Former sports broadcaster Kevin Hart dies aged 75

Former rugby and cricket commentator Kevin Hart. Photo / Photosport

Former sports broadcaster Kevin Hart has died at the age of 75.

Hart was a rugby and cricket commentator for 35 years before hanging up the microphone in 2014. He passed away last week.

Hart, whose voice became synonymous with rugby in the Waikato region, was also the host of the Country Sport Breakfast show on Radio Sport, while working in the livestock industry where he became one of the country’s leading auctioneers.

Hart was remembered on the Country Sport Breakfast show on Tuesday, with host Brian Kelly saying: “A bloody good bloke. Kevin Patrick Hart.”

Newstalk ZB sports news director Matt Brown said Hart was a “fantastic broadcaster”.

“Kevin Hart was a fantastic broadcaster, a brilliant rugby and cricket commentator in the Waikato and host of Radio Sport’s Sunday morning show the Country Sport Breakfast,” Brown said.

“I always loved crossing to him for chats when I was covering events like the French tennis Open. Harty would always paint the picture in his intro of where I was ‘on the banks of the Seine with a glass of red wine etc. when I was most likely sitting in my tiny hotel room’.

“Kevin was a gentleman, always giving of his time, passionate and knowledgeable.”

Newstalk ZB content director Angus Mabey said Hart “loved talking about his family, footy and farming”.

“Kevin was a great commentator, a great broadcaster but most importantly he was a great man. He was extremely generous with his time, always keen to see others succeed - and he was the most well-connected man in Waikato rugby. He had all the goss.

“He will be dearly missed.”

Hart grew up in Paeroa and started commenting domestic first class cricket in 1978.

After starting out as a sideline rugby analyst in 1979, Hart later became known as a play-by-play commentator for Waikato, the Chiefs and international matches, including the 1987 and 2011 Rugby World Cups.