Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Gallivan was an avid athlete and was a baseball pitcher on the St. Theresa's parish team from Sydney that won the Maritime Intermediate Baseball Championship in 1937.^[2] Gallivan started the deciding game against the Pugwash Maple Leafs in the best-of-three series and pitched a three-hit gem while striking out 11 batters in the game.^[3]

In 1938, Gallivan was invited to a New York Giants training camp as a power pitcher, but an early injury to his arm ended any thoughts of a major league career.^[2]

Gallivan began his broadcast career at a local radio station in Antigonish, Nova Scotia while attending St. Francis Xavier University. While at St. Francis Xavier, he was once roommates with Hollywood film director Daniel Petrie around 1940 or 1941.^[2] He taught high school algebra and Latin in Antigonish following graduation and took a stint in the Canadian Army before returning to continue his broadcasting career.

During the summers Gallivan worked in the blast furnace department of the steel plant at Dosco, a Sydney-based manufacturer of steel, coal and assorted products, to pay his way through school. His late father, Luke, was a Dosco employee for 58 years and was a foreman at International Piers, Sydney. Gallivan graduated from St. FX in 1942. Following overseas service with the Knights of Columbus Hostel Auxiliary Services in the war, Gallivan returned to Antigonish as a sportscaster for CJFX.^[4]

In 1946, Gallivan moved to a radio station in Halifax where he became sports director and voice of the St. Mary's junior hockey team.^[2] He was spotted by a CBC producer of Hockey Night in Canada while in Montreal to broadcast a junior hockey playoff between Halifax and Montreal and was asked to fill in for a sick announcer in 1950.

In 1952, Gallivan began a 32-year stint with Hockey Night in Canada, mostly calling games involving the Montreal Canadiens, before retiring after the 1983–84 season. Immediately after Bill Hewitt was forced to retire in 1981, Gallivan motored to Toronto to announce mid-week Maple Leaf games during the 1981–82 season – he announced the night when Rick Vaive scored his 50th goal of the season, a first in Maple Leaf history. Gallivan did play-by-play for at least 1,900 regular season and playoff matches, including 16 Stanley Cup victories for the Canadiens.^[5][6] His colour commentator for 18 years was Dick Irvin Jr., from 1966 until his retirement in 1984. From 1980 to 1984, Mickey Redmond joined the pair as the third man in the broadcast booth.^[7][8]

On October 9, 1970, he had the distinction of announcing the Vancouver Canucks' first-ever game in the NHL, a 3–1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on CKNW radio.

Gallivan was known for his colourful descriptions of action on the ice. Hard shots became "cannonading drives"; saves were "scintillating", "larcenous" or "enormous" rather than merely spectacular, and after a save the puck tended to get caught in a goalie's "paraphernalia" (goalie equipment). If the goaltender made a fantastic or impossible save, he would refer to it as a "hair raising save" or that the goalie "kicked out his pad in rapier-like fashion" to foil a "glorious scoring opportunity".

He would use words such as "anemic" to describe an ineffective offence or powerplay. He also coined phrases like "nowhere near the net" when a shot would go wide, and commented that "there has not been a multitudinous amount of shots" to describe a game with a "dire dearth" of shots on net. Passes from the corner and through the crease area would always feature Gallivan shouting "centred right out in front!!". Players were also known to "dipsy-doodle" with the puck or come out of their own zone "rather gingerly".

Gallivan would comment that late in the game was an "inopportune time" for a team to take a penalty, would mention that a penalty killer was "wasting valuable seconds in the penalty" when he was ragging the puck, and would almost always announce, "and the penalty has expired!" at the end of a penalty.

When a university professor wrote to Gallivan protesting that there was no such word as "cannonading", Gallivan wrote back: "There is now."

