TORONTO (June 24) — Roughly six weeks ago, I watched a video podcast with Toronto Sun columnist Joe Warmington interviewing Don Cherry, presumably at Cherry’s home in Mississauga. I was stunned. It wasn’t the sharp, Dapper Don that Canadiens grew infinitely familiar with on Hockey Night In Canada for nearly 40 years. Instead, this was an older, frail man, contemplating questions longer than usual and offering quick snippets of observation. The snarl; the jam; the primal confidence and conviction was nowhere to be found. And, it prompted me to send this email to Warmington — Cherry’s closest media confidant and a reporter I’ve known for decades:

I’m still not sure whether Joe received the email. There was no reply. Which may have been another tip–off. A third was Don’s son, Tim Cherry, receiving a “please phone me” message on Monday; reading it, and not responding. Something is up in the Cherry household… and probably not much different than in the home of any 91–year–old man. Such was the age of my father, Irv, when he passed away last October. Though Dad was ill for eight years with frontal–lobe dementia, he just kept going. Until he no longer could. The decline was glaring and merciful.

I’m not suggesting the same is occurring to Donald S. because I haven’t been told. But, the old Cherry bombast was entirely absent on Monday when he abruptly, yet casually, said (while closing the 313th edition of the Grapevine podcast) “well, Tim, this is our last show. Thanks everybody for listening, and toodaloo!”

Never before had Cherry signed off his podcast in such a manner. Neither am I writing his obituary here.

It’s just that unusual stuff happened — and didn’t happen — when Don signed off on his podcast.

Though it occurred in mid–afternoon, before 3:30 p.m., neither the Canadian Press wire service nor any of the big sports media websites followed up the story. In fact, it wasn’t until this morning that C.P. and the Sun finally posted news of Cherry’s unanticipated exit. To this moment, Warmington hasn’t written a word on the subject. Which is particularly concerning. No media figure other than Ron MacLean has so resided in Cherry’s inner circle. Since Coach’s Corner disappeared with Cherry’s firing by Rogers Communications in November 2019, Warmington has published a sit–down with the deposed media figure twice a month… or so it seemed. Today? Crickets.*
*Warmington later posted a story, not featured on the Sun’s website, in which Cherry claimed he had signed off only for this season.

Whatever the case, “toodaloo” was likely the quiet final note of a career in hockey coaching and broadcasting that will never be replicated. Certainly not in the lifetime of any person reading this blog. Throughout the 1990’s, 2000’s and 2010’s, there wasn’t a more–recognizable or popular figure in Canada than Cherry. Not the Prime Minister. Not the Speaker of the House of Commons. Or, the most–famous hockey players of the era. For seven minutes each Saturday, in the first intermission of Hockey Night In Canada, our country stopped. Rabid hockey fans; casual hockey fans and non hockey fans tuned in to see what the former coach of the Boston Bruins and Colorado Rockies would say. Most of the time, Don talked about the sport. On other nights, he opined, sternly, on political issues… and was always, without fail, the first to speak on behalf of the Canadian military, past and present.

That Cherry performed without concern of whom he might offend begat polarity and conflict; the perfect storm for a captive audience. I remember how reporters gathered beneath the TVs in the press box at Maple Leaf Gardens. Anyone who spoke above a whisper during Coach’s Corner was shushed. A scribbler from C.P. wrote a national follow–up each week of Cherry’s remarks. First with Dave Hodge, then for many more years alongside MacLean, Cherry’s pulpit became the most–viewed and longest–running show in the history of Canadian television.

Dating to that video–cast with Warmington in mid–May — and reinforced by the frailty of Cherry’s voice when signing off Grapevine on Monday — it’s clear that age is abounding. No one cheats it. Cherry did so far longer and more spectacularly than most. Throughout his 70’s and into his late–80’s, when the overwhelming majority of men are “slowing down”, Donald S. bantered with MacLean like an overgrown teenager. He took no sh** and gave lots of it. When his heartfelt appeal to Canadian immigrants to wear a poppy leading up to Remembrance Day in 2019 included the phrase “you people”, the Nervous Nellies at Rogers finally had an excuse to end Cherry’s incomparable reign (the CBC twice nearly succumbed to viewer complaints, but stopped short of firing Don).

