Jean Béliveau, 1931-2014
December 3, 2014 8:13 AM Subscribe
Last night, Jean Béliveau ("le Gros Bill"), former Montreal Canadiens captain and winner of 10 Stanley Cups, passed away at age 83. Noted for both his skill on the ice and his gentlemanly conduct off it, he had 507 goals and 712 assists over a 20 year career, all with Montreal.
Rare is the talent so great that a sports franchise would buy an entire league to secure his services. Jean Béliveau of the Montreal Canadiens was such a talent.
The club thought enough of Béliveau to make him the first rookie in Canadiens history to be offered a multiyear contract – worth a total of $105,000, an unheard-of sum in the day – and inserted him in the lineup that very night...After taking a constant battering at the hands of the NHL’s toughest players in his first two seasons, Béliveau took matters into his own hands and in 1955-56 set a team record, long since eclipsed, for penalty minutes – a surly season that coincidentally saw him win the scoring title, the Hart Trophy as most valuable player and lift the Cup for the first time.
Tributes:
Beliveau was what they invented the captaincy for. Tall, aristocratic, civilized and always dangerous
Even more significant to remember is that he ranks No. 1 to this day in another category. It is not hyperbole to call gentlemanly Jean the most respected player in the history of the game.
Video:
Habs video tribute
Legends of Hockey: Jean Béliveau
Farewell to a Legend
The club thought enough of Béliveau to make him the first rookie in Canadiens history to be offered a multiyear contract – worth a total of $105,000, an unheard-of sum in the day – and inserted him in the lineup that very night...After taking a constant battering at the hands of the NHL’s toughest players in his first two seasons, Béliveau took matters into his own hands and in 1955-56 set a team record, long since eclipsed, for penalty minutes – a surly season that coincidentally saw him win the scoring title, the Hart Trophy as most valuable player and lift the Cup for the first time.
Tributes:
Beliveau was what they invented the captaincy for. Tall, aristocratic, civilized and always dangerous
Even more significant to remember is that he ranks No. 1 to this day in another category. It is not hyperbole to call gentlemanly Jean the most respected player in the history of the game.
Video:
Habs video tribute
Legends of Hockey: Jean Béliveau
Farewell to a Legend
._/
posted by nubs at 8:17 AM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by nubs at 8:17 AM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
"I may not be the hockey player Jean Béliveau was, but some day I hope to be the man he is." – Guy Lafleur
posted by mazola at 8:19 AM on December 3, 2014 [9 favorites]
posted by mazola at 8:19 AM on December 3, 2014 [9 favorites]
.
guess these two can now pick up where this left off ...
posted by philip-random at 8:26 AM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
guess these two can now pick up where this left off ...
posted by philip-random at 8:26 AM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
.
I'm too young to have seen Jean Béliveau play, but I am old enough to have seen and read comments such as Lafleur's above, and I'm always struck by the heaps of respect and admiration offered Béliveau by his peers and by those players of later generations who idolized him.
Here's Pat Verbeek ("The Little Ball of Hate"), after he surpassed Béliveau on the career goal-scoring list:
posted by notyou at 8:39 AM on December 3, 2014 [3 favorites]
I'm too young to have seen Jean Béliveau play, but I am old enough to have seen and read comments such as Lafleur's above, and I'm always struck by the heaps of respect and admiration offered Béliveau by his peers and by those players of later generations who idolized him.
Here's Pat Verbeek ("The Little Ball of Hate"), after he surpassed Béliveau on the career goal-scoring list:
It's kind of a crime because he was an elegant player, the way he scored goals was beautiful," said Verbeek, who is in his 18th season. "The way I score goals is ugly."There's a lot that's ugly about professional hockey. There's a lot that's beautiful, too.
posted by notyou at 8:39 AM on December 3, 2014 [3 favorites]
._/ for Béliveau.
And Gordie's not looking so good either.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:50 AM on December 3, 2014
And Gordie's not looking so good either.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:50 AM on December 3, 2014
I was real young when my father, a die hard Rangers fan used to take me to the Old Madison Square Garden to see the Rangers play. There weren't a lot of teams in the NHL at the time, but we always went to see the Canadians when they were in town. My dad loved Mr. Beliveau. Said he was the class of the league.
JB will be missed by many. His passing is a reminder of days of my youth spent with my father eating dirty water dogs, pretzels and going to Ranger games.
.
posted by 724A at 9:32 AM on December 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
JB will be missed by many. His passing is a reminder of days of my youth spent with my father eating dirty water dogs, pretzels and going to Ranger games.