The ultimate Gallivanism was another word he coined: the "spinarama," which described a player evading a check or deking a defender with a sudden 180- or 360-degree turn. Its chief practitioner was Montreal Canadien Serge Savard so that the move was also known as "The Savardian Spinarama". The Canadian Oxford Dictionary now includes an entry for "spinarama".

Gallivan retired after the 1984 Stanley Cup playoffs when a severe illness rendered him blind in one eye.^[2] He was active in retirement, working with several charities, and was the recipient of several television/broadcast industry awards. He made a cameo appearance in the 1975 Canadian feature film The Million Dollar Hockey Puck. Gallivan also had a cameo as the voice of sportcaster Ferlin Fielddigger in the 1981 animated TV special, The Raccoons on Ice.

According to a Canadian Press report, Gallivan died on Thursday, February 24, 1993 in his sleep at his Montreal apartment, where he lived alone. The obituary said heart failure, possibly brought on by bronchitis, was the apparent cause. He was 75 years old.^[9]

Gallivan was married to Mary "Eileen" Gallivan (née MacPhee, 1925–1981) of Prince Edward Island, until her death three years prior to his final year on Hockey Night in Canada in 1984.^[10][11] In the early 1940s, Eileen transferred from UPEI to St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish where she eventually met Gallivan.^[12] Together they had four children: a son Danny Jr., and daughters Pat, Paula and Susan.^[2][13]

In the mid-1950s, Gallivan was known to assist with the Department of Education's Physical Fitness Division's annual hockey school in PEI, along with NHL chief referee Red Storey and NHL star Buddy O'Connor.^[14]

Cape Breton University awards The Danny Gallivan Memorial Fund Bursary in his honour, and St. Francis Xavier University awards an annual scholarship in his name.^[2][15] The Danny Gallivan Golf Tournament was created by Gallivan, Red Storey and a group of Halifax businessmen 30 years ago to raise research funds for the fight against cystic fibrosis. It continues to be one of the longest-standing, and most successful fundraising events of its nature in Atlantic Canada. The Tournament has raised nearly $1,400,000 for cystic fibrosis.^[16]

Upon learning of Gallivan's death, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman issued the following statement, "I join with hockey fans throughout the world, and particularly the millions in Canada whose lives were touched by Danny Gallivan, in expressing the NHL's sadness at the loss of a broadcast legend."

• 1974 - ACTRA Sportscaster of the Year Award ^[5]
• 1980 - Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame - builder category^[17]
• 1984 - Hockey Hall of Fame Media Honouree ^[5]
• 1985 - St. Francis Xavier University bestowed upon him an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree ^[5]
• 1989 - Inducted into Canadian Sports Hall of Fame^[18]
• 1990 - Broadcast Recognition Award - Atlantic Broadcasters' Association, in acknowledging Danny's contribution to the broadcast industry^[19]
• 1991 - Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame^[19]

2015 - Inducted into the inaugural class of the Maritime Sport Hall of Fame, (Builder category)

The following games Gallivan called that were accessible on video:

