Don Cherry (hockey)
Donald Stewart Cherry (born
February 5,
1934 in
Kingston, Ontario,
Canada) is a
hockey commentator for
CBC Television. Nicknamed "Grapes," Cherry co-hosts the "Coach's Corner" intermission segment (with
Ron MacLean) on the long running
Canadian sports program
Hockey Night in Canada.
Besides playing and coaching hockey, he is also well-known as an author, syndicated
radio commentator for
The Fan Radio Network, creator of the
Rock'em Sock'em Hockey video series, and celebrity endorser. Many consider him to be a Canadian cultural icon.
Don Cherry was born in
Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He dropped out of high school after Grade Nine.[
1] He played
junior hockey with the
Barrie Flyers and the
Windsor Spitfires in the
Ontario Hockey Association. Cherry won the
Memorial Cup as a defenseman with Barrie in 1953. Cherry had a long playing career in the
American Hockey League for 15 seasons, and played one game for the
NHL's
Boston Bruins in
1955, when he was called up during the playoffs. According to Cherry, a baseball injury suffered in the off season kept him from making the
NHL.[
2] He retired from hockey in 1970.[
3]Cherry's younger brother,
Dick Cherry is also a hockey player. He played 145 NHL games, 6 with the Boston Bruins and 139 with the
Philadelphia Flyers.
After the end of his playing career, Cherry struggled for a time as a Cadillac salesman and a construction worker. In the middle of the
1971-
1972 season, Cherry became the coach of the AHL's
Rochester Americans. After a successful three-year stint in Rochester, during which he received the award for being the AHL coach of the year, he was promoted to the NHL as head coach of the
Boston Bruins.
Cherry quickly developed a reputation for being an eccentric, flamboyant coach who strongly encouraged physical play among his players. It has been alleged he modeled the Bruins' playing style after that of his dog, Blue, a feisty bull terrier. This approach worked as the Bruins, known as the "lunch-pail gang", were one of the NHL's best teams during the latter half of the
1970s, capturing the division title three times from 1977-79. The Bruins were able to defeat the rough
Philadelphia Flyers twice in the playoffs under Cherry's tenure. The Bruins made the
Stanley Cup finals twice, both times losing to their arch-rivals, the
Montreal Canadiens, in both 1977 and 1978. Cherry won the
Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in
1976.
Cherry, who had an uneasy relationship with Bruins General Manager
Harry Sinden, was fired by the Bruins after a critical coaching mistake during a
1979 playoff series against the Canadiens. Up by a goal with less than two minutes left in the seventh game, the Bruins were penalized for having too many men on the ice. The Canadiens scored the tying goal on the subsequent
power play and ultimately won the game in overtime. Montreal went on to defeat the
New York Rangers for their fourth straight Cup title.
Cherry went on to coach the
Colorado Rockies the following season, but was unceremoniously dumped after one year due to a feud with the Rockies general manager. Cherry's hiring as head coach immediately rejuvenated the ailing franchise's fortunes and many believe that if Cherry had stayed on, the Rockies would have remained in
Denver (they instead relocated to
New Jersey). However, his outspokenness, plus General Manager
Ray Miron's refusal to sign a capable goaltender beyond
Hardy Astrom, hampered Cherry's efforts. Of course, Cherry didn't help things when, after watching a player ignore him and refuse to come off during a game, he reached over the boards and strangled the offending player. His NHL career and the Rockies ended on a
positive note when they crushed the
Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0 in the final game of the season. Years later, while commentating during the 2001 Stanley Cup final between the
Colorado Avalanche and
New Jersey Devils, Cherry recalled the experience of the Rockies' last game where he was wearing cowboy boots and after it ended, the Rockies players formed two lines so he could depart the ice between them while acknowledging the cheers of the crowd.
Cherry is the part-owner and the former coach of the
Ontario Hockey League's
Mississauga IceDogs. The IceDogs' first three seasons were difficult ones with the team winning a total of 16 games. Cherry took over coaching duties in the fourth season. During Cherry's one season as head coach of the Mississauga IceDogs, the team managed 11 victories (only a slight improvement) and failed to make the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
Broadcasting
|
Ron MacLean and Don Cherry from May 31, 1987. |
Following his stint with the Rockies, Cherry became a commentator for
Hockey Night in Canada on the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Since the mid-
1980s he has regularly appeared on
Coach's Corner, an intermission segment on Hockey Night In Canada, with
Ron MacLean. For several years he also hosted his own half-hour interview show,
Don Cherry's Grapevine, which began on Hamilton's
CHCH-TV in the 1980s before moving to
TSN. His loud, outspoken nature became
notorious, and his shows are described as "game analysis, cultural commentary and playful parrying with host Ron MacLean."[
4]
Cherry's commentary is usually peppered with catch phrases like "All you kids out there...," unrestrained affection for his favorite players (including "Dougie," Kingston native
Doug Gilmour, whom Cherry kissed on-air in a famous TV gag), and overall
political incorrectness. Another trademark is his
bull terrier Blue, originally a gift from the Bruins players.Also, some of the advice he gives is unchanging from year to year.
