GERRY PATTERSON

On the set of the Grapevine show with my good friend and one-time agent, Gerry Patterson. He was a big help when I first started in television and was a really great guy.

GERRY PATTERSON, SHOWDOWN AND BOXES TO SUCCESS

ONE OF THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS OF the Don Cherry’s Grapevine show was my good friend and agent, Gerry Patterson. Gerry was an agent for Jean Béliveau, Ken Dryden and other successful athletes. I first met Gerry on the set of a television feature called “Showdown.”

Before I get into telling you about Gerry, I want to tell you about “Showdown,” which was a hugely successful and very controversial feature of Hockey Night in Canada. The show was taped back in the late 1970s and early ’80s in a small neighbourhood rink just north of Toronto. It was kind of the start of today’s skills competition and three-on-three tournament at the NHL All-Star Game.

Teams were made up of four players and a goalie. I remember one team had Gilbert Perreault, Darryl Sittler, Jean Ratelle and Steve Shutt, so you can see these were, at the time, the top NHL stars.

They would hold a series of competitions, for different amounts of points, and the winning team would move on to the next round. It was a round-robin tournament, so each week different groups of NHL stars would compete against each other until someone was crowned a winner.

Segments ran between the second and third period on Hockey Night in Canada. No one who worked on the show ever let it be known who won, so the winners would be a surprise to the audience.

It got huge ratings. Some people would tune in to the game just to watch “Showdown,” just like they do today for “Coach’s Corner.” When kids would play street hockey, they didn’t say, “Let’s play hockey,” they’d say, “Let’s play ‘Showdown.’ ”

The CBC and the National Hockey League Players’ Association put it on, and it was very controversial, especially in Toronto. The NHL wasn’t too happy with the whole thing, and the owner of the Maple Leafs, Harold Ballard, went to war with Leafs captain Darryl Sittler over it.

Ballard forbade Sittler, and Leaf players Lanny McDonald, Mike Palmateer and Börje Salming, from playing in the 1979 “Showdown” series because Salming broke his finger playing in the competition one year.

Sittler defied Harold’s warning and risked his wrath. Things got worse between Ballard and Sittler. I was coaching Colorado at the time, and we called the Leafs GM, Punch Imlach, to see if we could trade for Sittler. They couldn’t move Sittler because he had a no-trade clause in his contract. Then we were told we could have Lanny McDonald and Joel Quenneville for Pat Hickey and Wilf Paiement. So we made the trade.

Just a reminder that Joel went on to win three Stanley Cups as the coach of the Hawks. One of the Hawks’ assistant coaches is Mike Kitchen, who also played in Colorado with Joel. They both must have learned from a good coach they played for.

Leafs fans loved Lanny, and when the news got out about the trade, the city of Toronto went nuts. Sittler was so angry that he ripped his captain’s C off his Leafs sweater.

An announcer on Hockey Night in Canada said he didn’t blame Darryl for ripping the C off his sweater. Ballard was so upset at the announcer that he told Hockey Night in Canada to get their cameras out of the Gardens if that announcer was in the building. So the announcer had to do games from the Montreal Forum for the rest of his career.

So you can see that “Showdown” caused a lot controversy, but boy did the audience love it.

Gerry Patterson was one of the promoters and producers of “Showdown.” For a couple of years, I worked on the show as a so-called interviewer. I’d interview players between competitions and ask some questions. In the last year of the show, the summer of 1980, I was having a tough time. I had just been fired from Colorado and I was getting the feeling that I was blackballed. I was starting to think that I wasn’t going to get another coaching offer.

In two years, I had gone to war with two GMs, Boston’s Harry Sinden and Colorado’s Ray Miron. The NHL was an old boys’ club, and the word was getting around that I was hard to deal with. Can you imagine that?

Ralph Mellanby, the executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada as well as “Showdown,” hired me to do some games for Hockey Night in Canada. You must realize that, back in those days, Hockey Night in Canada paid next to nothing. They felt it was a privilege to work for them. I have to admit, I was getting famous, but I was still poor.

