MY CAREER MEMORIES - #2 THE BEGINNING!

After traveling 2,300 miles from my Massachusetts home to Billings, Montana to start my sports management career back in August of 1977, I settled into a routine. It helped a lot that I quickly found two roommates from our hockey team front office (Joe Arling, our Asst. GM and Craig Gattinger, Head Trainer). Together we shared a large three-bed...room house that was tagged the Bachelors III Pad by everyone connected with the Billings Bighorns. Joe took on the task of being the household cook and prepared every meal; Craig did the laundry (a task he did for the hockey team as well) while I was “clean-up boy” after each meal and to keep the place tidy.

I was lucky in that I had the house to myself mostly as the other two traveled with the team on all the road trips and were busy with hockey schools and camps. Back then it seemed like I was invited out to dinner every night of the week when the team headed out of town. Billings was the perfect city for me to begin one’s career as the people everywhere adopted and spoiled me continually!

My fondest memory living in Billings was seeing so much wildlife roaming freely in-and-around the area such as Antelope, Moose, and Buffalo. We were also just 90 miles away from the famed Yellowstone National Park so there was as much scenic beauty surrounding us as there were critters from the animal kingdom. I’ve always loved just the simplest of little things in my life and one of them in Billings was the times I visited a place called “Pioneer Park.” It was such a beautiful park where families gathered for picnics or swimming. I used to make my way there every Sunday morning during our off-days. I would get up early. Pick up a Billings Gazette newspaper and pedal my bike over to the park where I would find a grassy area filled with sun and just sit on a blanket and read … and usually be accompanied by a Bighorn Sheep that would make its way over to me (looking for food handouts obviously) and eventually just lay down beside me.

Following my second year in Billings in 1978 at age 23, the Minnesota North Stars management team of Lou Nanne and Glen Sonmor, whom I had gotten to know from their visits to our games, offered me a job to work with their NHL franchise, a position that would see me assist the Public Relations Department. I accepted the position and flew to the Twin Cities to live out my ultimate dream – working in the Big Leagues. I remember when Lou gave me a contract for $10,000, I was on Cloud Nine!! The North Stars even put me up at the Bloomington (MN) Marriott hotel for an entire week until I found an apartment. It was a good thing that I did not make any further living arrangements because as I got near the end of my first week of work in the NHL, I just did not feel comfortable with my decision. I felt overwhelmed and had a change of heart. I shocked a lot of people in the hockey world and made up my mind to leave the North Stars and was going to head back to Billings, Montana where I enjoyed my job.

I felt that I still had to grow so much as a person and needed to experience much more about the business before I could see me working in the NHL. Bob Strumm, my boss in Billings, gladly accepted me back but told me that he was moving to Regina, Saskatchewan to take over the Regina Pats Club, one of the most storied teams in the Western Canada Hockey League. Bob asked if I would come with him? He was going to be the General Manager for the club and I would be promoted to be the team’s Office Manager. I didn’t even hesitate with my answer … it was YES! Bob quickly had our league office apply to get me legally approved to work in Canada. I was given clearance by Canadian Immigration to join the Pats so the next step was helping my boss and his wife pack up their Billings home and get things read for the move.

I will never forget the day when Bob and I drove out of Billings. I was now 24-years-old and silently cried my eyes out because I loved the people and the city so much and was embarking on a move to a foreign country that just didn’t seem right? It hit me hardest when we reached the US/Canadian Border and underwent a rigorous going-over by the immigration officers. When they finally stamped my passport to proceed into Canada, we got back into Bob’s vehicle and drove into the Province of Alberta and headed to my new home in Saskatchewan. I remember quickly turning my head around to say GOOD BYE to my homeland and started to ball my eyes out when I saw the big sign that welcome the people on the other side of the roadway to THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and with our Red, White & Blue Flag waving at them. I knew now there was no turning back.

For this new venture, Bob and his wife, Marianna had asked me to live with them and their baby girl, Brianna. They had purchased a large five bedroom home in Regina and were willing to let me rent out the entire downstairs for myself. Marianna spoiled me and cooked for me. But Bob quickly did lay the law down on me and was still kicking me in the butt over the fact that I did not have a drivers license and that I was going to ride my bicycle to work every day in the cold Saskatchewan winters. I remember him telling his wife that she was not to drive me to work no matter the outside conditions! Me, being so stubborn, rode it everyday which would eventually become a story the city would talk about. We lived six miles away from the Regina Agridome, my new hockey home (or 9.65 kilometers to be exact. I found out that Canada used the metric system, which I did not understand one bit!) My legs were in great shape back then and definitely got plenty of exercise daily!

