RIP Jean Beliveau

Wore the C for Les Canadiens for two decades ...

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/montreal-canadiens/beliveau-obit

 

RIP, and sorry to say, I think he might be the first of two hockey legends to pass within a short time.

 

The guy had it all, grace, abilities, good looks/charisma and for whatever (weird) reason, he decided to share all this with everybody. Sort of like Superman. I always compare him to Mickey Mantle, he was the MM of hockey.

Picture this, a guy that won 10 Stanley Cups, he did it all, yet even in his old age, he kept encouraging he Habs and went in the locker room in the playoffs to lift the spirit of those guys from the first liner to the 7th D. There's never gonna be another like him.

 

May have been comaparable to Mantle on the field/ice but they were polar opposites when it came to their off field/ice activities.

 

His name appears on the Stanley Cup more than anyone else--17 times. Ten as a player and 7 as a Canadians exec.

RIP.

 

I heard a story on the radio this morning that when Jean Beliveau was returning from Chicago after winning the Stanley Cup he was asked at Customs if he had anything to declare. "Just the Stanley Cup" he replied. The Customs officer smiled and said "We'll put that down as Canadian Goods being Returned".

RIP to a true class act.

 

And he also turned down two offers--a seat in the Senate from PM Mulroney and the amazing one from Jean Chretien to be Governor-General of Canada. He would have been perfect for that but he said his family needed him.

Many players are known by their nicknames after they retire but he was always "Monsieur Beliveau"

Class act doesn't begin to describe him.

 

And he also turned down two offers--a seat in the Senate from PM Mulroney and the amazing one from Jean Chretien to be Governor-General of Canada. He would have been perfect for that but he said his family needed him.

Many players are known by their nicknames after they retire but he was always "Monsieur Beliveau"

Class act doesn't begin to describe him.


RIP Monsieur Beliveau

 

That was a great obit by Dave Stubbs, too.
I didn't want to stop reading about Beliveau.

 

And now a tribute from Ken Dryden:

He became an ambassador for the Canadiens, but one like no other. He was proud of being a Montreal Canadien and proud of his sport. He was proud of being a Victoriavillois and a Montrealer, proud of being a Quebecker, proud of being a Canadian. He believed in all of them, and he represented all of them wherever he went. No place was too small or remote because no fan, no person was too unimportant.

He was the great Jean Beliveau, tall, handsome, graceful and gracious, with his warm dignity and friendly smile, yet there he was. He treated everyone with such respect. He said the right things, and in the right way — in French and in English — because that is what he believed, and that’s how he was. He made every occasion better. He made everyone who attended feel that their town, their organization, their province, their country, their event mattered. That they mattered. Appealing to their best selves, he reminded them of the best that was in them.

http://on.thestar.com/1rUf3Nc

 

Guy Lafleur in front of Jean Beliveau's casket: