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”Who Knew?” #7: Don Cherry
On would be hard pressed to find a media/sports figure who is at the same time more loved and reviled as Don Cherry. Say what one will, the man is nothing short of honest with his views related to hockey and the world at large and has no qualms about facing the backlash for his statements. Behind the public figure, however, is a rich and travelled hockey history that too few have had brought to their attention. With that, let’s take a look into the overshadowed hockey past, and oft examined media presence, of the one and only Donald S. Cherry.
- Full name: Donald Stewart Cherry
- Born February 5, 1934 in Kingston, Ontario
- Was a Defenseman with a left-handed shot
- Played professional hockey for 18 years (1954-1972)
- Played only 1 NHL game, in 1955 during the playoffs for the Boston Bruins
- His younger brother, Dick Cherry, played three seasons in the NHL: 1 for the Bruins, 2 for the Flyers
- His grandfather John Cherry was one of the original members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
- Don has had the nickname “Grapes” since his days in the minors. While it is hard to reach a consensus on where the nickname originated, the most common explanation, and viable given his career as an enforcer, is that it’s derived from the term “Sour Grapes”.
- He won a Memorial Cup (Currently CHL)in 1953 with the Barrie Flyers, four Calder Cups (AHL) (Springfield Indians in 1960; Rochester Americans in 1965, 1966 and 1968), and a Lester Patrick Cup (WHL) with the Vancouver Canucks (1969)
- Cherry, his wife Rose and daughter Cindy moved 53 times over his playing career.
- After retiring in 1972, Cherry worked as a car salesman, construction worker and painter prior to being hired as coach of the Rochester Americans midway through the 72-73 season. He was promoted to coach of the Boston Bruins for the 1975-76 season.
- Was named the AHL Coach of the Year in 73-74 and the NHL Coach of the Year in 75-76.
- Cherry coached the Bruins to consecutive division titles in 1977, 1978 and 1979, making the finals in the first two of those seasons, but losing both times to the Canadiens.
- The 1977-78 Cherry-coached Bruins had an NHL record 11 20-goal scorers on the roster.
- Was fired by the Bruins following the infamous 1979 “Too Many Men” incident where he landed a bench minor in the closing stretch of the third period of Game 7 of the conference finals. Up 3-2 on Montreal, Guy LaFleur scored on the power play to send it to OT where Montreal won the game, sending them to the finals.
- Cherry coached the Colorado Rockies the next season (1979-80), with the team adopting the moto: "Come to the fights and watch a Rockies game break out!"
- Cherry was hired by the CBC as a colour analyst for the playoffs in 1980, with the CBC then hiring him full-time in 1981 as a colour commentator.
- The folks at the CBC pulled Cherry from the commentator position pretty quickly as he was cheering for teams while in the booth (especially the Bruins and Leafs). Rather than fire him, they created the "Coach's Corner" segment. This segment, airing during the first intermission on Hockey Night in Canada, has been a mainstay of the broadcast for the past 28 years.
- Cherry’s original co-host on Caoch’s Corner was Dave Hodge. Hodge was replaced in 1987 by Ron MacLean who has been with Cherry for the past 22 years.
1993-94 Coaches Corner
- Cherry was also an assistant coach for Team Canada at the 1976 Canada Cup and the head coach for Team Canada at the 1981 World Championships.
- Voting by the Canadian public had Cherry ranked 7th in the CBC’s “The Greatest Canadian”. This rank had him ahead of notable Canucks Sir John A MacDonald (first post-confederation Prime Minister), Alexander Graham Bell and Wayne Gretzky.
- His dog, Blue, an English bull terrier, is likely one of the best known dogs in Canada. The original Blue died in 1989. The current Blue is “Blue III”.
- Blue was famous in Boston due to Cherry’s habit of telling reporters that “Blue said to start [player x] tonight…” only for that player to have a stellar game.
- Blue once bit Cherry's wife, after which a friend told him "You're gonna have to get rid of her." Cherry agreed, and responded "Me and Blue'll sure miss her."
- Rose Cherry, Don’s wife, died June 1, 1997, after a battle with liver cancer. The Rose Cherry Home was founded in her memory. It is a hospice in her memory that helps terminally ill children and their families.
- He once recorded a techno song called “Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Techno” with BKS, a Toronto group fronted by Chris Sheppard. The video was voted “Worst of 1993”, but sold over 550,000 copies. Proceeds were donated to the Children’s Wish Foundation.
- Has two well known “mantasies” in the hockey world: Bobby Orr and Doug Gilmour (Cries for one, kisses the other)
- He has his own language! Well, not exactly, but suffice it to say that he embraces his inability to pronounce certain words and names! Some better known examples of his name-mangling include Yammie Yagger (for Jaromir Jagr), Pat Roy (pronounced as you would Roy Rogers for Patrick Roy), Keith Tay-chuck (for Keith Tkachuk) and Tie Dah-me (for Tie Domi).
- He has run a chain of successful restaurants across Canada for the past 25 years (Don Cherry’s Sports Grill/Don Cherry’s Grapevine).
- Cherry is an ardent and vocal supporter of the Canadian military, always passing on some words to those serving during the Coach’s Corner segment and running tributes to those who have fallen in the line of duty when the unfortunate event occurs. The sincerity and appreciation in the man’s voice and words when speaking to and about these men and women is quite evident:
- A recent military tribute night by the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL saw the team donning jerseys modeled after one of Cherry’s suits:
- He also has a well documented love of crazy suits. Check out Sean Leahy’s Top 10 favourites here, then take a walk with him as he gets one made with Rick Mercer:
Making A suit with Don Cherry (from “The Mercer Report”)
As has always been the case with Don, sometimes it’s best just to let him speak for himself, so here are some assorted video clips of the man in his element: talking!
Don Cherry & Scott Thompson from “Kids in the Hall” (Some may find offensive so open at your own risk!)
Gretzky vs Sykes
Don Defending the 1987 World Junior Team
Cherry Calls Out Clutterbuck (or is it “Buttercup”?)
Remember to visit us at www.hockeyden.net and get details on how YOU could be our winner of a 2010 SIDNEY CROSBY TEAM CANADA OLYMPICS JERSEY!!! Contest runs from now until February 14, 2010, so enter now and often!!! Capture The Passion with HockeyDen.net!!
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