Sports fans across Canada knew John Ferguson as a multiple-time Stanley Cup winner who was highly respected in hockey circles.
To his family and those who knew Ferguson, they knew that it was the horse that was his true passion in life. By Chris Lomon
At first, Serge Savard couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Could it be that his teammate, one of the toughest players to ever lace up the skates in the NHL, was actually yelling for help in the midst of a celebrity standardbred race?
John Ferguson, the feisty, five-time Stanley Cup-winning winger, the one who never backed down from any challenge or challenger, did, at least on one occasion, need his good friend and fellow Les Habitants, Savard, to come to his rescue.
Not on the ice, however.
Celebrity races, including NHL stars sitting in the sulky, were popular draws at Blue Bonnets during Ferguson and Savard’s playing days back in the 1960s and into the 1970s.
Friendships, however, were cast aside once the gate swung open. Bragging rights were on the line. Win and you got to rub it in their noses. Finish last and you’d never hear the end of it.
So, did two good pals desperately want to get the better of the other on the racetrack? You can bet on it.
“I remember one of those events for the hockey players,” started the 70-year-old Savard, who also has a longstanding association with standardbred racing (Shadow Play, who he co-owned, earned $1,559,822 including a Little Brown Jug victory in 2008). “I was on the outside with my horse and Fergie was right beside me on the inside. All of the sudden, he starts screaming at me, ‘Serge, I’m going to fall off, I’m going to fall off!’ He was yelling, but he was laughing, too. So, I pulled my horse back.
“After the race, he has this big grin on his face and I look at him say, ‘You son of a bitch!’” continued Savard. “We couldn’t stop laughing. That was John, though. He just loved everything about racing.”
Love might not even be strong enough a word.
“Hey, Serge, let’s go....we can catch at least a few before we have to be back.”
That’s the way Savard remembers the first time, but certainly not the last, that Ferguson, his Habs teammate, summoned him after a team lunch so they could head to the racetrack whenever they played in California.
Preparing to face off against a Western foe, that was put on hold for a brief time. Eating quickly was the key. After all, there were races to watch (and bet on).
It was in the latter years of the 1960s, when the Canadiens were on a Western swing, set to face-off against the Los Angeles Kings. He chuckles heartily at the very recollection of that day.
“Whenever we were on the road when we played together on the Canadiens, he would wake up and start looking at the racing form,” said the veteran of 17 NHL seasons, who won eight Stanley Cups, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. “We would have our team lunch at 12:30 and then we were off to the track for an hour or so. Whenever we were in Los Angeles, we’d go and visit the backstretch and they treated us so well. That’s what we did the very first time I was with the team and we did it a lot more times whenever we were there.
“I clearly remember being at the track together,” continued Savard. “He just loved being there, watching the races and enjoying himself. It didn’t matter what track it was. You could see how happy he was every time we’d go.”
Sitting in the stands, placing a few bets, cheering on their horse down the lane – Savard and Ferguson were fixtures at tracks across North America, standardbred and thoroughbred, during their playing days together and after.
It was at the races where Savard saw a decidedly different side to the petulant 6’0,” 180-pounder – jovial, kind, a laugh-a-minute. It was Ferguson’s ultimate happy place away from the stresses and pressures of NHL life.
And there’s no doubt it was.
Ferguson, in a story written by Doug Gilbert, quipped, “Every road trip the Canadiens ever took, I made every racetrack that was open within 100 miles of the game.”
Some of Savard’s fondest recollections of Ferguson, who as a kid would often accompany his father and grandfather, both Thoroughbred horsemen, to old Hastings Park in Vancouver, were those afternoons and evenings they would spend together at the races.
Although Ferguson, who passed away at the age of 68 from prostate cancer in 2007, was best known for the handful of Stanley Cups he won with the Montreal Canadiens, and as a hockey management legend, he was also a major player on the standardbred scene.
The man who once said he collected racetracks like other people collect stamps or coins, jumped into the harness horse ownership ranks in the early 1970s as a partner with Del MacTavish Sr. and Roger White, in trotter Harlan Marv. Shortly after, Ferguson partnered with the Stall Family in forming Double Two Ranch, whose stars included Keystone Sandra and Comet Angus.
Hardie Hanover, trained by John Burns, would prove to be the most prolific horse Ferguson owned. Named Canada’s Three-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year in 1994, her victories included the Fan Hanover and Breeders Crown, bankrolling nearly $720,000 in purse earnings.
