Fischler - New York Rangers

2007, 2015 by Stan Fischler

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo credit AP Images

ISBN: 978-1-61321-825-9

Ebook ISBN 978-1-61321-845-7

Printed in China

SOME OF MY FAVORITE RANGERS NEVER MADE THE HALL OF FAME NOR THE NHL ALL-STAR TEAM, YET THEY PROVIDED ME WITH THRILLS AND FRIENDSHIP. AT THE VERY TOP OF MY LIST IS ALDO GUIDOLIN, WHOM I MET IN 1954-55 WHEN I WORKED IN THE BLUESHIRTS PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT. ALTHOUGH HE ONLY PLAYED A FEW BRIEF SEASONS IN NEW YORK, ALDO AND I BECAME GOOD FRIENDS AND REMAIN SO TO THIS DAY. THE TWO OF US HAVE A LOT IN COMMON. WE LIKE TO LAUGH, WE ENJOY GOOD HOCKEY AND WE NEVER PARTICULARLY CARED FOR COACH PHIL WATSON; AND THATS THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE HALF-CENTURY.

TO ALDO, THANKS FOR BEING SUCH A GOOD PAL.

STAN FISCHLER

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T alk to the coach of any Stanley Cupwinning team, and hell tell you that success depends on not one player or two, but contributions from everybody on the squad, right down to the twentieth man. The same holds for producing a book of this nature.

It requires extensive research, first-person interviews, the transcription of tapes, and the referencing of previous volumes on the subject.

Without all of these elements, such a book would not be possible. Which brings us to the business of acknowledging all of the good works provided by so many people.

For starters, there were the vital contributions from my office workers: Matt Jackson and Pat McCormack.

The two who orchestrated much of the nitty-gritty so necessary to make the project work defies the highest form of commendation. So Ill settle for a thousand thank-yous for all the help from Rini Krishnan and Joe Kelleher.

Needless to say, all the folks in Rangerville were most cooperative in every way. And that starts at the top with Glen Sather and Tom Renney.

The Blueshirts P.R. department was always there to help, specifically John Rosasco, Ryan Nissan, Lindsay Ganghamer, and Michael Rappaport. If anyone was forgotten, please accept my apologies.

Many, many other authors have written extensively and expertly on the Rangers and their history. In our research, we found many useful items that helped us in our writing. The following books were of special help:

Madison Square Garden: A Century of Sport and Spectacle on the Worlds Most Versatile Stage, by Zander Hollander; Madison Square Garden, 100 Years of History, by Joseph Durso; When the Rangers Were Young, by Frank Boucher; A Year On Ice, The 1970 New York Rangers Roller Coaster Season, by Gerald Eskenazi; Broadway Blues, New York Rangers Twelve-Month Tour of Hockey Hell, by Frank Brown; The Rangers, by Brian McFarlane; New York Rangers Seventy-Five Years, by John Halligan; Tales from the Rangers Locker Room, by Gilles Villemure and Mike Shalin; New York Rangers: Millennium Memories, Coordinating Editor: Jeffrey Jay Ellish; Game of My Life, by John Halligan and John Kreiser; The New York Rangers: Broadways Longest-Running Hit, by John Kreiser and Lou Friedman; Losing the Edge: The Rise and Fall of the Stanley Cup Champion New York Rangers by Barry Meisel; and Hockey Stars Today and Yesterday, by Ron McAllister.

Old pal Ira Gitler, as well as good friends Hal and Randy Gelman, provided many insights, as did Mike Cosby, whose father, Gerry, was a pioneer in The Game. Michael was kind enough to turn his photo library over to us for use in the book.

Angela Sarro loaned us photos from her library launched by her late husband, Tom, a good friend, a marvelous historian, and a passionate Rangers fan throughout his life.

And naturally, my wife, Shirley, always was there to help and advise on the project, even as it impinged on family space and time. If any others were omittedand they probably wereour apologies.

Thanks also to a long-ago editor of mine by the name of Peter Weed. I dont know where he is right now, but this wonderful hockey man once commissioned me to write a book called Those Were the Days, which was filled with oral histories including several Rangers, some of whose commentary has been included in this book.

I also had the good fortune of ghosting the autobiographies of Brad Park, Play The Man, and Bemie Geoffrion, Boomer, and co-authoring (with Hal Bock) Rod Gilberts work, GoalMy Life On Ice. I relied on each of these for anecdotes and oral history.

At the expense of issuing the traditional bromidelast but not leasta ton of thanks goes to our thoughtful, insightful, and tremendously helpful editor, Julie Ganz, whose patience and fortitude helped make this possible.

INTRODUCTION

I went to my first Rangers game at the age of 10 in 1942. The Blackhawks were in town and the rain was coming down in torrents. But my father decided that we would make the trip from our Williamsburg, Brooklyn, home, and so we landed in the ninth row of the side balcony at the old Madison Square Garden, which was located on Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets.

Since the old Garden was originally built for boxing, the side balcony literally overhung the ice, and that was no fun for many fans.

If you sat in any row beyond the second one, you couldnt see the sideboards directly below or about five feet of ice along the boards.

But that didnt curb my enthusiasm, and by the 1946-47 season, I had become a Rangers season ticket holderonly this time in the end balcony, which afforded a great view of the ice.

As a matter of fact, I still have an original stub of my MSG end balcony seat: October 30, 1949, Section 337, Row F, Seat 6. The ticket cost a dollar and a quarter.

And I loved every game of it.

But my real love affair with the Rangers didnt begin until the 1952-53 season. By that time I was going to Brooklyn College and was looking to get a job in hockey somehow, anyway I could.

Luckily, the clubs publicist, Herb Goren, had just organized a Rangers Fan Club, which I eagerly joined.

The club actually became a springboard for my career. Along with RFC members Jerry Weiss and Fred Meier, I started the club newspaper, the Rangers Review. This gave us entree to interview players, the first of whom was Ed Kullman, who Freddie and I cross-examined in his suite at the Belvedere Hotel.

I worked hard for the fan club, and in 1954, after graduating from college, Goren recognized my potential and hired me as his assistant.

To this daymore than a half-century laterI can assure you that Herbs phone call telling me I would be working for the Broadway Blueshirts was one of the greatest thrills of my life.

Although that 1954-55 edition of the Rangers didnt make the playoffs, it provided me with enough experience to get a job as a full-time writer with the New York Journal-American, which was then the leading evening newspaper in New York.