When fans and media criticize the Hockey Night In Canada presentation today, it’s an indirect reaction to the pinnacle of Saturday nights in the late–90’s and 2000’s. No one complained about blandness or “too many voices” when MacLean and Cherry anchored the first intermission; the Satellite Hot Stove after the second period. Viewers sat glued to their TVs, watching Al Strachan, John Davidson, Eric Duhatschek, Glenn Healy, the late Red Fisher and others feverishly debate hockey issues. It was the brainchild of former HNIC boss John Shannon, who later took to the air as a commentator and analyst for Sportsnet. Brian Burke provided spice, for a time, after Cherry’s dismissal and should have stayed with TV rather than leaving to help run the Pittsburgh Penguins.

So, now we wonder: Did Cherry lose interest in the Grapevine podcast? Or, in his 92nd year, is he looking at the finish line? Has he contracted an illness, one that he’d prefer to keep under wraps? Tim Cherry told C.P. that he doesn’t foresee any podcast episodes in the future. As such, my prayers are with the man they call Grapes. A legend in his own time. A national icon unlike any we’ve seen. Or, probably will. And, a man I was privileged to know during my 17 years covering the Toronto Maple Leafs for The FAN–590, Canada’s first all–sports radio station.

Thumbs up, Donald S.

THE LEAFS AND OKLAHOMA CITY

What a moment it was, on Sunday night, for sports fans in the state of Oklahoma when the Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 to win the National Basketball Association championship for 2024–25. It immediately rekindled memories of a time, in the mid–1970’s, when Oklahoma City was the top minor league affiliate of the Maple Leafs. In the late–60’s and early 70’s, another state locale, Tulsa, housed Toronto’s top farm team. Such future Leaf defensemen as Jim Dorey, Pat Quinn, Brad Selwood, Rick Ley and Jim McKenny toiled for the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Professional Hockey League. The club’s regional rival, the Oklahoma City Blazers, operated as Boston’s chief minor club. The Bruins withdrew from CPHL affiliation in 1972. A year later, the Leafs moved their team from Tulsa to Oke City, as it was commonly referred to by hockey people. Here’s a pictorial review:

LEAFS MEDIA GUIDES IN THE YEARS OKLAHOMA CITY SERVED AS THE CLUB’S TOP FARM TEAM.

 
THE OKE CITY BLAZERS LOGO (LEFT) AND A RECENT PHOTO (RIGHT) OF THE CIRCULAR STRUCTURE IN WHICH THE CLUB PLAYED HOME GAMES. ORIGINALLY NAMED FAIRGROUNDS ARENA WHEN IT OPENED IN 1965, IT WAS LATER RE–CHRISTENED JIM NORICK ARENA (AFTER THE CITY’S MAYOR). WITH A SEATING CAPACITY OF 10,944, IT STILL STANDS AT THE STATE FAIR PARK IN OKLAHOMA CITY.

WHEN THE LEAFS STUMBLED OUT OF THE GATE IN THE 1976–77 SEASON WITH A 1–5–2 RECORD, GENERAL MANAGER JIM GREGORY CALLED MIKE PALMATEER IN DALLAS AND TOLD HIM TO GET HIS BACKSIDE UP TO TORONTO. THE LEAFS AND CHICAGO BLACK HAWKS SHARED A FARM TEAM IN DALLAS, BUT PALMATEER HAD BEGUN HIS PROFESSIONAL CAREER BY PLAYING 58 GAMES FOR THE OKLAHOMA CITY BLAZERS. ANOTHER LEGENDARY LEAF FROM THAT ERA, RUGGED WINGER DAVE (TIGER) WILLIAMS (BOTTOM–LEFT), SCORED 16 GOALS AND ACCRUED 202 PENALTY MINUTES WITH THE 1974–75 BLAZERS. THE LEAFS, PASSIVE AND EASILY PUSHED AROUND, BECAME TOUGHER TO PLAY AGAINST WHEN GREGORY RECALLED WILLIAMS MIDWAY THROUGH THE ’74–75 SCHEDULE. FINAL SCORING FOR OKE CITY (BOTTOM–RIGHT) SHOWED A BEVY OF FUTURE LEAFS: JACK VALIQUETTE, PAT BOUTETTE, SCOTT GARLAND, WILLIAMS, CLAIRE ALEXANDER, BOB NEELY, IAN TURNBULL (WHILE REHABBING A KNEE INJURY), PLUS THE THREE GOALIES: PALMATEER, GORD McRAE AND PIERRE HAMEL. EVEN EDDIE SHACK APPEARED IN EIGHT GAMES FOR OKE CITY.

 
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