By Carol Britton Meyer

Former Hull resident Greg McQuade has done it again, winning another eight Emmy Awards for his work as an anchor and “storyteller” for CBS affiliate WTVR-TV in Richmond, Virginia. These latest wins bring the total number of Emmys McQuade has earned since 2002 to 56.

McQuade spent many happy summers in Hull during his childhood and returns here occasionally to visit his family, including two planned trips this summer.

His mother, Annie McQuade, proudly displays about half of the Emmy statuettes on the mantel of her Hull home.

The 2021 winning stories, which were judged by his peers in the industry across the country, included a piece on the 100th anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery and a story about a 101-year-old man in rural Virginia whose father was born into slavery before the Civil War.

“I’m a history buff through and through. I love exploring Fort Revere in Hull and the historic cemetery below,” McQuade told The Hull Times. “I read anything I can on Hull’s rich past and Paragon Park.”

That’s not surprising considering his deep roots in, and love for, the community in which he grew up and has many happy memories, including his first summer job as a teenager was working for the Metropolitan District Commission on Nantasket Beach.

“I was the attendant at the bathhouse across the street from the Bernie King Pavilion during the summer of 1985,” McQuade recalled. “I can still hear sounds of the big bands that played there on weekend days.”

Another story for which he won an Emmy this year featured modern-day musicians who play instruments once owned by people who lost their lives in the Holocaust through a program called “Violins of Hope.”

McQuade also earned an Emmy for a story on a 73-year-old BMX rider “who doesn’t mind coming in last as long as he can compete,” McQuade said. “One of my most cherished Emmy Awards this year was in the writing category.”

The ceremony was held June 25 near Washington, D.C. in Bethesda, Maryland. WTVR is part of the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

For the past 11 years, McQuade has anchored the “CBS6 Weekend Morning” show with his colleague and friend, meteorologist Mike Stone.

“The alarm clock starts ringing a little after 3 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings,” he said, but he’s not complaining because he enjoys doing what he loves most – storytelling.

McQuade recently returned from Florida, where he organized and hosted his late grandfather’s 50th annual WWII reunion.

“I am the unofficial historian for the 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion,” he said. “We meet in different parts of the country every June. More than 40 people attended, including 97-year-old veteran Elman Brown. You could hear a pin drop on the carpet as he recounted tales from the battlefield nearly 80 years ago.”

While he never had the pleasure of meeting his grandfather, Capt. William McQuade, his spirit lives on. The former MDC police officer passed away at the age of 47, years before McQuade was born.

“The surviving veterans serve as surrogate grandfathers,” he said.

Whenever McQuade makes plans to return to Hull to visit his mother, Annie, and stepfather, Charlie, during the summer, he counts the days until he can put his beach chair in the sand “and feel the ocean breezes” at Nantasket once again.