I cannot believe Pat Quinn is dead at age 71.
Truly. I just can't believe it. And if you ever saw Pat Quinn in person, you'd agree with me. He was just too big, too strong, and too vigorous to be gone this early.
I'm not sure I've ever met a character from the world of sports who was so larger than life than Pat Quinn.
Quinn and I are both from Hamilton, Ontario, so of course, he's always been a bit of a hero to me. He's probably the second greatest pro hockey player ever to come out of Hamilton, behind New York Rangers defenceman Harry Howell.
I saw Quinn play numerous games for the Maple Leafs back in the days when he must have been twice as big as everyone else on the ice. When I finally met him during his days as coach and general manager of the Leafs, I couldn't get over how big he was. I mean, at 6' 2" and 190 pounds, I'm not a small guy. But Quinn was just enormous. At 6' 3", he was an inch taller than me, and I'm not sure how much he weighed, but he looked twice as wide as me. I'm not kidding. Literally twice as wide. He was massive. I shuddered to think of the poor buggers who had to play against him.
One time, at some hockey-related event near the Air Canada Centre, I was talking to a couple of University of Western Ontario students about how tough Quinn was when he played. I told him I saw Quinn catch the greatest defenseman of all time, Bobby Orr, with his head down, knocking the Bruins' legend out cold.
The students didn't believe me. They'd never heard the story and figured I was making it up.
Then I saw Quinn out of the corner of my eye. I said to the guys, "You don't believe me? Let's go ask him."
So, I marched the two students towards Quinn. As we approached him, Quinn got a suspicious look on his face. He probably wondered what these three guys making a beeline for him were up to.
"Mr. Quinn, these two lads from Western don't believe me when I tell them that you once knocked out Bobby Orr. They think I'm making it up," I said.
Quinn's facial expression immediately changed. The scowl was replaced with a big, friendly smile, after which he regaled us with the details of how it happened. He wasn't boasting. He was just enjoying telling a couple of kids, who were no doubt forty years his junior, about one of the most unforgettable plays he'd ever made.
Once the story ended, I thanked him for his time, told the Western students "You see?" and we were all left with a happy memory of our encounter with Pat Quinn.
If you don't think Pat Quinn was a big deal, think again. Even Prime Minister Stephen Harper tweeted out his condolences yesterday, to the first coach in 50 years to lead Team Canada to an Olympic gold medal in men's hockey (as Quinn did in Salt Lake City 12 years ago).
Pat, your hometown, and the hockey world are really going to miss you.
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