Montreal media gather to pay tribute to one of their own — and share stories
A moment of silence for Red Fisher before Saturday night’s game between the Canadiens and Boston Bruins at the Bell Centre was interrupted early on by one fan who decided to start clapping.
It wasn’t disrespectful — it was a sign of just how much the man hockey fans knew as Red, or Mr. Fisher, meant to the city of Montreal.
It would be interesting to know how old that fan is because Fisher, who died Friday at age 91, touched people of all ages during the 57 years he covered the Canadiens, starting on March 17, 1955. That was the night of the Richard Riot — what a way to begin a career.
Fisher would go on to cover 17 of the Canadiens’ 24 Stanley Cup championships and write about 15 Hall of Famers. Amazing!
There will never be another Red Fisher.
Before the game, members of the Montreal media gathered in the Jacques Beauchamp Lounge at the Bell Centre for their own moment of silence and to toast Fisher’s memory with a shot of Chivas — his favourite drink. The event was organized by Sportsnet’s Eric Engels, who is 34 and spoke afterward about what Red — or Mr. Fisher as he called him — meant to him while growing up in Montreal.
“The first time I came here (to the Bell Centre to cover a game) I was not shy and I was not nervous around people,” Engels recalled. “But he was a bit of an intimidating figure. And the first thing I said to him was somewhat awkward: ‘Hi, Mr. Fisher, it’s an honour and a pleasure to meet you and I’ve been reading your work forever.’ He looked at me and said: ‘Well, I’ve been writing it forever.’ And then he laughed … it was one of the only times in the subsequent years that he was here up until 2012 (when he retired) that I really saw him smile. But he clearly had a softer side and it came out, unfortunately, in the saddest of circumstances.
“I’ll never forget the feeling I had reading about Bob Gainey losing his daughter,” Engels added about the tragic death of Laura Gainey in 2006 at age 25. “I think that was tragic for everybody in Montreal. But what Red wrote about her that day … I remember his line: ‘I weep for my friend today.’ That showed what kind of emotional reach he had with his words. Arpon Basu (the editor-in-chief of The Athletic Montreal website) had a great comment on Twitter about how we grew up having breakfast with Red every morning. People like Arpon and myself, from a younger generation, we didn’t get to know him all that well because it wasn’t our place to get to know him that well. But we did know him intimately through his writing and it left a major impact on me and a lot of other people.”
One of those people is Canadiens owner Geoff Molson, who joined the media in raising a toast to Fisher.
“Red has been through three generations of our family,” Molson said. “My great uncle Hartland knew him well and my father knew him well and when I got here (as owner in 2009) I started to get to know him a little bit and then he retired. But something I’ll always remember is how honest he was. You could always trust what he was going to write and take it for what it was and appreciate it.”
Dick Irvin, the legendary playby-play voice of the Canadiens, made a rare appearance at the Bell Centre Saturday night to raise a glass to his great and good friend.
“I’m going to get choked up here,” Irvin, 85, said when asked what Red meant to him.
Irvin then told the story about how Red was the analyst for the very first NHL game he called on radio in 1969 when the Canadiens visited the California Golden Seals.
“Red was with me from the beginning,” Irvin said with tears forming in his eyes.
Michael Farber talked about how when Fisher was sports editor of The Gazette he opened doors for him in the hockey world as a sports columnist.
“Red vouched for me,” Farber said. “I was OK with him, so hockey people said: ‘If Red think he’s OK, he’s OK.”
One of the reasons Fisher decided to retire in 2012 was to spend more time with his wife, Tillie, who was having health issues. I was The Gazette sports editor at the time and still remember Red saying to me: “She took care of me for over 50 years, now it’s my turn to take care of her.”
“The sun rose and set on her,” Farber said about Fisher’s love for his wife.
Sadly, Tillie died 10 days before Red at age 90. But in a way, it’s a beautiful ending to a love story.
Most Montrealers knew Red Fisher the hockey writer. But he was so much more than that to those who knew him best ... he was a great man.
Before the end of the moment of silence Saturday night, almost everyone in the Bell Centre was clapping.