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Everett Fitzhugh (born 1989) is an American sportscaster who is the radio play-by-play announcer for the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League.
In 2018, at John Walton's invitation, he announced play-by-play for a Washington Capitals preseason game against the Boston Bruins.
In February 2020, Ryan S. Clark of The Athletic reported that Fitzhugh was the only Black play-by-play announcer at any professional level of North American ice hockey. Kristen Ropp, the Cyclones' general manager and vice president, praised his work ethic and his willingness to play multiple roles to support and promote the team. Clark wrote, "The day an NHL club hires Fitzhugh to become their play-by-play announcer will become a landmark moment for a sport that has grappled with constructs like diversity."
In 2020, Penguin Random House Canada hired Fitzhugh to narrate the audiobook of Willie O'Ree’s autobiography, Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL's First Black Player. Fitzhugh recorded the audiobook in four days at a studio in downtown Cincinnati, just before moving to Seattle to begin working for the Kraken.
Fitzhugh has appeared at public speaking engagements and in promotional videos for the Kraken. In February 2021, a reporter wrote that the Kraken's YouTube channel "is nearly the Fitz show with AMAs, interviews, and a pre-draft show greeting would-be fans", largely hosted by Fitzhugh.
On February 17, 2022, Fitzhugh and J. T. Brown called the Kraken's game against the Winnipeg Jets on Root Sports Northwest. The pairing was the first all-Black TV broadcast in NHL history.
In his time with the Kraken, Fitzhugh has also been named the 2023 National Sports Media Association (NSMA) Washington State Sportscaster of the Year, and has won a Northwest Regional Emmy Award.
His broadcasting inspirations include Detroit announcers Ernie Harwell, George Blaha, Ken Daniels, and Mickey Redmond, and the broadcasters on Hockey Night in Canada, which is available on CBET-DT in Detroit.
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