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Sunday, September 26, 1999Mahovlich's story told in new bookHis is an all-Canadian story of a rise to prominence from humble origins-- and it has finally been told 21 years after his retirement from pro hockey by his son, Ted Mahovlich. The Big M, The Frank Mahovlich Story, concludes with former teammate Ken Dryden putting into perspective the on-ice presence of the big left-winger who scored 533 NHL goals, while winning the Stanley Cup six times, and added another 89 goals in the defunct WHA. "There are a lot of people, quite amazingly, who have scored 500 goals, who have done a variety of these other things -- you close your eyes and imagine them, and there's nothing there," says Dryden. "You can't even see them anymore. "There was nothing beyond their 50 goals or 500 goals over a career, nothing that lingers, nothing that stands out. If you close your eyes and think about Frank Mahovlich there is an image -- it's there. That image for me, and I think for a lot of people, is Frank Mahovlich in full flight. That was a sight." Mahovlich continues to skate in oldtimers' games and his son wangled a lineup spot for a swing through Western Canada to play with his father and conduct many of the interviews necessary to write this book. So, as much The Big M is a hockey book, it also is the story of a son discovering the true character of his father. "What have I learned from this experience with my dad? More important than discovering something new about my father, I believe I've gained an appreciation for something very significant in the big picture of life -- his life, my life, everyone's lives," Ted Mahovlich writes. "It's about family, loved ones, and taking time to enjoy oneself. Together, dad and I have had a great time doing what we love to do, which is something both simple and precious." The Big M, in his youth, was shy about his notoriety, which translated to some, especially Toronto coach Punch Imlach, as puzzling aloofness. Mahovlich and Imlach were like oil and water together in the 1960s. Imlach intentionally mispronounced the Big M's surname to annoy him. While the team succeeded in winning the Stanley Cup four times, the fractured player-coach relationship ruined the joy of those days for Mahovlich. "Imlach would take a chair and sit in the middle of the rink and make us skate around the ice for an hour," he recalls. "It was like a punishment. And he'd just sit there watching us go around and around and around. "As a result,, the morale on the team was terrible. But because he won the Stanley Cup, the newspapers thought he was doing the right thing. It was a tough situation to live with." Mahovlich was a contract holdout in 1962, which led to a story about a $1-million purchase offer from the Chicago Blackhawks that has become a hockey legend. Ted Mahovlich lays out the sequence of events. The night before the NHL all-star game in Toronto, there was a banquet at the Royal York Hotel. After the dinner, a small group consisting of management and team owners continued socializing late into the evening. "In a conversation with the Maple Leafs brass, (Blackhawks' owner) Jim Norris mentioned the fact that they had yet to sign Mahovlich. The discussion came around to what the Leafs' star forward was worth. When the question was put to Norris, he boldly offered one million dollars to the Maple leafs for their unsigned winger. Harold Ballard, who had just become a part owner of the Maple Leafs, was immediately drawn to the proposition. Should Norris's bid be genuine, Ballard saw the opportunity to recoup a large portion of the money he had invested in the Leafs. The circumstances under which the offer was being made -- at a social gathering where alcohol flowed freely -- provided reason for doubt. "Would Norris be so generous in the morning? But despite consuming several drinks, the Chicago owner had been dead serious. With a verbal confirmation from Ballard, Norris confidently pulled out his wallet and produced ten $100 bills as a deposit. An agreement was made that the Blackhawks' general manager, Tommy Ivan, would deliver a cheque for the total sum to Maple Leaf Gardens the following morning." Sure enough, Ivan showed up at the Gardens with a cheque to complete the deal. But Ballard hadn't had the authority to make it, and former owner Conn Smythe told his son, co-owner Stafford Smythe, to reject it. "I was walking into the office and Tommy Ivan was walking out with a cheque," Mahovlich recalls. "The papers wanted to take a picture but he was angry and walked right by." Mahovlich remained a Leaf, but the relationship went downhill from that point on. "After that, Ballard didn't like me because he was embarrassed by the whole situation," Mahovlich says. A trade to Detroit in 1968 turned Mahovlich's appreciation of the sport around. He loved being a teammate of Gordie Howe. Playing at ease, without the tension he experienced in Toronto, Mahovlich scored a career-high 49 goals in 1968-69. Then came Ned Harkness, a new coach out of Cornell, and managerial malaise set in. The Red Wings traded him to Montreal. Playing for the Canadiens, and with Jean Beliveau, was another thrill. There would be two more Stanley Cup runs, and participation in the 1972 Summit Series. True to form, Mahovlich took no guff from anybody -- not even Scotty Bowman. When the Canadiens coach lectured the players for half an hour in their dressing room during a road trip, Mahovlich looked up at him and said, teammate Serge Savard recalls, "Scotty, you've been talking for half an hour now and you haven't said a (...) thing." Bowman didn't know what to say next. He left the room. Mahovlich moved on to the WHA to finish his career with a four-year contract with John Bassett Jr. Life with the Toronto Toros and the Birmingham Bulls had Mahovlich bowing out of pro hockey on a team populated by goons. It was a strange way for Mahovlich to end his playing days, but financial security for his family had been his primary consideration when he opted for the upstart league. "That team we had in Birmingham was the worst goon squad ever assembled," recalls Bulls teammate Paul Henderson. Teammate Ken Linseman speaks of Mahovlich's attitude toward less-than-talented wingers: "He didn't have an attitude of, you know, I'm a big star and treat me with respect. He was more like, man to man. I am what I am, you are what you are, and we go from there kind of thing. He just had a good attitude." He established a travel business in Toronto and continued it on a full-time basis upon retiring from hockey. Mahovlich has developed a passion for gardening and art in his retirement. He developed a friendship with Group of Seven original A.J. Casson. In 1998, he was appointed to the Senate. "I'd like to make a contribution in agriculture and natural resources," he says. "There's not a space on that committee right now but I'm hoping one might come up." An interesting man. ------ (The Big M, The Frank Mahovlich Story. By Ted Mahovlich. Harper Collins. 244 pages. $30.) 
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