John Badham was born on April 1, 1937,[1] in Brock, Saskatchewan,[2][3] and was the son of an Anglican priest.[4] His family moved around to several locations in Saskatchewan, then settled in Weyburn where he finished high school. He then worked at the Weyburn Mental Hospital and met his future wife, Dorothy Issac, who was a nurse.[5][6] He and his wife had four children.[7]
While working for CBC Sports, Badham covered the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.[11][12] For his commentary at the canoe and kayak events, neither he nor the director knew anything about the sport and relied on fellow commentator Marjorie Homer-Dixon who represented Canada in kayak events at the Summer Olympic Games in 1968 and 1972.[13]
Badham became the voice of the Ottawa Rough Riders to replace Ernie Calcutt who died,[15] and worked as the sports director at CFRA 580 AM in Ottawa.[12] His play-by-play career ended in 1988, after he had called Canadian Football League games for 22 seasons for five different teams.[8][11][12]
Badham departed Ottawa for Peterborough after he was hired at CHEX-TV in 1988, by Wally Macht who knew him when they were competing radio news anchors in Saskatchewan during the 1960s. CHEX operated both Kruz 100.5 and The Wolf 101.5, for which Badham appeared on air until he retired from full-time work in 2011.[6][8] He and his partner Mike Melnik worked together on the Kruz for more than 5,000 morning shows over a span of 20 years.[6] Badham also briefly served as the public address announcer for Peterborough Petes home games,[17] but resigned after a few games to remain as a journalist for the team.[18]
The Regina Leader-Post noted that Badham had a reputation for "energetic play-by-play" commentary of the Canadian Football League, and "became known for his colourful and sometimes controversial news reports and interviews".[19] He was inducted into the media section of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1995.[10][16] He was recognized with a career achievement award from Sports Media Canada in November 2016, accepted on his behalf by his sons while he was in hospital watching via FaceTime.[8][12]
The John Badham Bursary was posthumously established at Trent University, given annually to a student in journalism, with funding by donations and the annual John Badham Memorial Golf Tournament.[5][20]