"Grapes" tends to have favorites among his many tidbits of advice. During the late nineties, virtually every week he would spend time exhorting the evils of placing one's stick in the line of fire (it inevitably caused deflections, and sometimes goals). Two other perennial favorites are the folly of the touch icing, and (several years ago) bemoaning the extremely sensitive rules about crease violation. He also spends time extolling true grit, such as when, in the 2000 playoff campaign, after sustaining a bone-shattering slapshot from
Al MacInnis, a Phoenix winger crawled off the ice so that another could take his place.
Cherry returned to the news in
May 2004 amid rumours that CBC would terminate his contract for
Hockey Night in Canada. However, he re-signed with the network in July.
Branching out from his
Hockey Night in Canada duties, Cherry began to release a series of videos called
Don Cherry's Rock'em Sock'em Hockey in
1989. The 15th anniversary video was released in
2003, with a 'Best Of' released in
2005.
Cherry has returned to the "Coach's Corner" for the 2005-2006 NHL season - without the seven-second delay.
Over his career on television, Cherry has been described as "racially insensitive and nonsensical",[
5] and a "xenophobic clown".[
6]
Cherry has a strong dislike of the 'European style' hockey, and has often made insults of
French Canadian hockey players on his show; blaming them for bringing
diving,
high-sticking and the introduction of
visors into the league, while taking the jobs of "good-old Canadian boys".[
7] On the subject of visors, Cherry is very outspoken. In January,
2004, saying on air: "most of the guys that wear them are Europeans and French guys." [
8]This statement triggered an investigation by the federal
Official Languages Commissioner, and protests by French-Canadians. CBC consequently imposed a seven-second delay on
Hockey Night in Canada. He was somewhat vindicated when a study was published that showed the majority of visor users in the NHL were indeed French-Canadians and Europeans.[
9]
During the
2002 Winter Olympics, the Russian delegation was allegedly threatening to withdraw because of perceived bias against them when their athletes tested positive for illegal drugs. On live TV, Cherry said "I've been trying to tell you people for so long about the Russians, what kind of people they are, and you just love them in Canada with your multiculturalism. They're quitters and evidently they take a lot of drugs, too." After some outrage in the Russian-Canadian community, he was forced to apologize. Some critics still thought that apology wasn't sufficient, even though some others, such as
Toronto Maple Leafs player
Alexander Mogilny (who skipped playing in the Olympics), dismissed Cherry's comments as insignificant, calling him a "clown".
After questionable gestures on the part of
Ilya Kovalchuk, Cherry fumed: "Someone should have broken [Kovalchuk's arm], but they didn't."[
10][
11]
In
2003 Cherry made controversial comments on his CBC segment in support of the
2003 invasion of Iraq. On an American radio program (
The Jim Rome Show) the following week, he lashed out at CBC management for being anti-American.
In October, 2004, the CBC program
The Greatest Canadian revealed that its 'top ten' viewer-selected great Canadians included Cherry. He joined such greats as
John A. Macdonald,
Frederick Banting,
Terry Fox,
Tommy Douglas, and
Wayne Gretzky. Cherry himself remarked that he was inclined to vote for Macdonald, who during his lifetime also resided in Kingston. Don Cherry finished seventh in the final tally.
As part of his fame, Cherry has also branched out into some acting roles. He was cast as Jake Nelson in the television series
Power Play. Nelson was the coach of the team playing the
Hamilton Steelheads in the playoffs during the first season. Also, he and Ron MacLean provided voices for themselves in the animated television series
Zeroman, which starred
Leslie Nielsen. His voice was also used in Disney's animated feature
The Wild, as a penguin curling broadcaster. He also appeared alongside the
Trailer Park Boys in
The Tragically Hip's video "The Darkest One".
In 1985, the first of a chain of franchised sports bars/restaurants bearing Don Cherry's name was opened in Hamilton. Cherry started as a partner in the operation and has more recently licensed his name to the chain without holding a significant ownership stake in the company. "Don Cherry's Sports Grill" has locations in Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Alberta. [
12] As one of Canada's most recognizable and trusted faces (at least in some circles), Cherry has been an in-demand celebrity endorser for consumer products.
Don Cherry has lent his considerable personae to selected charitable causes, most significantly, organ donation awareness.
Don Cherry in recent years has become one of the biggest public personalities to endorse Cold FX cold medication. While both parties will not discuss his salary, it is said to be more than he is paid by the CBC.
In 1997, Cherry's wife, Rose (whose name motivated Cherry to always wear a rose on his lapel) died of
cancer. Cherry contributed in developing
Rose Cherry's Home for Kids in
Milton, Ontario.[
13]
In 1992, Don Cherry lent his voice to the charity song "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Techno" for Canadian Techno group BKS
On
November 14,
2005, Don Cherry was granted honorary membership of the
Police Association of Ontario. Once an aspiring police officer, Cherry has been a longtime supporter of the police services. In his own words, "This is the best thing I've ever had."
* Don's father, Del Cherry, served in the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery during the
First World War.
* Don Cherry played
tenor drum in a civilian
pipe and drum band in Ontario.
* Cherry has jokingly endorsed
Gilles Duceppe's
Bloc Québécois party, both for the leader's suit, and for the party's ultimate goals.
* Before working as a coach, Cherry had difficulty finding work, and was employed as a painter, making $2 an hour.
*
List of NHL head coaches*
List of NHL one game wonders*
CBC Sports - In Depth: Don Cherry*
CBC Digital Archives - Don Cherry: A Coach, A Commentator, A Controversy - including videos of television disputes
