Longtime Red Wings announcer Lynch dies at 95

Lynch, the hockey club's public address announcer, died following a brief illness at a Detroit-area rehabilitation center, the team said in a release. At 63 years, Lynch was the longest-tenured employee in team history.

"Budd Lynch was a dear member of the Detroit Red Wings family and legendary icon of our community," Red Wings' owner Mike Ilitch said. "Hearing Budd's voice on the radio and over the public address at Joe Louis Arena was something that every Red Wings fan looked forward to and loved. His calm, friendly and distinguished voice was symbolic of who Budd was as a person."

Lynch began his broadcasting career in 1936 at a Hamilton, Ontario, radio station shortly after graduating from high school. He switched stations the following year and volunteered in 1939 in the Canadian Army. Lynch served as a major in the Essex Scottish Regiment during World War II, losing his right arm and shoulder in a rocket attack following the D-Day invasion at Normandy.

He worked with the British Broadcasting Co. through the end of the war and later was hired by CKLW in Windsor where he was sports director and did play-by-play of Windsor Spitfires games.