Moving to Canada was a great experience for me even though I felt isolated from my native country. But there was no doubt I was in “Hockey Country!” Customs, obviously were so different. People knew I was a foreigner just by the way I wrote and spoke. In Canada, the letter “Z”, for example is spoken as ZED. I remember when I had to manually phone the Canadian Press after every one of our home and road games to recap the goals and penalties so they could get the information into their next day newspaper editions around the country (yes, that is how archaic our world was back then in the 70’s). We had a player at the time on our Regina roster who had the letter “Z” in it (Alvin Szott) and anytime I had to mention and spell out his name, I would tell the transcribing CP person the following … S … ZED … O … T … T.

Writing press releases was equally an adjustment for me as words like “Center” was CENTRE … “Honor” was written as HONOUR … Or when I had to order team decals for merchandise. I found that Canadians pronounced that word as DECK-uls. And then I had to ditch the American expression of “Huh” when I didn’t understand the person’s thought process and adapt to my new country’s well known “EH!”

The year I worked in Regina was, in many ways, my version of earning a college degree. It made me grow up. It made me think for myself and to make decisions on my own. It was the perfect tonic (a word the locals used when asking for a soda!) With the Pats Hockey team, I was the voice of the office for any and everything the fans needed. I took care of season ticket holders, media, scouts, public relations and game operations. We took over a last place team that seemingly the local fans divorced but before the 1979-80 season came to an end, we were selling out at 6,000 people a game and our team captured the Western Hockey League Championship!

Our Regina roster was loaded with talent and because we had three players ranked as possible No 1 draft picks, pretty much every National Hockey League team had their scouts camped out at our games and my office! Thus, I was being exposed to hundreds of pro hockey people. One, in particular, was Roger Crozier, then the Assistant General Manager for the Washington Capitals. He was in charge of their team’s #1 pick every year so he was a frequent visitor to our games! Little did I know that Roger was scouting me at the time? And so were other NHL teams!

Late into our season, I began to get phone calls from NHL teams inquiring about my interest in working for them. There were five offers as a matter of fact. One came from the famed Montreal Canadiens. One from Wayne Gretzky’s boss in Edmonton (to go work for their farm team in Wichita, Kansas) and there was Roger Crozier’s opportunity to join him as his special assistant in the Nation’s Capital. I was just turning 25 when all of this was taking place.

Before I made a decision, our Regina Pats’ franchise had just won the rights to host the Memorial Cup Championship games of Canadian Junior Hockey! This was quite a spectacle and a tournament that brings in the championship team’s from Ontario, Quebec and Western Canada. I was the person put in charge to organize the entire tournament as well as look after the pro scouts and press coverage. It was an HONOUR for me and a thrill of a lifetime. I met the entire hockey world during this week. Our tournament games were broadcast LIVE and in prime time all throughout Canada, it was that big of an event!

Soon afterwards, I accepted the offer to join the Washington Capitals and made plans to depart Canada. But there was one hitch. Roger Crozier was shocked to learn that I had no drivers license so he called me and said “Jim, our offer is off the table unless you show me a valid U.S. Drivers License and I need it done now!” Roger continued on with a heavy voice saying to me, “You’re not driving a bike around Washington, DC and I’m not chauffeuring you either!” So, I made some phone calls to some of my friends in Billings, Montana. I remembered one of our season ticket holders worked at the Motor Vehicles Division and asked if he could get me in right away for lessons and tests. I had to pay for a flight to Billings. I stood at one of our host families for a few days while I took the exams and YES I passed my drivers test! I DID!! (I will not confess as to how I did get my license but it was REAL!) So, I photocopied my license and mailed it to Roger Crozier in Washington. He then phoned me in a few days afterwards when receiving the mail and said: “Jimmmmmy, Jimmmmmmy Boyyyyyyy you are hired!!! Come on down and get your _ss to Washington!!” He sent me my one-way airline ticket and I flew off to Washington’s National Airport to begin my next chapter … working in the National Hockey League!

I quickly phoned my Mom in New Bedford with tears in my voice to say that her son made it to the Big Leagues! And it came within three years after I had left home to pursue my Dream to work in the NHL!

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