First, a personal reflection. One night in the summer of 1971, my father arrived home with his lunch pail in hand and told me had heard on the radio that Henri Richard was appearing that night at the Evan’s Lumber store in my hometown of Sudbury and we’d better get going if we wanted to see him.
My 8 1/2-year-old self could hardly believe I was going to see an NHL player, and the guy who just months before had scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal for my favorite team to boot, up close and in the flesh. And I was going to get a signed picture!