Coquitlam’s Giulio Caravatta never expected he’d someday get a phone call from the BC Football Hall of Fame.
After all, the Simon Fraser University grad spent much of his eight-year playing career in the Canadian Football League as a backup quarterback, as well as occasional duties kicking, punting and holding.
Rather, it’s what Caravatta did roaming the sidelines while waiting for his number to be called that laid the foundation to earn him a place among the province’s greatest contributors to the sport.
Caravatta turned his careful observations of strategies and their execution into a 19-year-and-counting career as an analyst and colour commentator on BC Lions’ game broadcasts and caused his cellphone to ring recently with the “overwhelming” news he’s being inducted into the Hall’s media category.
The broadcast booth was somewhere Caravatta never intended to end up.
When his playing days ended, Caravatta said, he was proud to have hung in as long as he did and he was ready to move on, give his family some certainty with a steady job as a firefighter in West Vancouver.
It was the encouragement of football broadcasting legend JP McConnell that caused Caravatta to pick up a microphone.
“He gave me the foundation on how to prepare and do things right,” Caravatta said.
Turns out he’d been preparing his whole career.
“As a quarterback, I’d learned to read defences and my roll on special teams gave me a good insight there,” Caravatta said. “I had the ability to break the game down.”
Still, knowing a game and being able to convey that knowledge to listeners and viewers in an engaging and entertaining way don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand.
“You’ve got so much technical knowledge but you need to be able to speak to all levels, break it down to the simplest form,” Caravatta said.
For that skill, he was able to learn from some of the best in the business, including Rick Ball, Scott Rintoul and his current broadcast partner, Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich.
Caravatta said they helped him gain confidence by leading his way into the commentary with questions and showing him how to be ready for the call.
From there, it was just a process of letting his own personality come to the fore.
“I try not to be somebody that I’m not,” Caravatta said of his commentary style. “I approach a call like I’m watching the game at the bar with my friends and I try to be as much of me as possible.”
Caravatta, who still roams the sidelines as an assistant coach with the Centennial Centaurs varsity football program, said what he lacks in polish and broadcasting acumen, he’s able to make up with passion.
“We all need a tremendous passion for the game, and when you have that in common, it goes a long way to making the broadcast exciting.”
Joining Caravatta in the Class of 2024 are:
- Paul McCallum, player
- Glen Suitor, player
- Shawn Olson, amateur player
- Mike Emery, amateur player
- Dad Hawkshaw, builder
- Doug Staveley, builder
- Farhan Lalji, builder
- 1984-96 North Delta Razorbacks, team
- Brian Mackay, winner of the CFL Bob Ackles Award
All of the inductees will be honoured Oct. 19, prior to the start of the BC Lions game at BC Place against the Montreal Alouettes.
