Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Toronto Mike'd 2024 Wrapped: Toronto Mike'd #1609

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

In this 1609th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike wraps up 2024 in the TMU before throwing to Jack in the Box. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

1,138,794. Those seven figures, again, fully verified by Ian Service, are 1138794. That's how many downloads of Toronto Miked there were in 2024. Seven figures. Incredible. The first episode of 2024 was Mark Hebbscher on January 2nd, and that was episode 1403. The episode you're listening to right now is episode 1609. That means there were over 200 episodes of Toronto Miked in 2024, including visits from Kathleen Wynne, Peter Kent, Ben Johnson, Classified, Bob Ray, Clive Smith, Carol Off, Chantel Krivjasek, in-person conversations with Joe Carter, Wendell Clark, Joey Bats,

Josh Donaldson, and Tom Cochran, remote debuts by Midge Year, Lee Steinberg, Dave Van Horn, Alfie Zappacosta, and Blair Richard Martin, and returning favorites such as Hepsey, Elvis, Peter Gross, Retro Ontario, Stu Stone, Mark Weisblot, Steve Paikin, Ed Keenan, Blair Packham, John Gallagher, Al Greggo, Scott Turner, Stephen Brunt, Gare Joyce, and Ralph Ben-Murgy, and recurring co-hosts like Cam Gordon, Tyler Campbell, Jeremy Hopkins, Bob Willett, and Rob Pruse, and triumphant returns by Dan O'Toole, Brother Bill, and David Marsden. Those are but a few of the 200 new episodes of Toronto Miked dropped in 2024. We had three epic TMLX events in 2024.

At Great Lakes Brewery, the GLB Brew Pub, and Palmas Kitchen, and will do that again in 2025. Heck, if the right partner steps up, we may add a fourth or fifth TMLX event in 2025. And on that note, there is room for another partner or two. Over a million downloads, still gaining momentum, and a growing and engaged community, there's no better value in this country. If you have a product, service, event, or podcast you'd like to promote in 2025, send me an email right now at Mike at Torontoike.com and we'll figure out how to work together. My personal interest in dynamically inserting pre-recorded ad breaks is minimal, so I'm looking for the next GLB, Palma Pasta, RecycleMyElectronics.ca or Ridley Funeral Home.

And finally, a big thank you for subscribing, listening, telling your friends and family about this fiercely independent podcast, attending TMLx events, supporting our partners, and being a bunch of sweethearts. Speaking of sweethearts, here's Jack in the Box, as heard at TMLx17 at 30th 2024 as told by sweetheart FOTM Kevin Shea. Happy New Year. Tell us the story of Jack McLean. Thanks, Toronto Mike. So this story actually will begin in 1991 with the passing of my father. Died of cancer that year and my dad was really, really special to me as all of our fathers have been. But he gave me the passion for hockey, which is a big part of my life. And so I can remember so fondly sitting in the, on the Chesterfield

in the family room watching hockey with my brother on one side and I was on the other side of my dad. We'd have a little bowl of chips and a glass of ginger ale and watching Hockey Night in Canada. And dad was a big Toronto Maple Leafs fan from his youth as well having watched and listened to Hockey Night in Canada through the year or so. It's generational. It's infused from there. So I picked up the bug from Dad and became a big Toronto Maple Leaf fan from a young man. So losing Dad in 1991 was really, really challenging. He was a premature death and one that stunned us all

in the community too. So as we were dispersing his various things after his passing, we found a box, really interesting box. It was, there was something in it. It was something that Dad had made probably in grade eight shop class or something, somewhere down the road. It was pretty rudimentary. His initials were stamped into the bottom, HS, and the nails weren't quite perfect and the box itself was pretty crude all in all, but there was something in it. And I wanted to know what was in it, but it was locked. And my mom said, well, just pry the hinges off the back. And I said, no, no, I don't want to do that. That would

be disrespectful. But curiosity got the best of me. After a few hours, I did pry the hinges off the back and spilled out the contents and was quite surprised but delighted to find that it was filled with newspaper clippings of hockey players, all Toronto Maple Leafs. And so you know I looked at them and the newspaper was yellowed through age but looking at them and there's some names that we might know if we are hockey fans but Ted Kennedy and Turk Broda and people like that. But the one that had the most number of clippings was a guy named Jack McLean. And I pride myself on being a hockey historian and I wrote the Toronto Maple Leaf Centennial book, but that

was a name that I didn't know at that point. So because I adored my father, I wanted to find out why he would have been my dad's favourite player. So I decided that over the course of some time that I would go to the library, the Toronto Public Library, and in the bowels of the library is microfiche, so kind of dates it as you can imagine, but I was able to go through all the newspaper clippings and find out about this Jack McLean. He played three years with the Toronto Maple Leafs during the Second World War, so 1942-43 through to the conclusion of 1944-45. Quite an unusual story. The National Hockey League was a different place at that time. For example, there was

one season where if the puck went into the crowd, because of the rubber shortages, you had to throw it back onto the ice. Can't even imagine that today of course they go through hundreds it seems through the course of the day. Because of the wartime, overtime had been been stopped at that point and was not to be used during the regular season. So at the conclusion of the game a tie was a tie or a win was a loss excuse me, a win was a win, or a loss was a loss. And so the other problem was that the rosters were decimated by the Second World War. A lot of the boys had gone on to serve their country.

