Profile: Gump Worsley
Jan 31, 2007Lorne "Gump" Worsley will go down as one of the finest, funniest and ironically mistreated goalies in Rangers history.
A product of the Blueshirts' farm system, Worsley learned his goaltending trade as a teenager with the Verdun (junior) Cyclones in Montreal.
Few Rangers fans today remember that the Blueshirts had a farm team that played at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoons called the Rovers of the Eastern Hockey League.
Unquestionably, the most colorful goalie to wear the Rovers red was Worsley. Because he boar a distinct resemblance to the New York Daily News comic book character Andy Gump, the squat netminder was nicknamed Gump and the moniker stuck with him for the rest of his career. Worsley epitomized the young Rover.
 |
A native of Montreal, Worsley grew up in the city's Point St. Charles district and hardly was accustomed to the Gotham frenzy when he came to New York for his Rovers' debut.
In his autobiography, They Call Me Gump, Worsley vividly described his introduction to New York City as a 20-year-old Rover: "I soon got caught up in the city's fast life and almost ruined my career before it got started.
"My closest friends on the Rover team were Johnny Flynn, Val DeLory, and Stan "Tatter" McLellan. They were all from Northern Ontario and played on the same line. We lived at the Belvedere Hotel across the street from the old Madison Square Garden on 49th Street for a while, then we roomed together in the Bronx.
"We ran from bar to bar in those days - and you know how many bars there are in New York. About 10,000. After most games, we'd go out drinking and stay out until the joints closed at four in the morning. We were always there for the last call.
"I can still remember the names of some of the spots - especially those in the vicinity of the old Garden. The All-Sports bar, located near the corner of Eighth Avenue and 48th Street next to the firehouse, was a favorite. We were earning between $150 and $200 a week, and we'd blow most of it there or at the Everglades, a basement joint across the street from Mama Leone's on 48th, or at Harold's Show spot on 45th. We didn't discriminate, you see. We hit them all.
"This got us into trouble with Phil Watson, the coach of the Rovers, and with the entire Rover organization because we weren't getting much sleep. But we figured we were young and we could get away with it. What the hell, we were all single and had a little money in our pockets, and how could they really expect us to behave otherwise in the big town."
Watson, who had been a star with the 1940 Stanley Cup-winning Rangers, was another Rover who would develop his craft and eventually move to the NHL - but this time as a coach.
Often called "Phiery Phil," by newsmen, Watson had a temper on top of his temper. Mixing his French-Canadian with his English, Phil would target his opponents, referees and often his own players. Watson and Worsley developed an early dislike for each other leading to an early feud. That enmity would continue later in their careers when Phil coached the Rangers and Worsley played goal for him during the late 1950's.
The feud began with the Rovers almost as soon as Worsley arrived in Manhattan. One day after practice, Worlsey was feeling pretty good about himself. Watson yelled out across the dressing room, "Worsley, you think you're hot s*** now. YOU STINK!"
He didn't stink. Worsley played all forty-seven games for the Rovers and had a 2.83 goals against average and led the EHL with seven shutouts.
 |
"Well, you should have seen Watson after the second game. We won 8-1. DeLory and Dom Maglio each scored twice. I wanted to throw a shutout in Watson's face and would have gotten it if it weren't for Herb Foster, the Sea Gulls' player-coach, hadn't beaten me during a power-play.
"The we played Spokane for the U.S. senior amateur championship. Before the game in Spokane, Watson issued a warning to us: ‘You guys had better win, or I'm sending you home in a bus.'
"Most of us were used to riding in buses, but all the way from the state of Washington to Montreal? Hell, that would have taken a week and was a pretty dumb thing to say. I mean, what possible good would it do?
"We lost that game in Spokane and the guys were afraid Watson would keep his promise. He probably would have too, but he was overruled by the front office and we returned home by train.
"Putting up with all of the travel in the travel in the Eastern League was almost as nerve-wracking as Watson himself. We played Sunday doubleheaders against the Boston Olympics - two games in two cities on the same day. We would play in Madison Square Garden in the afternoon, then fly to Boston for the night game, catching a snack on the plane. One of the first plane rides I ever took was with the Rovers. And it was almost my last. We had played a game in Milwaukee and were returning to New York on a two-motor prop job. I think it was a Viscount. I was sitting there nervous as hell when one of our guys yelled, ‘Hey, there's smoke coming out of the engine.'"
"I figured that was the end. But the pilot managed to extinguish the fire and make an emergency landing in Pittsburgh. My fear of flying began on that night in November, 1949."
