WAYNE RUTLEDGE AND THE LOS ANGELES KINGS -
HIS SPIRIT HAD A HAND ON THE STANLEY CUP
ONE AFTERNOON, QUITE A FEW YEARS AGO NOW, WE WERE AT A GRAVENHURST AUCTION, JUST UP THE HILL FROM SAGAMO PARK. I BROUGHT A COUPLE OF HOCKEY CARDS WITH ME, TO HAVE SIGNED FOR SONS ANDREW AND ROBERT. I DIDN'T TELL THEM ABOUT IT BEFORE-HAND, THINKING IT WOULD BE A SURPRISE TO MEET A FORMER NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE GOALTENDER, WHO HAD PLAYED ON THE SAME CLUBS, IN HIS CAREER, AS THE GREAT TERRY SAWCHUCK, AND GORDIE HOWE. SAWCHUCK OF COURSE, CELEBRATED HIS HOCKEY HEYDAY WITH THE DETROIT RED WINGS, AND THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS. HOWE WAS WITH DETROIT AND THE THE HOUSTON ARROWS. I SHOULD POINT OUT THAT BOTH LADS COLLECTED HOCKEY CARDS BACK IN THE 1990'S, SO IT WAS QUITE USUAL TO TOTE AROUND CERTAIN HOCKEY CARDS, JUST IN CASE. IN MUSKOKA, AS YOU PROBABLY ARE WELL AWARE, HOCKEY PLAYERS ARE WELL REPRESENTED AMONGST OUR SEASONAL RESIDENTS. THEY GET TOGETHER FOR SHINNY DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS, SO THE BOYS WERE ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO GET THEIR PRIZED CARDS SIGNED. THEY'VE GOT QUITE A WHACK OF THEM TODAY, THAT I'M SURE THEY'LL BE GIVING TO THEIR YOUNGSTERS SOME DAY.
SO TOWARD THE END OF THE AUCTION, I EXPLAINED HOW TERRY SAWCHUCK, WHO WAS DECEASED BY THAT POINT, HAD BEEN THE NUMBER ONE GOALIE FOR THE LOS ANGELES KINGS, GIVEN UP BY THE MAPLE LEAFS, IN THE 1967, FIRST EXPANSION OF THE ORIGINAL SIX TEAM N.H.L. BUT WHAT HAPPENED, WHEN THE SEASON BEGAN, CHANGED THE GOALTENDING ORDER. DUE TO AN INJURY SUSTAINED IN THE PRE-SEASON, SAWCHUCK WAS SIDELINED. THE NUMBER ONE GOALIE FOR JACK KENT COOKE'S FLEDGLING KINGS, WAS………A FUTURE MUSKOKA AUCTIONEER. IN FACT, IT WAS THIS PARTICULAR AUCTIONEER, WORKING THE ESTATE SALE HERE IN GRAVENHURST.
WHEN THE AUCTION CONCLUDED, I HANDED A HOCKEY CARD TO EACH BOY, AND SUGGESTED THAT THEY APPROACH THE AUCTIONEER, AND ASK FOR AN AUTOGRAPH. THEY LOOKED AT ME AS IF I'D BEEN UNCEREMONIOUSLY RETURNED TO EARTH, AFTER AN ALIEN ABDUCTION (AND SEMI-ENJOYABLE PROBING), EXPECTING ONE OF MY TRADEMARK GRANDIOSE SET-UPS, TO INFILL THE STORY AT HAND. THEY LOOKED AT THE CARDS, SAW THE NAME, LOOKED AT THE AUCTIONEER, AND ANDREW ASKED, "IS THAT THE SAME GUY?" "WHY YES IT IS," I RESPONDED, PUSHING THEM ON TO MEET THE AUCTIONEER-GOALTENDER.
WAYNE RUTLEDGE WASN'T OFTEN AT A LOSS FOR WORDS. HE STARED AT THE CARDS THE BOYS HAD JUST HANDED HIM, AND SEEMED QUITE SURPRISED ANYONE, ESPECIALLY THESE YOUNGSTERS, WOULD KNOW ABOUT HIS DAYS IN PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY. HE SIGNED BOTH CARDS, SMILING AT THESE YOUNG COLLECTORS, AND SEEMED GENUINELY IMPRESSED HIS CARDS WERE EVEN IN CIRCULATION, AFTER ALL THE YEARS SINCE HIS RETIREMENT BACK IN THE 1970'S.
