Newstalk ZB and Radio Sport commentators pre match, Nigel Yalden and Kevin Hart, before the 3rd Rugby Union test match, Steinlager Series, All Blacks v Ireland at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, New Zealand, Saturday 23 June 2012. Photo: Stephen Barker/Photosport.co.nz
Newstalk ZB and Radio Sport commentators pre match, Nigel Yalden and Kevin Hart, before the 3rd Rugby Union test match, Steinlager Series, All Blacks v Ireland at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, New Zealand, Saturday 23 June 2012. Photo: Stephen Barker/Photosport.co.nz
New Zealand has lost not only a legendary sports commentator and auctioneer, but a great family man with Kevin Patrick Hart passing away at age 75.
Long-time friend and New Zealand rugby commentator Tony Johnson, says that it happened so fast, which makes it harder to process.
“I think that’s what’s added to this absolute sense of shock and a sense of tremendous loss. We’ve lost a great friend but we’ve also lost someone who’s very much been part of the sporting landscape and in terms of his job in the rural sector as well,” he says.
“Kevin was just simply one of the nicest blokes I ever met. Man did he cram a lot in. It’s just tragic that his life’s been cut short. I know he was proud of his family, but I hope he was proud of what he achieved in his work that he was so passionate about. He’s universally highly-regarded by his colleagues and people in the sporting fraternity.
“His wife Sally cared for him in his last days and she’s a wonderful woman. You just know that he got a lot of love in his final days.”
Originally from Paeroa, Hart was well-known throughout the world of sport, having commentated many different matches and events over the years.
Hart was a cricket commentator between 1979 and 2016 for both domestic and international matches in Hamilton, Auckland, Mount Maunganui, Rotorua and Tauranga and for much of this time he also announced rugby games.
Tony Johnson, Auckland Rugby Gala Dinner, Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand, Thursday, August 23, 2018. Copyright photo: David Rowland / www.photosport.nz
“We started working together in the early 90s, we did a few seasons calling cricket together and I did a lot of Shell Trophy Cricket with him. We became great friends as a consequence of that and have stayed friends since,” says Johnson.
“That commentary box at Seddon Park, it was just a great atmosphere. And the people that Kevin knew, he’d invite them to come and talk with us.”
They had MPs talk to them in the commentary box and the likes of racing driver Craig Baird.
“He got Richard Loe in there, when Loey wasn’t talking to anyone. He got Loey to talk for half an hour on Sports Roundup, that’s how well-regarded Kevin was.”
Johnson says that not only did they enjoyed working together, they would also socialise out of work.
“He was such a genial person. You’d never meet a single person who had a bad word to say about him, he was just so well regarded. He was so passionate about what he did.”
Hart had many career milestones and was part of the radio crew covering the Springbok v Waikato rugby game at Hamilton’s Rugby Park on July 25, 1981 when the anti-apartheid protesters tore down a boundary fence and invaded the field.
“It was amazing, I don’t know where he would find the energy to do his day job and then come and throw so much energy and enthusiasm into his commentary work – and then all the charity work. He would always put up his hand to help at a club or fundraiser, he was phenomenal.”
From 2000 onwards, Hart was the head rugby commentator in Hamilton for international and domestic matches and for the 2011 Rugby World Cup he also led the commentating at Eden Park, Auckland and Rotorua.
He called his final rugby match at age 67 in 2014 when Waikato took on Bay of Plenty.
Hart hosted the Country Sport breakfast from the beginning of the station through to 2015, when he also retired from radio.
“I think the thing about Kevin was that he was always such a great team player. Some people get into those positions and they guard them, but not Kevin. He just believed that he was part of a team and that’s evidence in the role that he played in bringing Nigel Yalden through to becoming the fine broadcaster that he is today. Kevin recognised Nigel’s talent and he did a great job helping him through,” says Johnson.
“He believed in nurturing the up-and-comers. His own legacy, he called so many great games and he was a great one for the big finish. You’d hear the highlights on the radio the next day; he really knew how to wind himself up for a big finish in a game.”
In 2021, Hart was part of a selection panel for Waikato Rugby Union’s “team of the century” alongside other well-known local experts, as part of their centenary celebrations.
Hart had a vast knowledge of Waikato rugby across its 100 years and had many memories of matches over his three-quarters of a century.
Johnson recalls in 1993 when Hart was on the sideline at Eden Park for Waikato’s famous Ranfurly Shield victory.
“Kev got to be on the sideline with the radio call the day that John Mitchell and co ended Auckland’s eight-year Ranfurly Shield run. I think that was a special moment because there were so many people involved in that Waikato team that he had a close relationship with, families etc. He made his name in Hamilton and the Waikato but never forget that he was a Paeroa boy.”
Other notable roles included: member of rugby commentary teams both domestic and Internationals 1979-1999; International and domestic netball commentary in Hamilton and Tauranga/Mt Maunganui from 1980-2015; helped provide coverage of Davis Cup Tennis at Mystery Creek; member of broadcasting team for World Rowing Championships at Lake Karāpiro; member of New Zealand Broadcasting Radio team to Beijing Olympics 2008.
Hart in name and heart in spirit, Kevin Hart’s voice will be engraved in New Zealand sports fans minds across the generations.
ZB Sportstalk host D’Arcy Waldegrave said Hart was an “old-school commentator of the highest order”.
“He was extremely well versed, and knowledgeable to a fault with enthusiasm for his role oozing out of every pore. In cricket and in rugby, this bloke was the embodiment of the caller. It was a joy to hear him roar down the mic following his beloved Waikato team, or gently guiding the listener through the lazy, hazy days of domestic cricket from his booth at Seddon Park.
“He was astute, highly entertaining and safe pair of hands. Kevin also had no issues laughing at himself either and was always supportive of his colleagues. The archetypal good Kiwi bloke. I’m proud to have worked alongside him over the years. Rest easy fella.”
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.”
ZB Sports News director Matt Brown said he loved doing live crosses to Hart when covering the French Open in Paris. “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’ — when in fact, I was most likely sitting in a tiny hotel room.
“Kevin was a gentleman, always giving of his time, passionate and knowlegable.”
