1. The Hockey Newsman.
- Author
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McKenzie, John
- Subjects
- *
SPORTSWRITERS , *HOCKEY , *PERIODICALS , *PUBLISHING , *HALLS of fame , *DEATH - Abstract
Since its 1947 inception, the Hockey News has been essential reading for hard-core fans. Ken McKenzie, its co-founder and long-time publisher, died in an Ontario hospital. His son, John, a New York-based correspondent with ABC News, wrote this tribute to his father and his achievements. Ken McKenzie--along with Will Cote--started the Hockey News in 1947, and the paper that came to be known as the bible of hockey. After the Second World War, Ken, who grew up in Winnipeg, moved to Montreal, where he got a job as a sportswriter for the Gazette. Within months, he approached the president of the National Hockey League, Clarence Campbell, and suggested that the league needed a full-time publicity director. Campbell gave him the job, and more. For Ken, whose father had died in his early 50s, Campbell became a surrogate parent. Campbell supported my father's dream of starting a newspaper devoted exclusively to hockey. There is a picture of my father taken at his induction in the Hockey Hall of Fame, which shows him at the podium, arms outstretched, fists clenched, wearing this big, beautiful smile.
- Published
- 2003