.
posted by 724A at 9:32 AM on December 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
Oh geez, this is like a slapshot right to my heart. He was a real man.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 10:07 AM on December 3, 2014
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 10:07 AM on December 3, 2014
"This stick was signed by Jean Béliveau
So don't fucking tell me where to fucking go
Oh oh oh, Sunday afternoon.
Someone's dog just took the puck
He buried it, it's in the snowbank
Your turn....
They rioted in the streets of Montreal
When they benched Rocket Richard
It's true...
Don't let those Sunday afternoons
get away, get away"
--Jane Siberry, Hockey
posted by dnash at 10:14 AM on December 3, 2014 [3 favorites]
So don't fucking tell me where to fucking go
Oh oh oh, Sunday afternoon.
Someone's dog just took the puck
He buried it, it's in the snowbank
Your turn....
They rioted in the streets of Montreal
When they benched Rocket Richard
It's true...
Don't let those Sunday afternoons
get away, get away"
--Jane Siberry, Hockey
posted by dnash at 10:14 AM on December 3, 2014 [3 favorites]
when I was a seven or eight year old kid in suburban Toronto circa 1967, a neighbor of ours worked for Imperial Oil who were regular sponsors of Leafs games. He had access to autographs and no sons of his own so he was eager to help me and my big brother out. I was happy to have my stick signed by all the Leafs (Mahovlich, Keon, Ellis, Horton, Bond, Bower, Armstrong etc), but my brother, always a contrarian, insisted on Jean Beliveau. He got it eventually (it was never that long before the Habs came to town) and now, some decades later, I'm pretty sure he still has that stick. Who knows what happened to my Leafs stick?
posted by philip-random at 10:22 AM on December 3, 2014
posted by philip-random at 10:22 AM on December 3, 2014
I was just reading last night that it was because of Jean Beliveau that a player's penalty ends automatically if the opposing team scores. This changed right after Beliveau scored a hat trick during some poor sap's penalty.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 10:46 AM on December 3, 2014
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 10:46 AM on December 3, 2014
So that's who Charlie Pierce's favorite Canadian was.
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posted by TedW at 11:35 AM on December 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
.
posted by TedW at 11:35 AM on December 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
I was just reading last night that it was because of Jean Beliveau that a player's penalty ends automatically if the opposing team scores.
Yes, up until Beliveau, players sat the entire two minutes. Beliveau scored 3 power play goals in 44 seconds (so all on the same penalty) against the Bruins in November of 1955. The next year, the league adopted the current rule where the player gets out of the box if a goal is scored during the penalty.
posted by nubs at 1:55 PM on December 3, 2014
Yes, up until Beliveau, players sat the entire two minutes. Beliveau scored 3 power play goals in 44 seconds (so all on the same penalty) against the Bruins in November of 1955. The next year, the league adopted the current rule where the player gets out of the box if a goal is scored during the penalty.
posted by nubs at 1:55 PM on December 3, 2014
"Jean Beliveau's Astonishing Grace" [The Atlantic]
posted by mazola at 2:03 PM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by mazola at 2:03 PM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
His name is on the Stanley Cup 17 times. SEVENTEEN.
.
posted by dry white toast at 10:20 PM on December 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
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posted by dry white toast at 10:20 PM on December 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
His name is on the Stanley Cup 17 times. SEVENTEEN.
It's kind of amazing how that worked out. There's almost no guarantee that the person who wins the most championships in a sport will be someone like Beliveau. In baseball, it's Yogi Berra, who was a great, iconic player, one of the best catchers ever, and possibly the most quotable American since Mark Twain, but still kind of a guy you realize won more than Babe Ruth and a lot more than Willie Mays and it's weird. In basketball, it's Phil Jackson, who's a great coach, but still a coach, and not really a beloved icon. In football, it's apparently someone named Neal Dahlen. Beliveau, though, is exactly who you'd want to be the person with his name on the Stanley Cup more than anyone else.
posted by Copronymus at 9:31 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's kind of amazing how that worked out. There's almost no guarantee that the person who wins the most championships in a sport will be someone like Beliveau. In baseball, it's Yogi Berra, who was a great, iconic player, one of the best catchers ever, and possibly the most quotable American since Mark Twain, but still kind of a guy you realize won more than Babe Ruth and a lot more than Willie Mays and it's weird. In basketball, it's Phil Jackson, who's a great coach, but still a coach, and not really a beloved icon. In football, it's apparently someone named Neal Dahlen. Beliveau, though, is exactly who you'd want to be the person with his name on the Stanley Cup more than anyone else.
posted by Copronymus at 9:31 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
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