Red Fisher: Hockey, Heroes, and Me

Glynn A. Leyshon is a professor of physical education at the University
of Western Ontario, a former weekly columnist for the London Free Press,
and author of 18 Sporting Stories.

For the past 40 years or more, Red Fisher has been writing sports
(mostly hockey) for the Montreal Star and the Gazette. He has done it so
well that he is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame (media section).
This well-written and interesting book chronicles the highlights of that
career that began in 1955.

Although Fisher was the official hockey reporter for the Canadiens, he
also sometimes wrote about other things, such as boxing, and the book
contains tidbits on Floyd Patterson’s eccentricities and George
Chuvalo’s intractability. For the most part, however, Fisher sticks to
the inside-the-locker-room news of hockey beloved by fans of Canada’s
game. Who was the best player? Who was the best left winger? Who was the
best fighter? What did Lou Fontinato say as he lay, 60 pounds lighter,
recovering from a broken neck? It’s all here—the world of sport,
spinning within other worlds, and contained in 24 chapters.

One has to be impressed with the richness of the detail in the book,
selected as it was from the 40 years and thousands of columns. The
volume alone is impressive. Fisher traveled with the Canadiens and had
close contacts with NHL insiders, from the late Danny Gallivan to the
present and irksome Don Cherry. Given the complete range of his
association with hockey, one can only accept as gospel the arcane
minutiae revealed.