(written by Steve Milton:
The Hamilton Spectator)
Humble, Fierce, Classy
and Passionate,
Pat Quinn never forgot
his Hamilton Roots
O.C., O.B.C., JD.,
LL.D.
In the newspaper
industry, you're not supposed to become friends of the people you
cover. It is obvious that the suits who preach that rule never met
John Brian Patrick Quinn. It was almost impossible not to
like and engage with Pat Quinn, who died in Vancouver...Sunday night
(November 23, 2014) at the way too-young-age of 71. I covered him,
almost relentlessly, for more than a decade; intensely I liked him
and engaged with him on many different levels.
And he was my friend. He
and his wife Sandra took me into not just their hockey circle, also
their family circle. That doesn't make me unique. The Hamilton
native had hundreds of good friends...because he was one himself. For
a famous man, he was one of the most inclusive people I met.
Quinn grew up in the east
end, on Glennie Avenue ~ renamed Pat Quinn Way...went to St.
Helen's School, then starred in football at Cathedral High School.
He played in the National Hockey League for 9 years, including 2 with
the Toronto Maple Leafs...coached Canada to its first Olympic hockey
gold medal in half a century...led Canada to the World Junior
Championship just 6 years ago...and coached 5 NHL teams over more
than 3 decades. He also set an NHL coaching record for most
consecutive wins and was the last man to coach the Toronto Maple
Leafs to the Stanley Cup semi-finals. Pat Quinn played in and
coached more than 2,000 games in the NHL.
Because of all that, over
the last dozen years of his life, he had become a 'national
icon'...as easily recognizable as Wayne Gretzby or the Prime
Minister. But he never forgot his roots, geographic or
socio-economic. Quinn and his wife, Sandra, formed a gregarious,
welcoming couple and together with their two daughters...until the
end. They welcomed people they liked, even sometimes critical
journalists like me and the Toronto Sun's Mike Zeisberger into their
lives outside of hockey.
From his earliest days on
the outdoor rinks, it seemed likely he was bound for a career in
sports. He was big, imposing and understood all the nuances of every
sport. He played for Hamilton's Junior A Tiger Cubs, then the farm
team of the Detroit Red Wings, who owned Quinn's hockey rights. The
Wings sent him to Edmonton (Alberta) for a year and he helped the Oil
Kings win the Memorial Cup, emblematic of Canadian Junior Hockey
supremacy.
He played minor pro
hockey, then made the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1968...and a few months
later became notorious across the hockey world for catching the
legendary Bobby Orr with his head down during a playoff game. Orr
was knocked out and a near riot ensued on the ice, but Orr always
insisted it was not a 'dirty check' and the two became, of course,
close friends.
A rugged defenceman who
didn't score much, Quinn's NHL career lasted parts of nine seasons
before an ankle injury took him off the ice in 1977 and he turned to
coaching. He was behind the bench for the Philadelphia Flyers ~
whom he led to the Stanley Cup final in 1980. He was General Manager
and President of the Vancouver Canucks and General Manager of the
Toronto Maple Leafs.
But he always preferred
coaching because that was where the most teaching and the most human
interaction occurs and frankly, it was the closest to the ice.
Through his playing
career he accumulated credits from various universities...graduating
with a Law Degree from Widener University of Law. He told me, “The
seeds of education were planted years ago by my father and mother. We
were in 'wartime housing' on Glennie and a civic bylaw said that
those houses had to have a foundation under them. My parents didn't
have the money to hire someone, so my dad got my brothers and me out
there to dig the foundations ourselves. I was maybe 8 years old and
with every shovelful my dad said, 'if you get an education, you
won't have to do this.'
That was for a Spec
column just before the 2002 Olympics, during which Quinn became a
household name in Canada for the way he rallied the team from an
inauspicious opening loss to Sweden all the way to the gold medal.
Hamilton was with him
everywhere and I got the sense that he and Sandra could make a home
on the moon if they had to...because they had home in their hearts
and memories. On Pat's first official day as coach of the Toronto
Maple Leafs, he spent the night, not in celebration at a luxurious
Toronto hotel, but with his parents on Glennie Avenue.
He had money and fame and
a legion of admirers, but his Hamilton blood always kept him humble.
City Councilor, Sam Merula, recalls that when the city was renaming
Parkdale Arena in his honour a decade back, Pat was expecting to have
to pay to have his name on it. It must have been hard for an
east-end-Hamilton boy to grasp that the city was not only honouring
him...but willing to pay for it.
Pat and I were supposed
to write his biography together...over the past half-decade; he was
hesitating. I now don't think we would have ever written it, because
he would have found himself caught in the impossible no man's land
between a truthful, educational story and not wanting to bruise
anyone's feelings or reputations...even those he didn't really care
for.
That was the human side of
Pat Quinn,
by far the largest side of
large, in so many senses of the word, man.
I only regret that I
wasn't able to get to Vancouver to say goodbye...
and more importantly, to
thank him for everything.
So, I'm doing it now.
(The foregoing are
excerpts from the lengthy detailed article published.)
Goodbye to Hamilton
Hockey Greats
Pat Quinn and Murray
Oliver were stars in junior hockey with the Hamilton Tiger
Cubs…teammates with the Toronto Maple Leafs…NHL coaches…and
long time friends. Between them, they made up a big part of this
city’s hockey history. On Sunday, they passed away just hours
apart…Murray was 77.
Scott Radley
writes in the same Spectator issue:
Hamilton’s Murray
Oliver carved a16-year NHL career beginning with the Detroit Red
Wings of the late 50’s and 60’s. In a 1,127 game career with
Detroit, Boston, Toronto and Minnesota, he collected 728 points.
After his retirement in Minnesota, he coached and scouted. In the
era he played, the wives did everything together…and the players
were like brothers. The Quinns & Olivers were close friends.
Merle
Baird-Kerr...written November 25, 2014
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