Farewell to a gentleman athlete

My father grew up playing rugby in Wales (and quite well, starting on the first team at Queens University, Belfast). He and mom moved us to Canada when I was six, and he adjusted very well to life in the colonies. But he had a particularly tough time acclimating to North American sports. To his dying day he never understood my fascination with football or baseball, and considered them poor cousins to rugby and cricket.

In his early days he maligned hockey as well, considering it boorish and uncivilized. But somewhere along the way he heard Jean Beliveau speak. And he became a fan of the man, and his game. Our game.

I was never in doubt about the man, the team or the game. I don't know how I became a Habs fan, I just remember watching hockey and being fascinated and touched by the flair and passion of the Canadiens. And # 4 just seemed to transcend all else on the ice, with a majestic presence that commanded attention and respect.

When I was about 9 or 10 my class was invited to a local TV show called Firehouse Frolics. It was a big deal for anyone back in the day. Families gathered around their TVs to watch their kids, this being decades before VCRs or PVR.

Host Firehouse Murray (I think that was his name) would ask the kids who they wanted to say hello to. My classmates said hi to Mom or Dad, Grampy or Granny, their dog or cat. I said hello to Jean Beliveau. He may have missed that.

In my early years watching hockey I had favorite players like Peter Mahovlich and Larry Robinson. Ken Dryden amazed me, and I later had the great fortune of serving in the House of Commons with him and counting him among my friends.

The players from the late 60s and early 70s who most captured my attention though were two legends who wore number 4. Bobby Orr is the greatest player I ever saw play the game, even though I rooted against him. And Jean Beliveau, who was at the end of his remarkable career when I watched him on TV, was the greatest personality.

Too often we aggrandize athletes as being better people than they are athletes. Sometimes it isn't true. In the case of Beliveau it was. He taught people, even skeptical Welsh Irish doctors, that sport can be tough and graceful, passionate and respectful.

There are few people who live their life in the limelight and remain unblinded by the light. Jean Beliveau was one of them. The next Montreal home game is going to be special.