Remember when magazines arrived in the mail? The best moments of the month were the days the postman dropped the Sports Illustrated magazine into our mailbox. The first article I turned to was written by Stan Fischler. I thought he was the best sportswriter alive.
Fischler is a big deal. He is an Emmy award-winning journalist and broadcaster. His career in hockey coverage spans eight decades. He’s in the US Hockey Hall of Fame, is America’s foremost hockey historian and author or co-author of over 100 books on hockey.
He is 90
years old and still writing.
Boston Bruins
I liked Fischler because he had insight to little-known facts about players and refs. When my Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 1972, he wrote the cover story. Fischler was a Ranger's fan and writer so he wrote from his disappointment when the Bruins beat the Rangers.
He told stories in a readable style. From his article in the March 1970 edition,
“Chadwick, you bum, you're as blind as a bat!"
For 16 years, from 1939 to 1955, a baker with an upper-register decibel count hurled this specific charge at National Hockey League Referee Bill Chadwick from his seat in the reaches of Madison Square Garden. Each time Chadwick heard the critic yell he would chuckle to himself. Quietly, however, for he was not about to tell that fan—or anyone else if he could help it—that the charge was half true. As an official in one of the world's fastest major sports, Bill Chadwick was burdened with an astonishing handicap—he had vision in only his left eye.”
The Maven
Stan Fischler’s nickname suits him. His peers call him The Maven. A maven is "a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass timely and relevant knowledge on to others."
His nickname made me think about how writers want to be known. How could we write in such a way that some teenager reading a piece we wrote would look forward to the next time our content was published? What nickname would readers or writers ascribe to you? Or to me?
When I attended the University of Waterloo in the early 70s my dorm mates called me "The Phantom" because I was always in the computer room or library and seldom interacted with anyone. The nickname prompted me to join a rec ball hockey team to make better connections. Three games in I took a high stick, broke a tooth and a teammate drove me to a hospital for stitches. I wonder what Fischler would have written about my hockey experience?
If you had a nickname as a writer, what would it be? Please leave a comment below. Thank you.
He is a pastor at heart, author, coach, and Poppa to 5 grandchildren.