So it left a lot of holes in the roster, and that's what gave Jack McLean his opportunity to play with the Toronto Maple Leafs. At the time, he was a university student going to the University of Toronto taking an engineering course and so so he would show up strictly for the games never went to a practice couldn't play partly because the government prohibited from doing from university students crossing the border but he played basically just home games until the exams were over and then maybe he could travel a little bit from there. So imagine just showing up pulling your skates on and your equipment and playing the game and saying we'll see you the next time we're at home and

so it was a most unusual situation. So I found out as much as I could about Jack. His very first game he steps onto the ice between two players who maybe some will know, but Gay Stewart and Bud Poyle. Bud Poyle's son, David Poyle, was just entered into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder. But between those two boys, Jack scored a goal and got two assists in his first game, a momentous beginning.

As time went on, he just showed to be a really strong hockey player. He was he'd had a strong junior career but nobody expected him to play with the Toronto Maple Leafs and through the course of that first season they had a skills competition in the early part of 1943 raising money for aid to Russia and Jack was the the one the fastest skater competition. Later on that season he was the youngest Leaf player to score a playoff overtime goal. He was 20 years and 51 days old at the time. To this day it's still the youngest player to score an overtime playoff goal. He also

scored the winning goal in the second longest overtime game with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was the fourth overtime and he scored the winning goal. So you can see that even though it wasn't someone that I'd ever heard of, and most people wouldn't have, he actually had quite a good career. 1945 he was part of the Stanley Cup Championship for the Toronto Maple Leafs. But his career had gone, it had gone very well. His first season he did very well. There was some consideration for the Rookie of the Year award. His linemate Gay Stewart won it that year. The next year with many of his line, with many of his teammates and including his line mates going off to serve the war, he became much more of what we would call an enforcer.

He could score some goals, but he stood up for his teammates. He was only 5'8 and 160 or 165 pounds, but he wasn't afraid to drop the gloves as they say as well. So I found out as much as I could about Jack McClain and it became an obsession. I had to find out even more about him. Was he alive? Was he dead? If he was alive, where was he living these days? So it continued on and through the course of several years I finally decided, okay, I don't have an answer. I'm gonna write letters to the sports editor of all of the major newspapers across Canada. And I did that. And I said, you know, if you know anything about this hockey player Jack McLean, please call me. I put my phone number in and put my name in.

And the Toronto Sun published the letter. Nobody else did, but the Toronto Sun did. And that day that it was published, the phone rang off the hook from probably 6 in the morning right until I unplugged the phone at about seven o'clock that evening. Non-stop, as soon as I hung up one there was another call there. And I spoke to former teammates, scouts, people who had collected his autograph through the years, his first girlfriend, players he had coached, just all kinds of people from all walks of life who all told me little bits about Jack McLean, but nobody told me whether he was alive or dead and nobody knew much about him.

I would go to autograph sessions every once and again featuring players from that era. So I would, for example, if Ted Kennedy, Teeter Kennedy was signing autographs in Toronto at that point, I would try and stand near the end of the line and catch up with him so I could have a few moments. And so I would ask him, do you know the name Jack McClane? Of course I know Jack McClane. He was a hell of a player, great guy, we loved him. I said, yeah, and find out a little bit more.

He sold me a Greyhound dog, it was his brother-in-law, whatever. Silly little stories along the way. So I said, so do you know where Jack would be these days? Have no idea, but if you find out let me know. And no, gee, okay. And the same story was repeated, Bob Davidson, who was the captain of the team, same thing, and Howie Meeker, who didn't play at that era, but he came shortly thereafter. But he's all I remember watching him skate He he kind of ran on his skates. He was really fast, but damn I have no idea where he was good gracious alive

You know whatever he said and so I didn't know much more than I had started off with but I by putting all of the Clues together I realized that if Jack was alive. He was living in Ottawa So I did the next best thing. And again, you have to remember the time, but I went to the phone book. Went to the Ottawa phone book and called every John McClain, Jack McClain, Jay McClain, and about 18 in, I finally got a guy and I said, hi, is this Jack McClain who played with the Toronto Maple Leafs? Who wants to know? My name is Kevin Shea and I'm a hockey historian. And I wonder if I can talk to you for a few minutes.

