Discovering that an NHL Pro Was a Family Member
Hockey author Kevin Shea on his new book, 'Jack and the Box'
Following my father's death in 1991, I discovered a simple locked box that had been my dad’s when he was young.
I pried the hinges off the back and found it filled with newspaper clippings involving the Toronto Maple Leafs of the 1940s.
Wanting to find out more about my father’s favorite team and players, I found that one player came up more often than the others. Although I knew the team’s history quite well, the name of Jack McLean was not familiar to me. He was clearly my dad’s favorite player.
Thus began a journey over several years to find out everything I could about McLean. Many contributed stories and information about him, but no one seemed to know if he was still alive, and if he was, where he was living.
The search concluded when I discovered that if Jack McLean was alive, he was living in Ottawa, Canada.
I called every configuration of Jack McLean in the phonebook – Jack McLean, John McLean, J. McLean – and finally happened onto a man who, when asked if he was the Jack McLean who had played hockey with the Toronto Maple Leafs, crustily responded, “Who wants to know?”
Through the course of the conversation, a startling surprise was revealed: Jack McLean was, in fact, my father’s cousin!
Because of an unfortunate incident, the family had split years before and Jack’s name had never been mentioned by my father or his siblings. But I now knew why he was my father’s favourite player!
Subsequent phone calls segued into in-person visits over the months, and the curmudgeonly man from the first telephone call warmed up to me substantially over time, resulting in a wonderful friendship with the erstwhile hockey hero.
I had done my homework, and it took Jack back to some very pleasant memories. He made his NHL debut in November 1942 as a 19-year-old university student.
In his first game as a Maple Leaf, Jack had one of the most productive debuts in franchise history, scoring one goal and adding two assists. In the playoffs that followed his rookie season, Jack scored the winning goal in the fourth overtime period of a semi-final contest versus the Detroit Red Wings.
To this day, more than 70 years later, Jack is the youngest Maple Leaf to score an overtime playoff goal.
In his third season with Toronto, Jack and the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup. His name was engraved on hockey’s greatest trophy along with names like Hall of Famers Ted Kennedy, Babe Pratt, coach Hap Day and Conn Smythe, the managing director of the Maple Leafs.
And then, his NHL career came to an end. Between injuries that had curtailed his career and the boys returning from serving their country following the conclusion of World War II, there was no room for the speedy winger on the Maple Leafs roster.
Jack McLean’s NHL career came to a conclusion at the age of 22.
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When Jack was young, he promised his dying mother that he would become an engineer. Most Canadian boys dreamed of one day playing for the Maple Leafs like the heroes they heard described on radio broadcasts of ‘Hockey Night in Canada.’ But Jack wasn’t one.
Despite his hockey ability, starring as a junior, his goal was not to play in the NHL but to get an engineering degree and a job as an engineer. Playing with the Maple Leafs gave him the money to attend the University of Toronto.
There was one problem. School took precedence over hockey, so Jack was seldom able to practice with the Maple Leafs as he was in class. And between wartime restrictions and school, Jack was almost never able to cross the border to play road games with the Leafs.
But because the Second World War depleted the rosters of all of the NHL teams, the Maple Leafs had to live with the restrictions they were faced with because of Jack and a couple of other players on the team who were also attending university.
Having found Jack McLean, and as he opened up more and more to me, I lapped up every bit of information I could find about the Toronto Maple Leafs of the 1940s as well as about my family.
The conversations were lively and informative, and as the months went by, Jack and I had forged a most wonderful friendship, despite the 40-year-difference in our ages.
While working at the Hockey Hall of Fame, in 2002, the Maple Leafs approached me to find out when rings were first awarded to players who had played on Stanley Cup-winning teams.
Their goal was to award Stanley Cup rings to players who had never received one. I discovered that rings were first awarded to Maple Leaf players after the Stanley Cup championship of 1948. This meant that there were players from the championships of 1932, 1942, 1945 and 1947 who had never been awarded a Stanley Cup ring.
My research found that there were nine surviving players who would receive their long-awaited reward. Jack McLean was one of them.
Jack and I spoke so often, not just about hockey and family but about life, and as the weeks went by, Jack became more insistent about me coming to visit him. I promised him I would, but as happens, work delayed my intended trip.'
I visited Jack again on October 18, 2003, but not the way I had planned. On that day, I attended Jack’s funeral. He had passed away peacefully on October 14.
A few years later, I received a couriered package at my home. Inside was a small box, and inside the box was Jack’s Stanley Cup ring.
A letter enclosed said, “You made our father very happy during the final years of his life. We decided as a family that you should have Dad’s ring. No one deserved it more than you.” It was signed by Jack’s three children.
This is the story I have wanted to tell for 20 years!
‘Jack and the Box’ is Kevin Shea’s 21st hockey book and will soon be available on Amazon. Currently, it’s available from the author at kevinsheahockey.com
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