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN AN EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCE, OR ILLNESS, FOR SUZANNE AND I TO MISS A WAYNE RUTLEDGE AUCTION. IT WOULD HAVE MEANT AN EQUALLY CRITICAL INTRUSION, OR OUTRIGHT CATASTROPHE ON THE HOME FRONT, IF I COULDN'T MAKE IT TO HIS FATHER'S AUCTIONS. WAYNE'S FATHER WAS LES RUTLEDGE, OF GRAVENHURST, A FORMER RAILWAYMAN, WHO FOUND HIMSELF, BY CIRCUMSTANCE, ONE OF MUSKOKA'S BEST KNOWN AUCTIONEERS IN THE 1980'S. I'VE WRITTEN QUITE A BIT ABOUT LES OVER THE YEARS, BECAUSE I ALSO HAD A PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM AT THE FORMER HERALD-GAZETTE. I WAS A MEDIATOR, FOR LES, EACH WEEK WHEN HE'D GET INTO A DISAGREEMENT OVER ADVERTISING BILLING, WITH ONE OF OUR FRONT DESK CLERKS. I'D HEAR HIM COME INTO THE OFFICE, STETSON FIRST, AND FROM THE FIRST FEW WORDS, YOU COULD PRETTY MUCH TELL HOW HEATED OR EXCITING THIS VISIT WAS GOING TO WIND-UP. BEFORE THE CONCLUDING CONCILIATORY HANDSHAKE. HE WAS MORE BLUSTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE, BUT HE DIDN'T LIKE GETTING THE RUN-AROUND. IF HE SENSED YOU DIDN'T HAVE AN ANSWER, AND WERE TRYING TO FUDGE A RESPONSE, HE'D GET FURIOUS. HE LIKED THE STRAIGHT GOODS, AND HE COULD HANDLE A PROBLEM, JUST NOT IF ANYONE TRIED TO FOB HIM OFF. ONE CLERK REFUSED TO BACK DOWN TO HIM, AND THEY'D STAND ARGUING WITH ONE ANOTHER FOR FORTY MINUTES, BEFORE HE'D STARTED GETTING RED IN THE FACE. WHICH WAS THE SIGN INDICATING AN INTERVENTION WAS NECESSARY TO SAVE THE CLERK.
LES WASN'T ONE TO MINCE WORDS, OR GO SOFTLY THROUGH LIFE, BARELY LEAVING A MARK. AS I WAS ONE OF HIS AUCTION REGULARS, AND A WRITER WHO MUST HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT LES, A HUNDRED TIMES, IN AUCTION REVIEWS, CLERICAL STAFF ALWAYS KNEW TO CALL ME IF THEY REACHED AN IMPASSE. LES WASN'T WRONG WITH HIS ASSERTIONS. WE MADE A LOT OF MISTAKES IN THOSE NEWSPAPER YEARS, AND WE HAD MANY PARALLEL "HEATED" ENCOUNTERS AT THE FRONT DESK, THAT REACHED THE NASTY-RETORT LEVEL. LES JUST WANTED HIS ADS TO APPEAR IN THE RIGHT EDITIONS, THE SIZE HE WISHED, PLACEMENT HE DESIRED, FOR AS MANY WEEKS AS HE HAD PLANNED. HE DIDN'T LIKE TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS EITHER. WE WERE EXPERTS IN THAT REGARD. WE ONCE RAN A HEADLINE THAT READ, "PRIME MINISTER TURDEAU TO VISIT MUSKOKA." HOW ABOUT THE TIME WE RAN A HEADLINE ON THE STORY OF A 100 YEAR OLD WOMAN, WITH THE WORDS, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THIS GRAND OLD LAY." TRY EXPLAINING THAT TO FAMILY. I DID THE SAME THING ONCE WITH A CAPTION ON THE FRONT PAGE, BENEATH A PHOTOGRAPH OF A COSTUMED YOUNG LADY. "THIS YOUNG LAY READY FOR HALLOWE'EN." HER MOTHER WANTED MY HEAD ON A PLATTER. AS FOR "TURDEAU," WHICH OF COURSE SHOULD HAVE BEEN "TRUDEAU," WE GOT SOME INTERESTING LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. THAT'S IT. I'VE ONCE AGAIN DIGRESSED FROM THE PURPOSE OF THIS STORY.