Well, if you have to. Okay. So I thought I'd better pull out a plum here. So in 1943, you won the skills competition, aid to Russia, and you won the fastest skater. I forgot all about that I want to watch it was a piece of shit You can swear oh good thank goodness for that So it was a piece of crap Too late. Okay, can you edit anyway?

so so so I would talk a little bit of hockey with him, and I could tell that his interest was starting to flag a little bit. So I said, listen, Jack, can I call you again sometime? He said, well, if you have to. I don't know that I can tell you much more. I said, well, I would like to do that if I can.

And then he said, what did you say your name was? I said, it's Kevin Shea. He said, oh, I used to know some Shea's. I said, what did you say your name was? I said, it's Kevin Shea. He said, oh, I used to know some Sheas. I said, oh yeah, well, it's not really a common name, but it's not uncommon either. Who did you know? I knew a guy named Howard Shea. And that stopped me in my tracks.

Yeah, that was my father. And I said, wait a minute, wait a minute. How would you know Howard Shea? Don't you know? No, I don't. He's my cousin. What? Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. He's your cousin, why haven't I heard of you? He said, don't you know? No, I don't. He said, well, years and years ago, Howard's father committed suicide and and so my mother talked to Howard's mother, my grandmother, and said Jesse you've got eight kids and

no husband and no job and how are you going to take care of them? You've got to give those kids up and my grandmother got her back up and said look at here, don't you ever ever tell me that again and I never want to hear from you again." And as a result, the family split. So, now all of a sudden, the Pandora's box had been opened, and it had been quite an emotional conversation with Jack, so I was anxious to catch up with him again and again. And as the years went on, I talked to him every month, maybe even more than that.

And his, not anger, but his fear, I don't know, his anxiety lessened and he was more welcome to talking to me. I was able to tell him some things that he'd forgotten about. And he told me an awful lot of things about hockey during the Second World War, about my family, about his own career and things of that sort. So I thought, okay, I've got to meet this man.

He's now part of the family. We share a little bit of DNA. I've got to meet him. So on October 19th, 1996, I can't think the names off, or the dates off the top of my head. October 19th, 1996, I'd been speaking to him for a year or a year and a half at that point. I made plans to go up and see Jack and he said, well, sure, come on up. But Red Lobster, he said, pardon? He said, if you're going to talk to

me, you're taking me to Red Lobster. Well, okay. So for a vegetarian, probably wouldn't be my first choice, but if that's where he wants to go, it would be worth the visit for sure. So I went up and we had a great talk. I knocked on the front door and this elderly man answered the door and he was quite just stooped over. His hair was, he's full head of hair, but it was white, white, white. I would never have recognized him. I only knew him from pictures from the mid-nights, or mid-forties rather, where he was a good-looking guy, 165 pounds, wavy hair, quite popular with the fans and the ladies, and I would never have known, but I could tell by the voice this was Jack McClain. So he welcomed me into his home. He was living on his own in Ottawa, a suburb of Ottawa in the peon, and we had a good chat, and then

I could see he was starting to get a little antsy and in the PN. And we had a good chat and then I could see he was starting to get a little antsy and pulling his shoes on. It was time to go to Red Lobster so we went there. So we continued this trait for a number of times through the course of the year and the course of several years. And I learned much more about my family and much more about the Leafs and much more about a man who was very quickly becoming a dear friend of mine. So it was very much a Tuesdays with Maury sort of scenario where 80-year-old Jack McLean and 40-year-old Kevin Shea were great friends let alone related as well. So I had started to work with the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000. And around that time, Ken Dryden was the president of Maple Leafs, of the Maple Leafs, and

he decided he wanted to try and pull the alumni a little closer to the team. After the Harold Ballard era, they had, there had been a bit of a chasm. And so he decided that he wanted to find out when the Maple Leafs began giving Stanley Cup rings. So he called his friend Ron Ellis, who worked at the Hockey Hall of Fame, a player who had played through the 60s and 70s as well. And he called Ron up and said, look, we're trying to find out when did the boys, when did the team start to giving the boys Stanley Cup championship rings, and I want to give rings to those who never received one but deserved one. And Ron turned to me and said, well, you're the Toronto Maple Leaf historian, Kevin, can I leave you with this project?

And I was thrilled to do it. So I found out that the Leafs started to give out rings in 1948. So that meant that the teams of 1932, 1942, 1945, and 1947 did not give rings to their players. And I went to find the ones that hadn't received a ring, maybe some of the guys who played in 45 or 47 received one in 48, 49, whatever. But I found out there were nine players, going back to Red Horner in 1932 in the Hall of Fame as well.

