Elliott: HOFer Jarome Iginla made Jonas Wright's day
(Originally published Nov. 2, 2019
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
We know three things about Jarome Iginla:
He played 20 seasons and 1,553 games in the National Hockey League.
He also could play ball a little appearing for the host St. Albert team at the bantam nationals.
And, he’s a real nice guy.
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Iginla (Edmonton, Alta.) made his National Hockey League debut in 1995-96 with the Calgary Flames. After 16 years with the Flames he moved on to skate for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings.
He scored 625 goals and assisted on 675 for 1,300 points to sit 34th overall since they began tallying up points. Iginla sits 25 points behind Buffalo Sabres Hall of Famer Gilbert Perreault (1970-87, 1,326) and 19 ahead of Detroit Red Wings Hall of Famer Alex Delvecchio (1950-74, 1,281).
Six times he earned all-star honours as well as winning such trophies as the Maurice Richard (2001-02), Ted Lindsay (2001-02), Art Ross (2001-02). King Clancy Memorial (2003-04), Maurice Richard (2003-04) and the Mark Messier Leadership Award (2008-09).
Twice he led the NHL in scoring with 52 goals in 2001-02 and 41 in 2003-04, while leading the league in points with 96 in 2001-02.
* * *
So we have checked the box for hockey and baseball. How do we know the third one?
Well, first some background: Michael Wright is a brave Canadian hero. His parents Linda and Peter along with his grand parents Dorothy and George Morton, who ran the Coca-Cola plant, are all from Kingston. Michael grew up in Oakville as a Toronto Blue Jays and a Toronto Maple Leafs fan.
When Michael was serving in Afghanistan he asked his wife, Hilary Goodpasture, then living in Brandon, Man., to buy Maple Leafs jerseys for the boys who were who age four and two at the time. His wife came home with one Edmonton Oilers jersey and one Calgary Flames.
Why buy Oilers and Flames shirts when the couple had neither lived in either community?
Because they were the only sizes that fit.
So, Henry grew up to became a lifelong Oilers fans.
And Jonas grew up to be a Flames fan.
For Henry’s 16th birthday in November of 2018, Michael flew he and Henry to Edmonton to see an Oiler game.
But the only chance Jonas has of seeing the Flames play on his 16th -- June 15, 2020 -- is if the Flames make the Stanley Cup final.
Jonas’s full name is Jonas Michael Wright but when he was five years old he wanted to change his name to: Jonas Iginla Michael Wright. A few years later he would tell people his full name was Jonas Iginla Michael Wright. That’s devotion. That’s where Iginla ranked as his favourite player.
Some how super agent Donnie Meehan heard of this story, how the son of a Canadian hero wound up being a Flames fan. Next thing you knew the legendary Lisa Jaffray, marketing and business coordinator of Newport Sports Management Inc. was on the case. A few weeks later Jonas Wright received an envelope at his house in Ottawa. It contained signed pictures from Iginla, a Newport client.
One personalized picture read “Happy 16th birthday. Dream big, work hard.”
“Jonas doesn’t get a lot of mail,” Michael said. “We went to the mail box, picked up the mail but he was at hockey practice. He had a pretty big smile on his face when he opened the letter.
“He was already smiling when he saw the signed photo, but when he saw the personalized message on the second photo, his face really lit up. It will definitely be going up in his room.”
The split loyalties goes farther than the NHL. Henry is a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays, the Buffalo Bills, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, in addition to the Oilers, while Jonas roots for the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Chargers, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Flames.
Michael we should tell you is the Chief of Staff Defence Intelligence Command. He served with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, serving with The Royal Canadian Regiment battle group. He was company commander in the Panjwai district, west of Kandahar.
Michael’s family was stationed in St. Albert in 2010.
“We met him in 2010 after he assisted on Sidney Crosby’s game winner in overtime when Team Canada beat USA in Vancouver,” Michael said. “Well ... we lined up like everyone else to get an autograph.”
* * *
Michael Wright held the rank of Major when he was one of three men to earn the Canadian Medal of Military Valour at Rideau Hall.
