he took a liking to as a young adult and he gets to become friends with everyone from Hall of Famer Bob Clarke to the late Ed Snider to a mayor or two along the way.
Hockey is the fastest moving of the four professional sports and no two games are alike. That’s part of the attraction for a fellow who joined the Flyers from Day 1 back in 1967.
“Joe Kadlec was our PR (public relations) guy and I told him I had a little bit of a hockey background,” Nolan explained in a recent interview at Xfinity Mobile Arena. “I told him if I could help him, I would.
“So I started out doing stats, running the pressbox (at the old Spectrum) for a few years. When the announcer left to go with the WHA (Blazers) team in Philadelphia, I said to (vice president) Lou Scheinfeld, ‘I’d like to take that.’ ”
The rest is history.
“I was always making announcements on the phone, so the switch was natural,” Nolan said. “I remember getting hit with a bucket of pucks (accidentally) the first game I did. I guess somebody was mad at somebody.
“So one thing led to another. All I wanted to do was have a second game. And I did. Now it’s thousands, I guess. I’ve only missed about 10.”
Nolan said he was introduced to the sport by a classmate at St. Barnabas School in Philadelphia when he was in eighth grade. The classmate’s uncle was a goal judge for the old Philly Ramblers.
“I always took the trolly downtown to get the NHL books that they had on sale,” Nolan said, “because you couldn’t get them anywhere else.”
He has vivid memories of those two Stanley Cup championships, in particular that Game 6 in 1974 at the Spectrum. The Bruins tried to put a damper on the Flyers’ magic by having Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito bring a bouquet of roses to anthem singer Kate Smith, who performed “God Bless America” for special occasions,
But the ploy didn’t work. The Flyers won the game when the late Rick MacLeish tipped in a point shot from Andre “Moose” Dupont and went on to win 1-0. Then it was sheer bedlam.
Not long after came the Flyers-Soviet Union game. The Russians were undefeated until they hit Philly. Or shall we say Philly hit them. Hard. The Russians got ticked off and headed off the ice to their locker room in protest.
Snider told the visitors: No play, no pay. Soon they were back.
“The Russians heard my announcement of a delay of game penalty,” Nolan said. “The game was fantasic and so was the drama. It was an interesting situation to say the least.”
The Flyers went on to win the game and some believe that accomplishment ranks right up with the two Stanley Cups.
Nolan also smiles when the Flyers’ fight with Ottawa is mentioned. The March 5, 2004 donnybrook wound up with an NHL record 419 combined penalty minutes, a dubious mark which stands to this day.
“That was amazing,” said Nolan with slightly widened eyes. “Crazy as can be. We couldn’t get one thing out before the next thing happened. It was the only fight of (John) LeClair’s career. (Coach Ken) Hitchcock sent him out there and he came through.”
Nolan made the move from the Spectrum over to XMA in 1996 without missing a beat.
When the “PECO Power Play” slogan came along, he took a rather regular approach to it.
But not for long.
“That’s a funny one,” he said. “Now it has a life of its own. It started out as ‘And the Flyers are going on the PECO power play.’ My producer said, ‘No, no, no. Give it some juice!’ It eventually became what it is now.
“It’s been great. I’m asked to do it a lot.”
Nolan has received support from his wife, Ellen, and their two sons, Matt and Jeff. Matt and his wife, Adrienne, have a two-year son, Tyler, who’s already getting into hockey.
As if he had a choice. . .
“He’s got his own jersey,” Lou said. “Going to a game next month. It’s good, my wife, Ellen, she puts up with me as many nights as I am working. It’s a lot of work. You know that.”
Hanging out with the Broad Street Bullies sealed the deal for his commitment to a lifelong career.
“I think I was drawn to it the way all fans are, I enjoy it,” he said. “I was captured by the early teams that had success. They were lunchpail guys. I still know a lot of those guys. They’re still around, still great people.”
Some believe he’s a Philly icon, right up with the late Sixers great Dave Zinkoff.
“Little by little, it has added up to something that everybody seems to know me,” Nolan said. “When I talk in elevators, sometimes I get the look.”
What’s the secret to this tireless worker’s longevity?
“I love to come here and I have great friends here,” he said. “It’s a social event as much as it is work. It’s something that you look forward to.
“I’ll plan it out at the beginning of the year when the calendars come out, I know where I gotta be. Be here. I know what time to be here. Sometimes I’m early, sometimes I’m late.”
As for the future, let the ice chips fall where they may.
“As long as I’m having fun, as long as I can do a good job at it, it will be fine,” he said. “I still feel really good. I can move around well. So I have no complaints.”
And neither do several generations of Flyers fans.