And so I submitted the list to Ron and Mr. Dryden and they looked at the list and they knew all the names except for one and who's this Jack McLean guy? And I said, well, here, let me show you and I showed them a picture of his name on the Stanley Cup and I showed them some press clippings and he agreed that that would be legitimate as well. So what they decided to do was fashion a Stanley Cup championship ring from the one that Bill Borilko would have worn in 1948 as well. Bill Borilko's sister, Anne Klesinich, was working at the Hockey Hall of Fame so we borrowed Bill's ring from her and they made up

with the nine rings. We got the sizes from the families and we made the rings. Ron Ellis said, listen, we're going to have the Toronto Maple Leaf alumni award the rings to the boys, but I just thought maybe you might want to give the ring to Jack McClain. I said, are you kidding me? I would love it. That'd be great.

Under the ruse of just a regular visit, I called him up and said, listen, I'd love to come up and see you, Jack. Would that be okay? He said, listen I'd love to come up and see you Jack would that be okay and he said of course love to see you you know and then he said or then I said rather I'd like to bring some friends said well I hope they're good-looking and okay well I guess so I look forward to that and I made the date and we decided to go from there so in fact it wasn't friends of mine at all they were the media.

I called the Ottawa Sun and Citizen, the newspapers in Ottawa, called the radio stations, called the TV stations as well, and made plans and pitched them the story of this Stanley Cup champion from 1945 who'd be getting his ring in 19, sorry in 2002, so 57 years later. And so they all bid on the story and I'd been a publicist in my music industry career, so I kind of knew what to do. So I went to Jack's place, he was now living in a seniors residence, his daughter was downstairs and kept the media at bay, and Jack I knocked on the door and we did the bro hug and hey Jack great to see you. Great to see you Kevin. Yeah whatever. I thought you were bringing some friends. I said well they are. They're down in the lobby. Do you mind if I

bring them up? No, bring them up. So his daughter Donna opened the door and the media was all there and wait what's going on here? All of a sudden there are TV cameras mic flags everything else that are kind of rushing into the room and Jack what's going on what's going on I said Jack I've got something I want to give to you and something that you earned a long long time ago and I handed him a little blue box little blue velvet box he lifted the lid and and there in front of everybody he noticed it was a Stanley Cup ring. And so this very tough exterior all of a sudden melted pretty quickly and the tears came down his cheeks. The media did a nice interview with him. It was on the news that night and was the lead story

on the radio stations and the next morning it was the front page of the sports sections as well. Nice pictures of Jack with his ring and you know his his maple leaf blue eyes, but with the tears on his cheeks as well. So that was 2002 and and I was very very pleased and and off we went. The next year you know I continue to see him on a monthly basis the next year or so I was about September or October and Jack said, when are you coming up? And I said, well, I'll be there before the snow flies, but I'm just a little bit busy right now. Hurry up here, hurry up. Okay, I will. But I didn't make it in time.

October 14th, 2003, Jack passed away. And so when I next saw him, I was doing his eulogy at his funeral. His family was there, a couple of neighbours. Former teammate, a guy named Dr. Bobby Kopp was there, but very few people. And off we went. So my life continued on. I thought about Jack a great deal. I really relished his friendship and thought about him a great deal. But that was the end of that story, or so I thought.

2007, my wife called me up at home, from home to my office, and said, Hey Kevin, there's a package here for you. I said, okay, that wasn't unusual. I said, who's it from? She said, I don't know, I don't recognize the address. And so I got home and we had dinner and watched Jeopardy and then I remembered I had a package. I better open it. So I opened it up and there was a package inside and I'm gonna read it just because I want to make sure I get it right. There was a small package inside and there was a letter and it said, Dear Kevin, you made our father very happy during the final years of his life. We decided as a family that you should have dad Stanley Cup ring. No one deserved it more than you. Sincerely John, Donna, and

Bruce McLean, Jack's children. So to this day I still wear a Jack McLean Stanley Cup ring. It's modest compared to the ones that they give out today, but it's so special to me and it all started with with the box that my dad had. And the book, you know, through the years, I've written 21 books now, but this is the one that I've wanted to write through most of my life. And I just didn't get to it. I wondered if anybody would care, but if I ever told people, they all said, oh, you've got to write that book. So I finally did. So I wrote a book called Jack in the Box, and that's the reason I was invited today, just to hopefully entertain you, but if not at least inform you of what happened between me and Jack McClain, my first cousin once removed, as we discovered

through the years. So thank you very much for putting up with me. Thank you you Mike. I think on behalf of everybody at TMLX17 that's a Hall of Fame story told by like a Hall of Fame worthy storyteller. Yeah I'm in the Hall of Fame I should let you know every day from 9 to 5. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you.