Jump to content

The "Face" of hockey


peter puck

Recommended Posts

I lifted this from a post I made here about 2.5 years ago, but nothing regarding the photo or Sawchuk has changed...

 

----

 

Yeah, that's the famous photo from Life magazine, where a portrait of Terry Sawchuk was doctored to demonstrate the pain and injuries of an NHL goaltender. Greatly exaggerated, but a great photo anyway. Ironically, it didn't tell half the story of Sawchuk, who was a very troubled man off the ice.

 

He suffered a dislocated elbow playing rugby and hid it from his parents (who know went on in THAT household?). The lack of medical attention caused his right arm to be half a foot shorter than his left, was extremely crooked, and caused him considerable pain for the rest of his life. He was distant, angry, miserable with teammates and fans alike, kept to himself, and suffered from what we would now call depression or anxiety. In fear of losing his job, he kept injuries to himself, and suffered quietly through many elbow problems, appendicitis, a collapsed lung, severe hand problems, broken foot, and too many cuts to count. His playing style of an extremely low crouch left him with a permanently bent back and ruptured discs, which meant that he couldn't sleep longer than 2 or 3 hours at a time.

 

This was all a bit much for Sawchuk to take, and he began to drink heavily. His life off the ice was generally a total uproar. Alcoholism and spousal abuse was the name of the game in the Sawchuk household. He had numerous affairs, and eventually impregnated a woman outside of his marriage, before finally being divorced by his wife.

 

Sawchuk died after a drunken scuffle with teammate Ron Stewart, arguing over the phone bill they shared. Sawchuk fell, suffering damage to his liver, and died in hospital after having his gallbladder removed, as well as unsuccessful attempts to stop the bleeding from his liver.

 

The photo, on its own merits, is excellent. Considering what we now know about Sawchuk's life, the picture becomes (imo) amazing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I lifted this from a post I made here about 2.5 years ago, but nothing regarding the photo or Sawchuk has changed...

 

----

 

Yeah, that's the famous photo from Life magazine, where a portrait of Terry Sawchuk was doctored to demonstrate the pain and injuries of an NHL goaltender. Greatly exaggerated, but a great photo anyway. Ironically, it didn't tell half the story of Sawchuk, who was a very troubled man off the ice.

 

He suffered a dislocated elbow playing rugby and hid it from his parents (who know went on in THAT household?). The lack of medical attention caused his right arm to be half a foot shorter than his left, was extremely crooked, and caused him considerable pain for the rest of his life. He was distant, angry, miserable with teammates and fans alike, kept to himself, and suffered from what we would now call depression or anxiety. In fear of losing his job, he kept injuries to himself, and suffered quietly through many elbow problems, appendicitis, a collapsed lung, severe hand problems, broken foot, and too many cuts to count. His playing style of an extremely low crouch left him with a permanently bent back and ruptured discs, which meant that he couldn't sleep longer than 2 or 3 hours at a time.

 

This was all a bit much for Sawchuk to take, and he began to drink heavily. His life off the ice was generally a total uproar. Alcoholism and spousal abuse was the name of the game in the Sawchuk household. He had numerous affairs, and eventually impregnated a woman outside of his marriage, before finally being divorced by his wife.

 

Sawchuk died after a drunken scuffle with teammate Ron Stewart, arguing over the phone bill they shared. Sawchuk fell, suffering damage to his liver, and died in hospital after having his gallbladder removed, as well as unsuccessful attempts to stop the bleeding from his liver.

 

The photo, on its own merits, is excellent. Considering what we now know about Sawchuk's life, the picture becomes (imo) amazing.

 

 

That photo really is an excellent reflection of the true Sawchuk. Despite the fact that he was quite possibly the best goalie in the history of the sport at the time of his retirement (and the argument could still be made), he often still wondered it he was good enough. It seems that there was no way his life and career would end any way but tragically.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know how much Terry Sawchuk got paid.  But, I think he played for less than 20 thousand a year for most of his life in the NHL.

 

The pendulum swings.  Players get rich in a year or so now.  Seems unfair, but a relatively short time ago, they had to have a second job to feed their family.  

 

Terry Sawchuk had a lot of triumphs.  But, overall, his life tended toward tragedy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...