I was scratching around, doing the odd banquet tour and getting by, as they say. Hey, I was happy just to have a job.

From the show, Gerry and I became friends, and soon he became my agent. I remember like it was yesterday. He said, “Grapes, I’m going to draw you some boxes and you’re going to be a success on television. From there, you’re going to become very successful.”

I thought he was nuts, but I went along with him. I had nothing to lose.

Gerry got a piece of paper and he drew the boxes to my so-called successful career. He was the most positive guy I have ever met. He kept saying, “Grapes, you have to believe.”

I said to Gerry, “I believe. I believe.” I will admit, in my heart I said I believed, but in my head, I didn’t believe.

These were the boxes Gerry drew—the blueprint for my success. Gerry started out helping me fill in these boxes.

Gerry was one of Ralph Mellanby’s best friends. Not only was Ralph executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada, but he was the head of broadcasting for the Olympic Games and won numerous awards all over the world for his producing skills. I’m convinced that Gerry’s friendship with Ralph was one of the reasons Ralph kept me on Hockey Night in Canada.

Gerry and Ralph came up with a plan to do a television show where I would interview sports heroes. They would call it Don Cherry’s Grapevine, a little play on my nickname, Grapes.

At first, I didn’t want to do it. I had never really interviewed anyone before—I had just reacted to questions from Dave Hodge on “Coach’s Corner”—but Gerry insisted that if we were going to fill in those boxes he had drawn, we needed to do this show.

CHCH, Channel 11 in Hamilton, Ontario, was willing to take a chance. Remember, there were no 24-hour sports stations on television or radio, so doing an all-sports interview show in prime time was a big risk. I’m sure Ralph’s reputation was the main reason that CHCH agreed to do the show.

They hired two comedians, Bill Lynn and Jimmy Loftus, to help out, and singer John Allan Cameron to do a song in the middle of the show. The reason they hired these guys was because Ralph and Gerry needed a backup plan if I couldn’t pull it off. I struggled mightily at the start, but I stuck it out. So now I had one boxed filled—television.

For the next box to be checked, Gerry wanted me to write a column in a newspaper. He contacted a young fellow who worked for the Vancouver Sun. He asked about me writing a column once a week.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound, and away I go, writing a sports column. I was made fun of by the other newspaper guys.

I remember one guy saying, “What’s Grapes going to write about, Schmautzy all the time?” (Bobby Schmautz was one of my favourite players. He played for me in Rochester, Boston and Colorado, and ended his career in Vancouver. I consider him one of my good friends.)

I used to send my column to a young fellow named Paul Chapman and he would put it in the Sun. I did this the whole winter. One day, the Sun took a poll on who had the best column in the newspaper, and 75 percent voted for me. Like Ali said, “It’s not bragging if you can back it up.”

I did it for a couple of years, and I enjoyed it; another box filled.

The next box to fill was radio. Again, at this time there was no 24-hour sports television or radio, so doing a radio program all about sports was kind of a long shot.

Gerry had the idea of only doing a short, two- or three-minute program, covering one topic and telling stories. Gerry had the guts of a burglar. He went to Bridgestone Tire and said, “Don Cherry is going to do a radio program on CFRB, and it’s going to be a great success. If you want to be part of it, we need to you come up with some dough.”

They agreed to be the sponsors. Gerry then went to Prior Smith at CFRB and said, “Don Cherry wants to do a radio show for your station.”

Prior said, “Oh yeah is that right? Well, there’s a line 50-feet long of people who want to do a radio show. What makes you think you’d get one?”

Gerry then handed him a cheque for $100,000. Prior brought on my good friend Brian Williams from CBC Sports as co-host and the show took off from there. Don Cherry’s Grapeline has been on the air for over 30 years, is on over 100 stations, and has over a million weekly listeners. Another box filled in by Gerry.

