Ek’s Note. There’s really only one person in this world who has been aroundthe Flyers organization since the very beginning. Bruce “Scoop” Cooper. I I’m very fortunate too,consider Bruce a great friend. He’s been a mentor to so many who’ve tried to get into this industry, and I can just talk to him for hours about the stories he has…. He drank from the cup in 74 for crying out loud! One day at the Arena, he casually introduced me to Gordie Howe! He’s truly a hockey treasure and should be inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame yesterday… He is also a very thoughtful man who was close friends with many hockey legends, including Ray Shero.. Below are Scoop’s Thoughts on Ray…
MY FRIEND OF MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY, REJEAN “RAY” SHERO, PASSES AT JUST 62.
What a shock it was to learn on Wednesday morning [April 9] of the passing of my dear long time friend Rejean “Ray” Shero on Tuesday night at the young age of just 62 reportedly from complications of an aggressive form of cancer for which he was under treatment. I had known Ray since he was a ten year old kid who I first saw in 1972 as he was running around in the bowels of the now sadly long gone Spectrum when his dad, Hall of Fame coach Fred Shero, took over the Flyers which he led to their two Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975 during his seven years behind the Flyers bench.
Ray would go on to play college ice hockey for the NCAA Div. 1 St. Lawrence University “Saints”, captaining the team during the 1984–85 season. Although drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 1982, he never played in the NHL — or even pro — but nevertheless would still go on to make his name in the NHL with a distinguished 30+ year career as a front office executive in Ottawa, Nashville, Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Minnesota. And like his dad, Ray would also go on to get his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as well as the GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins (2006-2014) when the Pens won it over the Detroit Red Wings in seven games in 2009.
Sydney Crosby, who captained the Penguins to that Cup in 2009, said Shero was a big part of the early days of his career in Pittsburgh.
“He gave me a lot of opportunity as a young captain and supported me throughout his time,” Crosby noted. “He did so much for our organization, and my memories with him are special. I am grateful for our time spent here and that we were able to share a Stanley Cup championship together.”
In a statement for the NHL, Commissioner Gary Bettman said “Ray Shero’s smile and personality lit up every room he walked into and brightened the day of everyone he met. Widely respected throughout hockey for his team-building acumen and eye for talent, he was even more beloved for how he treated everyone fortunate enough to have known him."
I can personally confirm that assassment myself.
Of the thousands of hockey people who crossed my path as I worked professionally in writing about and broadcasting our game for over half a century at both the NHL and minor league levels, none was more outgoing, friendly, compassionate — or more respected — in and about both the game and the other people it it. And nobody obviously loved more what he was doing with his highly productive career in “our game” than Ray which he exuded to all those around him 24/7/365.
Ironically just two days ago I posted in here about “bad things” like close passings often come “in threes“ after learning that former NHL goalie and long time broadcaster Gregg Millen passed from a heart attack on Monday which closely followed two other sudden hockey passings of a pair of other former goalies — Shawn Simpson on January 29 and Mark Laforest on March 31.
Adding Ray now as a fourth — and the third in just over a week — makes this all the more crushing for me as I knew all four of them. And what is even more sobering for me personally is that all four were between 12 and 23 years younger than I am.
I took two of the pictures below of Ray both speaking at and with his son, Chris (now a scout for the Columbus Blue Jackets), being given a miniature of the statue of Fred Shero now standing next to “Xfinity Live” at 11th St. and Patterson Avenue by Ed Snider when it was dedicated in March, 2014. The third picture is of Fred, his wife Mariette, and their too sons, Ray (l) and Jean-Paul (r), with the Stanley Cup in 1974.
RIP Ray, my friend, you will be sincerely and deeply missed by myself and the entire hockey world.
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