AFTER AN AUCTION ONE EVENING, IN BRACEBRIDGE, I HAD A FEW MINUTES TO TALK TO WAYNE ABOUT HIS FATHER, LES, AND TOLD A FEW STORIES ABOUT HOW HE MADE THE YOUNG GIRLS CRY AT THE HERALD-GAZETTE. HE JUST NODDED. LES WAS LES! ONCE YOU GOT TO KNOW THIS MOUNTAIN OF A MAN, YOU UNDERSTOOD THAT BEING GRUFF WASN'T A SIGN OF HIS PREVAILING MOOD…..IT WAS JUST WHO HE WAS. WAYNE GOT A KICK OUT OF HEARING MY FEW STORIES, AND IT'S WHY I ENJOYED GOING TO THE SALES SO MUCH…….I SAW A LOT OF LES RUTLEDGE, IN THE MANNERISM AND CHARACTER OF HIS SON…..WHO ALSO WORE A STETSON, BUT WAS AT LEAST A HUNDRED POUNDS LIGHTER. WAYNE HAD A GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR AND THE CROWD LOVED HIM. I'VE NEVER BEFORE, IN ALL THE AUCTIONS I'VE ATTENDED AS AN ANTIQUE DEALER, SEEN SERIOUS AUCTION GROUPIES. IT WOULD BE TOO CASUAL TO SAY THEY WERE "REGULARS." THESE FOLKS BECAME HIS FRIENDS, AND IT DIDN'T MATTER HOW GOOD THE SALE WAS, THESE PATRONS STAYED TO THE BITTER END OF EACH SALE, JUST TO TAKE IN THE AMBIENCE. WE PROUDLY COUNT OURSELVES AMONGST THIS GROUP OF FOLLOWERS. BUT MANY OF HIS GROUPIES WEREN'T AWARE OF THE WEALTH OF HOCKEY HISTORY THIS MAN REPRESENTED.
WHEN THE LOS ANGELES KINGS WON THE STANLEY CUP THIS WEEK, I SAW A FAN JUMPING UP AND DOWN IN CELEBRATION, WHO WAS WEARING A REPLICA SWEATER OF THE ORIGINAL 1967 CLUB, AND I IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT ABOUT WAYNE RUTLEDGE, AND HOW PLEASED HE WOULD HAVE BEEN TO SEE HIS OLD TEAM FINALLY WIN THE BIG PRIZE. HE HAD JOINED THE CLUB IN 1967, AFTER A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL AMATEUR CAREER WITH THE BARRIE FLYERS, NIAGARA FLYERS, AS WELL AS BEING ON THE ALLEN CUP WINNING, WINDSOR BULLDOGS. RUTLEDGE WAS BORN IN BARRIE, ONTARIO, ON JANUARY 5, 1942. HE DIED ON OCTOBER 5TH, 2004. HE HAD BEEN LIVING IN HUNTSVILLE, BUT WAS WORKING THROUGHOUT MUSKOKA AS BOTH A GLAZIER AND AN AUCTIONEER.
AFTER A FAIR STINT WITH THE KINGS, HE JOINED THE WORLD HOCKEY ASSOCIATION'S HOUSTON ARROWS, WHERE HE PLAYED WITH FORMER DETROIT RED WING LEGEND, GORDIE HOWE AND HIS SONS MARK AND MARTY. HIS TEAM WON TWO AVCO CUP CHAMPIONSHIPS OVER TWO SEASONS, 1973-74, AND 1974-75. HE RETIRED IN THE LATE 1970'S.
WAYNE RUTLEDGE AND ROGER CROZIER
From my research notes, while working on the biography of Bracebridge born, Roger Crozier, formerly of the Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals, I found many references and news clippings, of junior hockey in Ontario, that also mentioned Wayne Rutledge. There were two particularly spectacular goalies, getting a fair amount of positive press in the early 1960's, and if memory serves, they even played against each other in those pre-N.H.L. days. They obviously faced each other in later years, when Los Angeles played either Detroit or Buffalo. Shortly after I began working for Roger in the mid 1990's, and his fledgling childrens' charity, the Crozier Foundation, I was given work to do, on the creation of a special celebrity dinner, in Roger's honor, at the Bracebridge Centennial Centre. It would bring out quite a few veteran hockey players and long time friends to "roast" Roger. I helped arrange for hockey writer, Ross Brewitt to be the guest speaker, for the evening, as he had worked with the Sabres, in their promotional department, during Roger's stay with the club. Brewitt has written quite a number of hockey books, and actually, even took my advice, to take-up where Paul Rimstead had left off, writing the biography of Eddy Shack. Rimstead died before the book could be written, and seeing as Brewitt had a similar style of writing, I suggested he run it by Shack to see if there was any interest in continuing the book. He thought the idea was a good one, and that Brewitt fit the bill. Shack and Rimstead had been best friends for years. The book was written. I was invited to the book launch with Brewitt and Shack, in Toronto, during a huge winter storm that even closed the highway. I couldn't attend. He sent me a double-signed copy which I still cherish, as Eddy was one of my all-time favorite players, and Brewitt, next to Rimstead, was my choice of sports writers.
