01907_Summer_2019 WEB

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LYNCHPIN
of Boston sports
BY STEVE KRAUSE
MMike Lynch has always said he's been
fortunate to work where he grew up.
"I don't have to Google 'Havlicek
stole the ball,'" he says. "I don't have
to look up Carlton Fisk's home run,
or when the ball went through Bill
Buckner's legs. I lived it."
He also doesn't have to read books
or hear stories to educate himself about
the days when Swampscott was the
focal point of high school football in
Massachusetts. He lived that, too.
He is the oldest son of one of the
town's legendary coaches — Dick
Lynch. He played three sports (football,
basketball and baseball) for the Big
Blue, and has parlayed his time on the
town's playing fields by carving a niche
as perhaps the Boston area's preeminent
authority on high school athletics.
He announced in May that he is
going to step back as head sports anchor
at WCVB-TV. He's not retiring from
sports broadcasting, but he's ready for a
little less of a load at this point in his life.
His last day as chief anchor is Aug. 15.
"I'm healthy," he said. "I still have
a lot of energy for what I do. But 37 ½
years is a long time. I started at Channel
5 on Final Four weekend of 1982."
Lynch says he has no grandiose plans,
and stresses that he's not going anywhere
anytime soon either.
"In this job," he said, "there's never a
time when you're not working. It's allencompassing.
I get up in the morning
and the first thing I do is check Twitter
to make sure I haven't missed anything.
And it's also very difficult to hit the