Matt Skube entered my orbit about 25 years ago when he played baseball for the Port Arthur Continentals alongside my son at Balsam Street Pit.
I remember him as a gifted athlete, but more importantly, as one of those rare kids whose enthusiasm was infectious and who brought out the very best in everyone on the team.
Like many families, ours traveled each year to Austin, Minnesota, to take part in the annual SPAM Jam Festival and baseball tournament. It was a rite of passage for these young athletes and a wonderful experience for both the players and their parents.
In a chance meeting in Toronto with Matt many years later, he was excited to tell me how he had enrolled in the College of Sports Media in Toronto. It was a private school with a number of instructors that were household names in Canadian sports media. So it was no surprise a few years later to see Matt on my TV screen.
Matt’s first on-air job was as the weekend sports anchor at Thunder Bay Television where he also got to report the news and sports during the week. After two years at TBT News, Matt was hired at CTV Ottawa - his big break. Similar to TBT, Matt did a little bit of everything. Then in 2017, he was tapped to anchor the new 5pm news show in Ottawa. After nearly 12 years in the nation’s capital, he got the itch for a new challenge.
“Thankfully, circumstances and life aligned for my family and I to move to the Toronto area last summer. I’m now a freelance anchor/host, filling in on TSN SportsCentre, CTV NewsChannel, CTV’s Your Morning, and BNN Bloomberg. It’s been almost a year and I’m loving it! I’m getting to live out my dream, especially when I’m on SportsCentre, and I feel incredibly fortunate to say that”, said Matt.
Matt credits his love of sports to his parents who were both high-level athletes. His dad Mike, played hockey at Queen’s University and his mom raced in downhill skiing.
“My mom likes to tell the story of how I came home from my first day of Junior Kindgarden in tears, because I didn’t know who the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were. That was because I spent all my time watching TSN SportsDesk (before it was SportsCentre) and getting the latest highlights, trades and information! I feel privileged to have been able to attend Blue Jay baseball and NHL games as a kid. And I was lucky that my parents were able to put me and my siblings into organized sports”, shared Matt.
Matt, his wife and two boys currently live in Pickering, just east of downtown Toronto. His wife works near Union Station, which takes her downtown a couple of days a week.
“It’s been an adjustment, but our boys are enjoying their new school and they’re both getting ready to play baseball this summer. We’re actually closer now to our family cottage in the Kawarthas, so we’ll try and spend some time there over the next few months”.
Matt says he tries to get back to Thunder Bay once a year. “Last fall, I was back for my 20 year high school graduation (two decades?! Wild). I’ve also been back to emcee ‘Dancing with the Docs’, a wonderful event that raises money for the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation. It’s always great to see family and bring my boys back to the city where I grew up. Thunder Bay offered me a lot of experiences that helped shape who I am today. I will always be proud of my hometown.”