• Described game 5 of the 1959 Stanley Cup Final on YouTube
• Called game 1 of the 1965 Stanley Cup Semifinal between Montreal and Toronto on YouTube
• Heard calling Jean Beliveau's goal at 0:14 of the first period in game 7 of the 1965 Stanley Cup Final between Montreal and Chicago on YouTube
• Heard calling Yvon Cournoyer's goal at 5:03 of the first period in Game 7 of 1965 Stanley Cup Final between Montreal and Chicago on YouTube
• Called game 7 of the 1965 NHL Stanley Cup Final on YouTube
• Describing game 6 of the 1966 Stanley Cup Final on YouTube
• Describing game 1 of the 1967 Stanley Cup final between Montreal and Toronto on YouTube
• Describing game 2 of the 1967 Stanley Cup final between Montreal and Toronto on YouTube
• Called game 1 of the Canadiens-Bruins 1969 semi-final on YouTube
• Called John Ferguson's goal in Game 1 of 1969 Stanley Cup semi-final between Montreal and Boston on YouTube
• Called Jean Beliveau's double overtime goal (Apr. 24, 1969) on YouTube
• Montreal Canadiens' Road to the 1969 Stanley Cup on YouTube
• Called game 4 of the 1969 Stanley Cup Final on YouTube
• Called the final seconds of game 4 of the 1969 Stanley Cup Final on YouTube
• Called the first Canucks goal scored by Barry Wilkins on YouTube
• Described game 7 of the 1971 Stanley Cup Final on YouTube
• Described game 6 of the 1973 Stanley Cup Final on YouTube
• NHL Network 1975 Red Army vs Canadiens Game on YouTube
• Montreal Canadiens at Philadelphia Flyers: 1976 Stanley Cup Final Game 4 on YouTube
• Montreal Canadiens at Boston Bruins: 1977 Stanley Cup Final Game 4 on YouTube
• Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Montreal Canadiens: Game 1 of 1978 Stanley Cup Semifinals on YouTube
• Describing Jacques Lemaire goal in Game 1 of 1978 Stanley Cup semi-final between Montreal and Toronto on YouTube
• Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Montreal Canadiens: Game 2 of 1978 Stanley Cup Semifinals on YouTube
• Describing Guy Lafleur goal in Game 2 of 1978 Stanley Cup semi-final between Montreal and Toronto on YouTube
• 1978 Stanley Cup Final Game 1: Boston Bruins at Montreal Canadiens on YouTube
• 1978 Stanley Cup Final Game 2: Boston Bruins at Montreal Canadiens on YouTube
• Describing Guy Lafleur's overtime goal in Game 2 of 1978 Stanley Cup Final between Montreal and Boston on YouTube
• 1978 Stanley Cup Final Game 5: Boston Bruins at Montreal Canadiens on YouTube
• Described Larry Robinson's spectacular goal in Game 5 of 1978 Stanley Cup Final on YouTube
• 1979 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals Game 1: Toronto Maple Leafs at Montreal Canadiens on YouTube
• 1979 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals Game 2: Toronto Maple Leafs at Montreal Canadiens on YouTube
• Described the entire 1979 Montreal-Boston Stanley Cup Semifinals series on YouTube
• 1979 Stanley Cup Semifinals Game 3: Montreal Canadiens at Boston Bruins on YouTube
• Called Larry Robinson's goal in Game 3 of 1979 Stanley Cup Semifinals between Montreal and Boston on YouTube
• 1979 Stanley Cup Semifinals Game 4: Montreal Canadiens at Boston Bruins on YouTube
• 1979 Stanley Cup Semifinals Game 5: Boston Bruins at Montreal Canadiens on YouTube
• 1979 Stanley Cup Semifinals Game 6: Montreal Canadiens at Boston Bruins on YouTube
• NHL Classic Games: Boston Bruins at Montreal Canadiens Game 7 of 1979 Semifinals on YouTube
• Describing the third period and overtime of Boston-Montreal 1979 Semifinals game 7 on YouTube
• Describing Boston's Too Many Men penalty and subsequent Guy Lafleur power-play goal (May 10, 1979) on YouTube
• Describing Guy Lafleur's power-play goal late in the third period in Game 7 of the 1979 Stanley Cup semi-finals between Montreal and Boston on YouTube
• Describing Yvon Lambert's overtime goal in Game 7 of the 1979 Stanley Cup semi-finals between Montreal and Boston on YouTube
• Describing the final moments of Boston-Montreal Game 7 of the 1979 Stanley Cup semi-finals on YouTube
• 1980 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals Game 7: Minnesota North Stars at Montreal Canadiens on YouTube
• Danny Gallivan's last game: Montreal Canadiens at New York Islanders Game 6 1984 on YouTube

• "Hockey's Great Voices Echo Through Generations" at NHL.com^{[permanent dead link]}. Retrieved October 20, 2006.