Mitch Garber and i were even more thrilled than we let on when Henri Richard visited the CF Cable 9 studio at 405 Ogilvy Avenue in March of 1993. Hebsy was too.
We were a few episodes into our first of three years of hosting The Sports Hot Seat – a name we swiped from an old CTV panel show hosted in the early 70s by Johnny Esaw.
Here’s the Pocket Rocket at his relaxed best, even in front of a television camera and a couple of bright lights. He looked fantastic. But he always looked great, right up until his final public appearances. On this day, he was about seven years removed from his post-hockey career as the proprietor of the Henri Richard Tavern on Parc Avenue. In this environment you get a sense of what it was like to hang out and have a beer with Henri. He’s thoughtful and humorous and full of pride. And I’m pretty sure I saw a twinkle in his eye.
My reference to his final series against the Sabres (featuring Jerry Korab and the other big, physical Buffalo defencemen Larry Carriere, Lee Fogolin and Jim Schoenfeld) was through the eyes of my 15 year old self who thought it was awful that Richard, who had missed most of the ’74-75 regular season with a broken ankle (13 points in 15 regular season games) would be hit as often as he was while playing centre between, at times, Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt. It was like I felt every jolt each time Korab slammed him into the boards.
Henri was my late father’s favourite player. We bonded early during many Saturday nights in the mid-60s. My dad was a Gold Gloves boxing champ in the 1940s. I read about what he did in the ring. But in watching Richard and the Habs together, and the clear joy that it brought him, I knew what a true champ looked like.