Ferguson also made his mark in other areas of the sport.
At the encouragement of Hall of Fame breeder Elgin Armstrong, he began purchasing fillies with breeding potential. Eventually, he sold the majority of the mares, with the exception of Lady Kin Hanover, the dam of Merger. Ferguson was the breeder of Merger, who was syndicated at the age of two for over $8 million before triumphing in the 1982 Little Brown Jug.
Ferguson also made his mark in track management. He worked at Blue Bonnets Raceway, and after hanging up his skates he took on the role of President of Windsor Raceway. He was also one of the key contributors behind the formation of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame and assisted with researching and writing its by-laws.
“I liked him the very first time I met him,” recalled Burns. “Here’s this really tough guy, but he was a pussycat. I remember he had this little dog, this tiny little thing, called Magic. He’d bring her everywhere with him. It was quite a sight seeing this big guy carrying around this small dog.”
Soon after, Burns and Ferguson became close friends.
“We ended up having some good success together with horses like Hardie Hanover, Presidency and (O’Brien Award winner) Stand And Deliver,” recalled Burns. “He just loved those horses. Hockey was a business for him, but I’ll tell you, horses were sure his passion.”
Burns still gets emotional when he speaks of Ferguson’s passing on July 14, 2007.
“The last time I spoke to him… his voice was so weak,” remembered Burns. “He phoned me and he was happy that he had a wheelchair so that he could get out of bed and go to other places in his house. I said goodbye and when I got off the phone, I bawled my eyes out. He didn’t deserve to go that way. But, he sure fought it with everything he had.”
As for what he’ll remember most about his time with Ferguson, Burns has plenty to share.
“I miss his friendship,” he started. “I also miss talking horses with him and going out to dinner and just having the best time you could have. I remember all the good things he did for people. There was a time he drove out to the farm – Fergie was with the Winnipeg Jets at that time – to pick up my son Derek. He brought him to Maple Leaf Gardens and introduced him to the players. He got Derek a signed stick from Dale Hawerchuk. He never forgot that John did that and neither have I. That’s a great example of what kind of person he was.”
Standardbred Canada’s Sales Manager Heather Reid chuckles as she recalls a trip to Las Vegas with, among others, ‘Fergie and Timmy Twaddle’. “We go all the way to Vegas to accept an award for Hardie Hanover,” she laughs. “So we’re sitting there at the banquet, and it goes long, as those things tend to do, and all Fergie keeps saying is ‘when can we get the hell outta here, I want to catch the last few at Los Alamitos...I’ve got to get down to the race book!’” Reid’s face beams as she fondly remembers her old friend. “He definitely loved to have a few drinks and play the ponies,” she smiles. “Those were fun times.”
Like Burns and Reid, Savard has fond recollections.
“Fergie was the nicest guy,” he said. “I remember going to see him in Windsor just before he died. The last day I was there, we hugged and he looked right at me and said, ‘Serge, I’d love to beat this.’ That was him. He fought to the very end.
“When we won the Jug [with Shadow Play], his oldest daughter was there. I told her to come into the winner’s circle. It meant a lot to me that she could share that moment with us. He did so much for me. I wouldn’t have been on the Canadian team (the 1972 squad that beat the Russians in the historic Summit Series) if it wasn’t for John, who was an assistant coach for Canada. I was hurt the year before, but he told me to come to training camp. I ended up making the team. But, that was John. If you were his friend, it meant something.”
Those days they spent together at the races were meaningful, too.
“I can still remember his voice: ‘Serge, come on, we’re going to the track.’ I miss those days. Those were great times.”
The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame is no doubt welcoming a genuine tough guy. It’s apparent the Hall is also getting a genuine good guy, too.
“I had the pleasure of working with John at many of our NHL Alumni events and he became a very dear friend,” said Wendy McCreary, Senior Director, NHL Alumni & BreakAway (Career Transition) Program. “His warmth and compassion for his teammates was a quality that he carried on and off the ice. He was a genuine classy ambassador of the game and dedicated his love of it to bringing awareness at all levels. John was simply loved by all. In spite of his tough character on the ice, he touted a very large heart off the ice.”
Ferguson’s good friend concurs.
“This is a great choice, Fergie going into the Hall of Fame,” offered Savard. “He was an icon in hockey and in racing.”
