Jim Murray - Bearcat Murray: From Ol Potlicker to Calgary Flames Legend

I really cannot thank my familymy better half, Shirley; oldest son, Allan, and his boys, Jesse and James; youngest son, Danny; his wife, Michele; and their son, Spencerenough for supporting me through the years and being such a big part of this story.

Bearcat

Contents

Foreword by Lanny McDonald

I WAS 15 YEARS old the first time I met the larger-than-life energy that is Bearcat Murray.

I was a bright-eyed teenager walking into the Calgary Centennials training camp in the summer of 1968, and I declared to the trainer, Hi, my name is Lanny, and Im here to play hockey.

With a strong handshake, a signature smile, and a mischievous twinkle in his eye, Bearcat laughed and said, Well, good for you, kid!

Just like that, we were instant friends.

My story is not uniquetheres not a player whos worked with ol Pot who doesnt have that same instant connection.

It was always rewarding through my junior career with the Medicine Hat Tigers to visit with Bearcat after the games in Calgary; and when I was traded to the Flames years later, he made it an even warmer homecoming.

With the stature of a jockey but the size of a lion, Bears energy could only be described as infectious, vibrating. He had this way of pumping you up just by being around him. A man who could never sit still, he played every shift, with every player, bobbing and swaying on the bench; the seventh man on the ice.

His celebrity status preceded him in places like Boston or New York, where he was the only NHL trainer to my knowledge to have his own fan club. Groups of fans would show up in his likenessbald head and big moustacheand chant his name from the stands. We would rib him in the dressing room for being the real superstar on the team, but he loved it.

In the same sentence, Bear could be defined as both old-school and ahead of his time. He inconspicuously saw and heard everything and responded accordingly.

He knew the big picture, the relationships, every side conversation, the quiet self-doubt and the attempts to hide painand somehow knew how to show up for every member of the team in exactly the way we needed. He knew our strengths better than we did, and quietly bolstered our weaknesses with words of encouragement or a kick in the butt to get your chin up, if thats what was required.

Bearcat epitomized the mark of any good trainerthe glue that holds it all together.

He never missed a thing.

I owe Bearcat a lot for being the kind of trainer he wasa father figure, a mentor, a confidant, and my biggest advocate and cheerleader, right up until my final game.

I caught his quiet eyes peeking around the corner when I learned I would play in Game 6 in the 1989 Final, and heard him scurry off and let out a signature YIP! in the dressing room. We won the Stanley Cup that night. He told us we would months before. Of course he believed it before we did.

One of my most cherished photos from that night is of me lifting Bearcat off his feet on the ice, our joy pouring out of the picture. I remember yelling: We did it!

We

Im confident it wouldnt have happened without him.

Lanny McDonald played more than 1,100 games in the NHL and co-captained the Calgary Flames to a Stanely Cup championship in 198889. McDonald was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992 and now serves as the chair of its board of directors.

Introduction by George Johnson

THE EXACT YEAR HAS been mislaid somewhere in the mists of legend.

The details, happily, have not.

One memorable night down at the Saddledome, his Highness Prince Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi II, then heir to the throne of the Principality of Monaco and only son of Hollywood royalty Grace Kelly, is visiting Calgary in order to train at the Olympic bobsleigh track at Canada Olympic Park.

He waits patiently to be introduced to the local celebrity.

The local celebrity, the short, balding man with a thick bushy moustache and twinkling eyes, is busy shaking hands. Lots of hands.

In the confusion, he doesnt quite catch the name of his famous guest.

Something, obviously, has gotten lost in translation.

How ya doin? Names Bearcat Murray, the local celebrity blurts, extending his hand to an astonished prince.

Ive got friends in Prince Albert. Colder n hell up there!

Now a spry 88 and every iota as famous, as recognizable, as he was those countless game nights down through all those winters inside the rustic old Calgary Corral followed by the state-of-the-art Saddledome and other arenas far afield, trainer Jim Bearcat Murray has carved for himself an extraordinary niche.

Hes just one of those characters, those unforgettable personalities, that youre lucky enough to find in the game, praised longtime Flames play-by-play man Peter Maher. There are so many Bearcat stories, you lose track; you dont know where to begin.

Murray himself continues to be confounded by all the fuss.

Its incredible, he concedes. I dont understand it. I go to Calgary, to a function, I walk in, and for a lot of people its 1989 again. Everybody wants to shake my hand. Everybody knows me. I dont know why. I just shake my head. My dad, if he was here, would say: Jimmy, its justmind-boggling! That was one of his favourite sayings. I can still hear him say it: mind-boggling!

But it is. People still recognize you, make a fuss over you. I truly, truly do not understand why. But its heart-warming, let me tell you.

Ive been one lucky little potlicker.

Bearcat sharpened his first skate at age 12. Rode as a jockey on the bush-league thoroughbred circuit. Wildcatted in the oil fields and, launching himself into the career that would take him to places and moments he could never have dreamt of, worked as a self-taught trainer for the junior Centennials and Wranglers, the World Hockey Associations Calgary Cowboys, and the Canadian Football Leagues Calgary Stampeders.

Most famously, in 15 years tending bruises, cuts, missing teeth, and other assorted injuries for the big team in the oil-and-gas town, the NHLs Calgary Flames, he transformed himself without any conscious effort into an authentic legend around the city, the province, an instantly recognizable figure throughout the entire NHL, forever at the ready with a smile or handy with a yarn.

Hes one of those rare people who instantly makes others feel good, feel comfortable, feel somehow a part of it all.

Also known far and wide as Lil Potlicker, hes the only trainer in pro sports who can claim his own fan clubtwo, to be exact, one chapter in Boston, the other in Montrealcomplete with T-shirts and club stationery.

He is the face of Calgary, lauds former Calgary Wrangler and Calgary Flame Kelly Kisio. Even around the whole of Alberta. I doubt you could find anyoneanyonewho has anything to do with sports around this province who doesnt know who Bearcat is.

When Murray was inducted into the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers Society (PHATS) and Society of Professional Hockey Equipment Managers (SPHEM) back in 2008, Flames retired winger Jim Peplinski summed up the mans jack-of-all-trades persona quite nicely.

I cant imagine hell stop here, Calgarys long-time co-captain marvelled. Id think this is just the first of many Halls of Fame hell be inducted into.

Theres the Trainers Hall of Fame.

The Jockey Hall of Fame.

The Bus Driving Hall of Fame.

The Psychologists Hall of Fame.

The Comedians Hall of Fame

The Potlickers Hall of Fame.