Bower
CBC Books | Posted: January 9, 2019 11:18 PM | Last Updated: January 9, 2019
Dan Robson
Johnny Bower came to be known as one of the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs of all time, but started from humble beginnings. He taught himself how to play hockey on the frozen rivers of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, using a tree branch his father had sharpened into a stick and Eaton's catalogues as goalie pads. He'd spend hours in the frigid air, learning to catch the puck in mittened hands, never dreaming that he would one day share the same ice as his Saturday-night idols.
But share it he did, playing in the minors for more than a decade, before joining the Maple Leafs for the team's storied three consecutive Stanley Cup victories in the early sixties. He was known as a tough, ageless player who wanted nothing more than to be in the crease night after night. He spent eleven seasons with the Leafs, playing well into his forties.
After his retirement, Bower's legend only grew—he became one of the most beloved Leafs alumni, an icon for his performance on the ice and his generous heart off of it. In Bower, Dan Robson shares the never-before-told stories of Johnny's life and career, drawing on interviews with those who knew and loved him best. (From HarperCollins)
From the book
Although Johnny went to school, he wasn't very interested in the lessons taught by the stern nuns at St. Paul's Catholic School. He'd later make several differing claims about the level of education he completed, sometimes saying he'd completed up to the 11th grade, other times that he'd stopped after grade eight—having repeated three grades along the way. However, in other official records he'd state that he'd completed only grade three and parts of grade four. These small inconsistencies in simple facts would become commonplace over the decades, creating an aura of mystery surrounding Johnny's life—whether it was intentional or not.
But one thing that was always clear was that when it came to school, Johnny much preferred to be out on a patch of ice, kicking aside horse dung and wooden pucks with his friends on cold winter afternoons. On hot summer days, he'd find a neighbourhood game of baseball to play and loved to go swimming in the river. But there was only so much time for fun. When he was about 10, Johnny worked as a pin-setter at the Bowl-a-Drome in Prince Albert. He would run out and set the pins after every turn, because there weren't automatic machines at the time. The young pin-setters worked each evening until the Bowl-a-Drome closed at midnight. The kids hired were usually from large families where the father's hard-earned paycheques weren't enough to make ends meet. Although Johnny admired his dad, he was determined that his life would be different. But how, exactly? A hockey career wasn't a reasonable goal. It was something Johnny was good at, but it was just a brief escape from reality. He harboured few illusions of finding his future in a child's game.
From Bower by Dan Robson ©2018. Published by HarperCollins.