Along with arranging for Brewitt to roast Roger, I was able to convince the organizers from the Crozier Foundation, to invite Wayne Rutledge for the big night. I can't tell you how thrilled I was, to see the two goaltending veterans, meet-up before the start of dinner……and it was the handshake I will never forget. Here was the auctioneer I had regular meetings with throughout the Muskoka auction season, reliving those great hockey days with my boss, Roger Crozier. Their talk was about a time, when hockey was the mainstay, the national passion, an obsession for Canadian kids, when the voice of Foster and Bill Hewitt was Hockey Night in Canada. Before the super-star days that prevail so pretentiously today. It was the gentlemanly handshake that had probably occurred, many times before, between the two veterans, beneath the centre-ice scoreboards; in some of the great arenas of the old N.H.L., to the ovation of thousands of cheering fans. What I saw was a "job well-done" handshake, for the long and substantial successes of two courageous netminders, both who had played in those early years without the benefit of face masks. Some would say, it was easier to play without the masks. It was terrible playing without a defense. Both goalies, from their expansion era teams, "had more rubber on them that the tarmac of an airport," according to Ross Brewitt. The stories these old goaltenders possessed! Wow! If I'd only had the time, to put these two men together, for a proper interview, what a front-pager that would have been……what a byline coup for me.
Inside a year, Roger had passed away. I can't tell you how privileged I feel today, to have witnessed that parting handshake. Wayne passed away, after a short illness, in 2004. I had enjoyed a chance to work close with Roger, for a short but intense period, and I spent a lot of business / social time, chasing after Wayne from auction to auction. I remember one day, coming upon Wayne replacing glass in the doors at the Huntsville Public Library. I actually wrote a piece for the Oldtimers Hockey News, about this multi-talented former N.H.L.'er, who was a championship goalie, an expert on glass replacement, and one of the most revered auctioneers in this part of Ontario. I don't know if they ever used the story, but at least I wrote it. Roger of course, became a bank executive for MBNA based in Delaware. I'm just glad to have had the opportunity to work with both these veteran players. Andrew and Robert did as well. In fact, for a little trivia here, Andrew purchased the first instrument of his present business, at a Wayne Rutledge auction in Huntsville. It was a beautiful Regal banjo, that he sold the summer we took a booth at the Antique Boat Show in Gravenhurst. It was his first major sale, and it tied-in with our auctioneer friend. There's more. I had to ask Wayne for a favor that day. We had to leave the auction to attend a family event, and I asked if he could put the vintage guitars and banjo a little bit ahead of schedule, so we could bid on them. We had just run out of time. Wayne could have stuck to protocol, and refused to alter the order of sale items in front. As we were good customers, and at every sale, he graciously agreed, and Andrew got his chance to bid. He worked it hard, as an auctioneer, for the benefit of the host for the sale, so we didn't get any special treatment during the actual bidding. But I did very much appreciate, the way he bent the rules a bit, and bumped the vintage music pieces up, in the auction order, to give Andrew a break. He purchased numerous other guitars and old records from Wayne over quite a few years. In a small but significant way, he was a part of that start-up to Andrew and Robert's music business today. He'd find it humorous and anecdotal, that son Robert has taught one of his kin, here in Gravenhurst. A completed circle, some might say.
So we all hoisted a mug of coffee, this morning, in Wayne's honor, thinking how much he would have enjoyed watching his Los Angeles Kings, finally, after all these years, win the coveted Stanley Cup. I'm sure, in spirit, Wayne was there, to put his hand on the cup, with all the other veterans of the team, who hadn't survived to celebrate this momentous occasion in hockey history.
Thanks so much for visiting today's blog. Please come back again soon.
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