Recently, Thorne was back on the call in the game of hockey and it was a pretty wholesome moment for himself and their family. During the game that he was calling, Thorne's grandson scored for his high-school team. The moment led to an amazing call from Gary Thorne, as seen in the video below.
Then, in 1992, Thorne received a massive opportunity, becoming the main play-by-play man for ESPN, a role he held until 2004. When ESPN won the rights back to NHL games in 2021, fans wanted Thorne to return, as did Thorne himself, expressing his desire to come back to the role he held two decades prior. But ESPN decided to go in a different direction.