Now things were going well for me. Gerry had filled out three boxes on the diagram, and now it was time to fill in another: banquets.

I don’t want to say we didn’t have any money, but Hockey Night in Canada was still not paying a lot, and the newspaper column and radio show were helping out moneywise. But you have to remember, this was in the mid-’80s—I had a new house, the first time Rose had ever moved into a new house, and interest rates were running around 21.5 percent. So any money coming in helped.

Gerry started booking banquets for me. He’d pick me up and drive me to the events. We’d have some great talks on the way to the banquets. On the way to a banquet in Goderich, Ontario, Gerry taught me a lesson that I still abide by to this day.

I had written a speech about my thoughts on the meaning of life and how to become a successful coach and stuff. On the way to Goderich, I practised my speech, and when I was done, I asked Gerry what he thought.

I had worked a week on it and thought it was Shakespeare quality. Gerry turned to me and said, “Horseshit! Grapes, all they want is the Don Cherry on ‘Coach’s Corner.’ They want to hear stories about Bobby Orr, Eddie Shore. Not hear your philosophy of life.”

I realized Gerry was right. From then on, when I did a banquet—funny thing is, when I didn’t get paid much to do banquets, I did a ton, and now that I can get some good dough to do banquets, I don’t do any—I’d tell a few jokes and tell stories about the Bruins, Bobby Orr and Hockey Night in Canada.

I also keep it short. Tim tells me the secret to my success is brevity. Tell funny stories, keep it short and leave them wanting more. Another box filled in by Gerry.

As the years went by, the Grapevine show became very successful. We had great audience numbers and all the NHL stars wanted to be on the show.

The show was set in an English pub–like setting, so in 1984 Gerry said, “It’s time to open up a real bar called the Grapevine.”

All I knew about restaurants was how to order food in them. Gerry insisted that this was the next step in becoming successful. So Gerry and I went all over the Greater Toronto Area, looking at failed restaurants. I wanted a bar or restaurant like the ones I went to in Boston. The rent in Toronto was crazy and I couldn’t see how you could make any money.

There was nothing in Toronto to be found, and then one day someone said, “Why not look in Hamilton, Ontario? It’s a blue-collar steel town and they all like ‘Coach’s Corner.’ ”

So Gerry and I set off again in his old brown Mercedes, this time to Hamilton, and the first place we looked at was perfect. It was on the corner of Main and Walnut in downtown Hamilton. It was just what I was looking for—old barn wood, a large wrap-around bar with lots of character, big booths, which I loved, and a big dance floor.

I have to say, it was in bad shape. I don’t know what had happened, but it looked like the customers got up and ran out of the place before it closed for good. On the tables there were still bowls of soup with the spoons in them that had been there for a year. It was kind of gross.

It was dirty, but being in bars for most of my hockey career, I knew it had potential. I loved it, but unfortunately Gerry didn’t and wanted no part of it, and this is where we started to drift apart.

A guy named Rick Scully, who had lots of experience in the restaurant business, became my partner. Rick and I renovated the place, put in lots of great hockey pictures and televisions to watch the game, and it was a smashing success. People were lined up around the block to get in. It became a big-time dance bar. Gerry filled in the last box.

Soon, Gerry decided to take the Grapevine television show out of the CHCH studios and shoot it live in the bar. After about five years of shooting in the bar, the show got too expensive to do. Plus, I would do two and sometimes three shows a night, and it was getting to be too much. We ended the show and Gerry and I drifted further apart.

Gerry had said I had to believe that if we filled in all the boxes he drew, I would be a success. Like I said, at the time I wanted to believe him, but I had my doubts.

Gerry has been gone some 10 years now. He was walking his dog in the middle of winter and someone needed help shovelling their driveway. Wouldn’t you know, Gerry died helping somebody.

I better be careful here. I can hear Gerry saying, “Don’t get philosophical, just tell some funny stories.”