1984 Fredericton Encaenia
Graduation Address
Delivered by: Gzowski, Peter
Content
"Gzowski Says Degree 'Greatest Single Honor of My Life'" Telegraph Journal (25 May 1984). (UA Case 67, Box 2)
"This degree is the greatest single honor of my life," CBC Radio 'Morningside' host Gzowski told 1,055 graduating students. He confided that it was his first degree, although he had attended the University of Toronto and "messed up."
Delivering the convocation address at the Aitken Centre after getting an honorary doctor of letters degree, Mr. Gzowski described his career that has taken him to his present position as Morningside host.
"When we set out to do something on our terms, we can do it as well as anyone on earth," he advised the graduates.
He said UNB President James Downey phoned him one day about five minutes before he was to go on the air with his problem.
"Would I honor the university by accepting a degree, he asked me. I pondered and weight the responsibilities and duties that it would mean for a second and a half and said 'hell, yes.'"
"This is the second most exciting hockey area I’ve been in for a week," he laughed in reference to the game a few days ago when the Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup. Mr. Gzowski shaved off his beard in honor of the win.
He told how he worked on the police desk for the Toronto Telegram from one in the morning until nine and then went to classes at U of T.
"Being up anyway, I actually went to all my day-time classes."
"The secret of good writing is not only discipline and several drafts, at the typewriter and not at the beer parlor, but an understanding that you have something to say. You must know something and want to tell someone what is it."
He said he was not good as a television host…"It is not communication, not substance."
"Nobody remembers what anyone says – only what they looked like and acted like."
"This degree is the greatest single honor of my life," CBC Radio 'Morningside' host Gzowski told 1,055 graduating students. He confided that it was his first degree, although he had attended the University of Toronto and "messed up."
Delivering the convocation address at the Aitken Centre after getting an honorary doctor of letters degree, Mr. Gzowski described his career that has taken him to his present position as Morningside host.
"When we set out to do something on our terms, we can do it as well as anyone on earth," he advised the graduates.
He said UNB President James Downey phoned him one day about five minutes before he was to go on the air with his problem.
"Would I honor the university by accepting a degree, he asked me. I pondered and weight the responsibilities and duties that it would mean for a second and a half and said 'hell, yes.'"
"This is the second most exciting hockey area I’ve been in for a week," he laughed in reference to the game a few days ago when the Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup. Mr. Gzowski shaved off his beard in honor of the win.
He told how he worked on the police desk for the Toronto Telegram from one in the morning until nine and then went to classes at U of T.
"Being up anyway, I actually went to all my day-time classes."
"The secret of good writing is not only discipline and several drafts, at the typewriter and not at the beer parlor, but an understanding that you have something to say. You must know something and want to tell someone what is it."
He said he was not good as a television host…"It is not communication, not substance."
"Nobody remembers what anyone says – only what they looked like and acted like."
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