Tuesday is a very special day for the hockey world. Two of the all-time greats rightfully share a birthday and a common history that have both touched my life.
On March 31st, 1928 “Mr. Hockey,” Gordie Howe was born and on Tuesday he will celebrate, albeit under an emotionally difficult situation, his 81st birthday. I had the pleasure of meeting Gordie Howe at a fundraiser at Foxwoods Casino called “Pucks, Putts and Poker” in 2005. The event was sponsored by a group called Next Shift Enterprises. The company I own, Crossroads Consulting was doing some business with them at the time and they invited me to attend. Now, we don’t play golf. I can barely skate, and I don’t play poker. However, the opportunity to be among so of the all time greatest players who have ever played the game as well as many ex-Rangers was too great to pass up, so off we went.
When we got there we were talking In the lobby to some of the former greats about our various kids. Upon his arriving at the hotel, Gordie Howe made his way over to where we were all congregated and joined in the conversation. He just stood by and listened as we, well mostly I, talked about how much my then 18 month old son loved to play hockey and his first efforts to learn to skate…we’re crazy we admit it.
Later we had a chance to talk to “Mr. Hockey” as he was selling and signing his book about his relationship with his wife, Colleen. When he saw me come up in line, he smiled. He told his assistant that he didn’t want to charge me for the book. He also said that he wanted to take a picture with me. I know that sounds like total BS, but it was true. (See the picture above). He laughed about how his wife would have been mad at him for giving away a book for free if she knew he was doing it. I always thought that he meant because she wasn’t there. I didn’t know at the time that she was terminal with Pick’s disease, a neurological disease that causes dementia. Pick’s disease took the life of this extraordinary woman just a few short weeks ago on March 6th. Hence the reason why this birthday is probably so hard for arguably the greatest hockey player of all time.
What was so amazing and that I will never forget was that he told me to get a pen and paper and wait a couple of minutes for him. I scrambled around and eventually found a notepad. Mr. Hockey then told his assistant that he was taking a break for a few minutes and would get back to signing his books in a little while. Gordie then looked at me and said, “Kid, you sound like you really love your son and love hockey. I’m going to teach you how to teach him to play the game the right way so just sit down, be quiet and start taking notes.” And Gordie did just that. He sat with me for nearly half-an-hour and taught me all kinds of secrets about the way that he taught his sons, Marty and Mark, to play the game.
When he was through, he took up the pen and signed the book that you see in the picture. The inscription reads, “I hear you brag a lot? Gordie Howe, Mr. Hockey.”
For a man to celebrate such a big day while still grieving over the loss of a woman that he knew since he was 21 and she was 17 and who was such a huge part of his life in virtually every way must be the most difficult thing this man has ever faced.
Mr. Hockey, I truly hope that you will be able to enjoy your day surrounded by those you love and that you will be able to find some joy in such a tragic and difficult time.
The other person having a birthday on the 31st has touched my life in a way almost no other person ever has. One of my closest friends and a person that I have the utmost respect and admiration for, “The Maven” Stan Fischler turns 77 years old.
When I first started following hockey in earnest back in 2000, the first real influence on me was Stan Fischler. At the time MSG was having him do a series about the history of the team and Stan would make the stories so colorful and exciting I would long to have been there when some of these things had happened. I started to buy some of his hockey history books and was just overwhelmed by the richness of the writing. The organic flow that they had, how they would seem like you were sitting there and having a conversation with a true hockey historian. Everything I knew at that point I had learned from my brother in law, Mitch Weinfeld and from Stan.
Part of being a generalist Executive Recruiter is you wind up talking to all sorts of people. One of them happened to have Stan listed as one of their ex-employers. When I told the woman how much I admired Stan, she asked if if I would like to talk to him. She was still very close with him, as most of his protégé's are, and she arranged a call.
I was so nervous when he called that the phone was shaking. After about 10 seconds on the phone with him he made me feel like we had known each other for years. Over the next several weeks we got to know each other more and more and eventually we started to spend some time together. Every occasion would be better than the time before it.
Unlike anyone I had ever known, including all 20+ years I spent in show business, Stan wanted to know what I thought and really listened to the things that I would say and would challenge me to think through the things that I was saying and would encourage me at every opportunity to learn more. When I told Stan that I had been asked to be the Editor-In-Chief for the Rangers fan club newsletter he was sincerely thrilled for me. He also told me that it was he and a friend who actually started the fan club and the newsletter. The publication was a real mess when I took it over, but Stan helped me and even put in stories to help the credibility of the issues. With his help it became a real professional looking publication and something that I will always be VERY proud of. In fact, that newsletter led to my relationship with another great human being, Dubi Silverstein, who in turn gave me the privilege of writing for his magazine, Blueshirt Bulletin, which in turn led eventually to this blog.
Let me say this about Stan Fischler. I am beyond amazed and incredibly humbled by the fact that the person I consider to be the best and most prolific writer in the history of professional hockey, considers me a friend. Stan has been there for the good and the bad. He has ALWAYS had a word of encouragement for me even when things were not seeming to go my way. He has pushed me to be better and to look higher and to be more than I thought that I was. Stan has been an ever constant inspiration to me not only in a professional sense, but in a far more important and meaningful way; he’s taught me to be a better human being. For that I love “Stan The Man” and the greatest honor that I have is that I get to say Happy Birthday to a REAL mensch, Stan Fischler.
Stan, I hope that
the coming year is the best of the 76 that proceeded it. I hope this coming year is filled with the most incredible joy, a deep and encompassing peace and prosperity. Most of all, may your 77th year be filled with the very best of health. Thank you for all you have meant not just to me, but to everyone who’s life you’ve touched. Happy Birthday Stan.
(Photo of Stan Fischler accepting the Lester Patrick Award in March of 2007, courtesy of daylife.com. The birthday cake photo courtesy of blog.pinkcakebox.com)
