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SLAM! Sports SLAM! Reviews JAM! Books COLUMNS INTERACTIVE ALSO ON SLAM!  [an error occurred while processing this directive] |
Friday, October 8, 1999Mahovlich book upbeat, funnyIt's exactly what they were, it turns out, a year ago on the NHL oldtimers' western tour, as 31-year-old Ted mined the stories that make his book on his father, The Big M, The Frank Mahovlich Story, so authentic. Ted -- like his father a product of St. Michael's College, although his abiding interest turned out to be music, not hockey -- found himself playing with linemates such as Guy Lafleur and Gilbert Perreault, and, some nights, The Big M himself. In between, he tapped them and other NHL greats for the memories that brought life to his four years of research. Now the Mahovlichs are on the road promoting the just-released book. What strikes you, if you never really knew Mahovlich as a person but watched him as a fan, is what a happy guy he is at age 61. If you remember watching Frank Mahovlich in full stride as a Toronto Maple Leaf, you remember his misery as well as his glory. His being sidelined for a month in 1964, suffering from acute depression, and again in 1968, comes back as clearly as his 48 goals in 1960-61. Mahovlich's run at equalling Maurice Richard's 50 captured Leafs fans across Canada. And so his illness also assumed inflated importance, all the more so after Leafs management attempted to keep secret its nature. Could a son acting as author be expected to delve into so sore a period in his father's life? In truth, Ted doesn't much. His book is upbeat and funny even as it deals with the low points, including Frank's rocky relationship with Leafs coach Punch Imlach. As Frank's wife, Marie, said: "The way Dr. (Alan) Walters summed it up was, basically, Frank, there's nothing wrong with you. You have an allergy, and the allergy is to Punch Imlach -- and that is all that's wrong with you." Ted Mahovlich wasn't born until Frank's trade to Detroit in 1968 already had affected the cure. "The first I became aware that dad wasn't happy in Toronto was from what Scott Young had written in a children's book," he said. "I was like in Grade 2 in the public school library looking at this book. "What I knew was, the family was very happy in Montreal. My first memories of really knowing my dad ... were him bringing me to practice at the Montreal Forum." Each chapter opens with Ted's journal vividly chronicling the Legends' games before turning to Frank's progress from Schumacher, Ont., to St. Michael's, the Leafs to the Toronto Toros. Throughout, the legends' stories take the reader inside. "We always thought that sometimes Frank was somewhere else, you know, deep in thought," Serge Savard said in an account of Mahovlich's response to a meandering speech by coach Scott Bowman in the Canadiens dressing room. "All of a sudden Frank looked at him, everybody was silent and I remember exactly what he said: 'Scotty, you've been talking for half an hour now and you haven't said a f---ing thing.' And that was it. Scotty didn't know what to say." A member of the Canadian Senate as well as an inductee in both the Hockey and Canadian Sports Halls of Fame, Mahovlich still speaks his mind with engaging unpredictability. On the Canadian NHL teams' demands for government aid, Mahovlich is on record as saying it's a bad idea. He would like to see retired players owning teams, rather than corporations, and revenue equalization to assure the future of Canadian teams. Mahovlich always has been full of strong opinion, bordering on the outrageous, but Toronto never knew this side of him as a Leaf. "I think early on it's fair to say he was a relatively shy person," Ted Mahovlich said. "And I think that he quite enjoys (public speaking) now. And, we just had a lot of fun with these stories." Mahovlich's story told in new book
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