EDMONTON MOURNS DEATH OF JOEY MOSS
Beloved Alberta Sports Hall of Famer was the `face' of Oilers, a fixture with CFL team
Hall of famer Joey Moss, the longtime dressing room attendant of both the Edmonton Oilers and Edmonton Eskimos, has bellowed out O Canada for the final time.
Moss died Monday afternoon after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease and recent surgery involving a broken hip.
The 57-year-old Down syndrome inspiration that Wayne Gretzky managed to get a job as an Oilers locker-room attendant when he was dating Joey's sister, Vicki Moss, has been in a major health battle since breaking the hip in a fall on July 28.
Joey spent his Sept. 27 birthday in isolation from COVID-19 when he was transferred from hospital to a new Winnifred Stewart Association facility.
Joey's longtime guardian, Stephen Moss, the baby in the family of 12 who provided most of the care to the 11th kid in the family, died of brain cancer a year and a half ago.
For most of his adult life, Moss' sporting support group involved Barry Stafford and Lyle (Sparky) Kulchinsky of the Oilers' equipment staff and Dwayne Mandrusiak, who for the past 49 years had been with the football team.
While he has often been in the seats belting out the national anthem that he once even sang before an Eskimos game, Moss hasn't been able to be a dressing-room regular of late, doing his vacuuming duties.
The football players were always awestruck when Gretzky faithfully called him on his birthday every year, usually on the phone in Mandrusiak's office at a practice.
Gretzky's call was difficult the last two years with Joey's Alzheimer's and the complications involving Down syndrome at that stage of Moss' life, especially this year, with his hip surgery and the isolations involving the hospital and the facility relating to the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19, however, was not a factor in his death.
“On behalf of all the players who had the honour to get to know him, we are so saddened to hear the news of Joey's passing,” Gretzky said.
“We were all lucky enough to be part of his life for a lot of years. His love for life always brought a smile to anyone who met him.
“Whether it was a coffee before practice or a big hug after a great win or a tough loss, he would put life in perspective. He will be missed but not forgotten. Once an Oiler, always an Oiler. RIP, Joe.”
There was almost certainly never a member of a sports franchise custodial staff so loved by a community or as famous as Joey Moss.
There are a lot of much less famous members of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame than Moss, who was inducted in 2015.
Stafford, whenever asked about Joey Moss, always made the point:
“He's not a locker-room attendant to anyone who knows him and works with him. He's part of the team. In a lot of ways, he's the face of the Oilers.”
The same was true with the Eskimos.
Over the years, Moss was more recognizable than many of the players, and much more modest than them, too.
Stafford also had the best quote on that aspect of it as well.
“Joey may be the only celebrity in the world who doesn't really understand that he is one.”
Seven years ago, there was so much love directed to the guy when both organizations went overboard to celebrate his 50th birthday.
Moss was working at a bottling depot when Gretzky was dating his sister and got Joey the job in 1984. When that worked out, Gretzky called Mandrusiak to see if Joey could work the Eskimos training camp in 1986. He made the team.
How big had Joey Moss become in Edmonton?
On Monday evening, TSN 1260 radio ditched the Monday Night Football broadcast to stay on the air to produce special coverage of the death of Joey Moss.
Callers were suggesting a banner up there alongside the Oilers greats.
I suggest his own statue, out in front of Rogers Place near Gretzky's, singing the national anthem.