Canadian forces took their positions around 6 p.m. near Kandahar to augment the Afghan national police Soon after, Taliban forces attacked the district centre.
More than 40 Canadians came to support the 50 Afghans battling an estimated 300 Taliban members. The battle waged for 12 hours in all. The Taliban lost 72 men, the Afghans five and thankfully, zero Canadians were lost.
Wright’s group has had six casualties, two brave men in August and four in September. The soldiers killed were: Master Corporal Jeff Walsh, 33, of Regina; Corporal David Braun, 27, of Raymore, Sask.; Corporal Shane Keating, 30, of Dalmeny, Sask., Corporal Keith Morley, 30, of Winnipeg, David Byers, 22, of Espanola, Ont., and Corporal Glenn Arnold, 32, of McKerrow, Ont.
* * *
Michael Wright was a ball fan making at least one game a year going back to 1977, watching his favourite player, Bob Bailor, at Exhibition Stadium.
He made the drive from Oakville to cheer his all-time fave, Ernie Whitt, as the Jays reached the post-season in 1985.
And he was there when the replay of Joe Carter’s home run leaps was shown again and again that Saturday in ‘93.
His streak ended in 2006. He was scheduled to fly from Winnipeg to Toronto and thought he could catch a game. Yet, he flew directly to Petawawa and then was off on a 16-hour flight. At the time, Major Wright was on his way to Afghanistan.
His favorite moment as a Jays fan?
“Oct. 23, 1993, 11:39 pm,” he said listing the date and time Carter homered giving the Jays the World Series.
Two days before Carter’s heroics, Wright’s pals, knowing he had tickets for Game 6, asked if he hoped the Jays, up 3-1 in the series, would lose Game 5 in Philadelphia.
“I get nervous, I was hoping they’d win it in five,” Wright said. “I’m a Leafs fan. We have to win when we can.”
Curt Schilling blanked the Jays in Game 5, the series moved to the SkyDome and Wright was five rows up in Level 500. Wright and his wife, Hilary were there last Sunday, with sons, Henry, then four, and Jonas, two, to see the Jays beat the Texas Rangers on Frank Thomas figurine day.
“Henry broke the bat off the figure by the second inning,” Wright laughed. “Thomas is Henry’s favourite player.”
* * *
Iginla’s ball playing days saw him wear catcher’s gear. Bill Byckowski (Georgetown, Ont.) in his first year as the Blue Jays Canadian scout saw Iginla catch for the host St. Albert team in the bantam nationals in 1992.
The next spring all the Blue Jays top brass headed to Edmonton -- future Hall of Fame general manager Pat Gillick, scouting director Bob Engle (who drafted Cy Young award winners Roy Halladay, Chris Carpenter and Pat Hentgen, as well as signing Felix Hernandez with the Seattle Mariners) and pitching coach Al Widmar.
They were there to scout RHP Joe Young (Fort McMurray, Alta.). Engle Gillick and Widmar had flown from from Salt Lake City to Edmonton, while Byckowski headed West from Toronto. The Salt Lake flight passengers were watching Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men. Just as Jack Nicholson took the stand the flight attendant shut off the movie. Time to land. So that night in Edmonton three baseball men went to the movies -- to see the final 15 minutes.
Iginla wasn’t there for the first game of the doubleheader, arriving between games.
“I’d been looking for him, then he arrives,” Byckowski recalled. “I asked how come he didn’t play the first game? We told him we were interested in him as a catcher. He was athletic and strong with a good catcher’s body.”
Iginla explained he’d returned from playing junior hockey with the Kamloops Blazers.
Byckowski asked “Are you any good?”
And the answer was “Well they tell me I could go in the first round.”
Byckowski said, “I think you should keep playing hockey.” Iginla went in the first round (11th overall) to the Dallas Stars.
Young was drafted in the third round and reached double-A Knoxville in 1996. Byckowski selected RHP Mike Johnson (Sherwood Park, Alta.) who the Jays scouts saw that day in the 17th round. He went on to pitch 81 games in the majors with the Montreal Expos and Baltimore Orioles.
Iginla made the right decision choosing hockey over baseball and he made the right choice making a teenager’s day.