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Bill Riley, ECHL, Hampton Roads Admirals, John Brophy, Long Island Ducks, Slap Shot, Toronto Maple Leafs, Val James, Washington Capitals
When a lot of hockey people didn’t think Val James had the wherewithal to be a professional player, John Brophy did.
John Brophy (Photo/ Robert Shaver/Hockey Hall of Fame)
James’ dad had the keys to the arena, so young Val could skate whenever he liked. Brophy would watch James and his friends play in a local league at the arena and give them a little coaching.
“He thought I had the right stuff,” James told me recently. “I was just starting out so I wasn’t that much of a skater, or even a hockey player, for that matter. But he stuck with me and taught me a lot of things that did lead, eventually, to me going out and getting to where I got in hockey.”
John Duncan Brophy, a colorful career minor-league player who went on to become North America’s second winningest professional hockey coach, passed away earlier this week at the age of 83 following a lengthy illness.
Brophy is hockey history. His 1,027 wins is second only to Hockey Hall of Fame Coach Scotty Bowman’s 1,224 victories. He accumulated a record 3,822 penalty minutes in an EHL playing career that spanned from 1955 to 1973.
He’s the only ECHL coach to lead a team, the Hampton Road Admirals, to three championships.
The two-fisted Brophy was dubbed as the “Godfather of Goonery” and was thought to be Paul Newman’s inspiration for the goon-it-up player/coach Reggie Dunlop in the seminal hockey movie “Slap Shot.”
But Brophy is also black hockey history. He helped steer the careers of James, a tough-guy forward who became the National Hockey League’s first U.S.-born black player, and Bill Riley, who was the NHL’s third black player behind Willie O’Ree and Mike Marson.
Forward Val James, who became the NHL’s first U.S.-born black player when he joined the Buffalo Sabres in 1981-82, said John Brophy treated him like a son.
Val James and Brophy also struck up a friendship rooted in mutual respect. When he coached in the American Hockey League, Brophy didn’t hesitate in sending out his enforcer to battle James, who was regarded as one of hockey’s most-feared fighters.
He also thought highly enough of James to add him to his St. Catharines Saints AHL squad in 1985-86. James rewarded Brophy’s faith with 3 assists and 162 penalty minutes in 80 games.
When Brophy coached the Toronto Maple Leafs for 2 1/2 seasons, he called James up from the minors for four games in 1986-87 to add toughness to the team. He responded with 14 penalty minutes in those games.
When James was working on his autobiography, “Black Ice: The Val James Story,” he sought out Brophy in 2013 for his recollections.
“He said to me ‘All the years you played with me, for me, against me, I had nothing but the best in mind for you and, you know what, you performed better than I ever expected,'” James told me. “‘I just wanted to let you know that you are one of my boys.’ I was very emotionally overtaken by that. He treated me like a son.”
Many players viewed Brophy as a tyrant – a white-haired, red-face temperamental task-master with a fondness for bag skates and yelling until he was hoarse.
But James saw Brophy’s rough ways as tough love from one of hockey’s best teachers. Still, he was an acquired taste: Think Bobby Knight in basketball or Billy Martin in baseball.
“He made sure I did things right,” James said. “If I didn’t get things right, he’d explain it to me, maybe not the way a regular person would – he’d be screaming a lot – but that’s ‘Broph.'”
Bill Riley, the NHL’s third black player, had his pro career extended when John Brophy got him a contract to play for Nova Scotia in the AHL.
“Not only did he give me a contract, he paid me $5,000 more than what I was making in Moncton and he didn’t have to do that,” Riley said at a 2013 event in Amherst, Nova Scotia honoring his hockey accomplishments. “He really, really took care of me.”
Riley went into coaching and found himself going up against Brophy in a crucial minor league contest.
“We needed one point to clinch first place overall, and John didn’t give us anything. He played us hard, right to the wire,” Riley recalled. “I think the game ended up 3-3. When I got the point and the game was over, John looked over at me and saluted me. I considered that one of the greatest honors in hockey.”