Worsley made it to the Rangers for the 1952-53 season, won the rookie-of-the-year award with a 3.06 goals against average and appeared here to stay but incredibly was sent back to the minors for the 1953-54 season when Johnny Bower replaced him.
A year later, Worsley returned but came into his own by the 1955-56 season when Phil Watson took over as coach. The Blueshirts made the playoffs that year for the first time since 1950 and had a formidable team in front of the Gump.
Once again though, Watson proved to be Worsley's tormentor and the vice was versa. When Worsley was asked if he didn't like Watson, Worsley replied, "Hate would be a better word." And when asked about Watson's coaching ability he commented, "As a coach, he was a good waiter. If we won, it was him. If we lost, it was us. That's the way he was. It's not going to make guys real happy, that's for sure."
Watson never held back in his lack of affection for Watson, "Away from the rink, Watson stuck his nose into everything. He always wanted to know what we were up to - even when the team was home. He would call our homes at night, sometimes even late at night, wake up with kids and get the wives screaming too. You expect bed checks on the road, but not at home. It was ridiculous."
Perhaps Worsley's most indelible line about Watson came after a devastating Ranger loss. In typical Watson fashion, he lambasted the goalie to the press after the game saying how Worsley was out of shape and had, "a beer belly." When reporters told Gump about his coach's comment, Worsley replied calmly, "That shows what he knows. I only drink VO."
The most tragic aspect of Worsley's career in New York took place in the 1961-62 season when hall-of-famer Doug Harvey led the Blueshirts into the playoffs as player-coach.
The fourth place Rangers met second place Toronto in the opening round.
Although the Leafs won the first two games in Toronto, the Blueshirts rebounded and won the next pair at the Garden. Game five, on April 5, 1962, was a classic. It was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation and went into the second overtime.
The Rangers attacked the Leafs' goal but were blunted and then the home club counterattacked. Frank Mahovlich, the Hall-of-Fame left-winger came down the side and hurled a hard shot at Worsley.
Gump made the save, but the puck fell behind him in the crease. He fell back on the rubber, which was like a pillow under his neck. Play should have been called because the action had stopped. And that's what Gump logically thought.
Sadly, the referee had swallowed his whistle and Worsley picked his head up to see what was going on. At that moment Red Kelly of the Leafs moved in, noticed the puck untended and deposited it into the net for the winning goal at 4:23 of the second overtime. That put the Leafs ahead three games to two and left the Rangers totally demoralized; so much so that they lost the sixth game 7-1.
Gump lasted one more season and then on June 4, 1963, Worsley got the news that changed his life.
Here's how Gump put it in his autobiography: "That was the day I got out of the Ranger jailhouse.
"All the big shots of pro hockey were in Montreal for the annual draft meetings. And I was relaxing in my backyard in Beloeil that afternoon when Lorne Ray, an old friend, dropped by. He was really excited.
" ‘Hey Gump, aren't you listening to the radio?' He asked.
‘Why? What's up?' I said.
‘You've been traded to the Canadians.'
‘Are you nuts or something?'
‘I'm not nuts, believe me,' Lorne said. ‘It's a big trade. Jacques Plante is involved, too.
'I still couldn't believe it. To be able to live and play hockey in Montreal would be too much.
I went into the house and turned on the radio. Sure enough, all the news announcers were talking about the trade. It was a biggee. The Rangers had agreed to ship me, Dave Balon, Len Ronson and Leon Rochefort to the Canadians for Plante, Donnie Marshall and Phil Goyette."
And just like that, Gump's career as a Ranger was done. But his career in the NHL was far from finished. Worsley went on to play six seasons tending goal for the Montreal Canadiens leading his hometown Habs to four Stanley Cups in seven seasons. In 1967-68, Gump's best year in Montreal, he finished the season with six shutouts and a superb 1.98 goals against average and won his final Vezina Trophy. That year, Worsley went 11-0 in the playoffs and led Montreal to the their third Stanley Cup in five years.
After a briefly retiring in 1969, Worsley was coaxed into coming back to the NHL by Minnesota GM. Wren Blair and signed with the expansion Minnesota North Stars for the 1969-70 season. With a crippling fear of flying, Worsley agreed on a one year stay which ended four years later when he hung up his pads for good in 1974 at the age of 45.
Worsley refused to wear a facemask throughout his career, and though it was common in his younger days, a maskless goalie was unheard of and considered crazy in his last few seasons in the NHL. In a move that would come to signify the end of an era, Gump finally donned a facemask for second half of his last season with the Minnesota North Stars.
His career had finally come to an end that season. Here's how Gump summed it up: "I played my 860th regular season game in the NHL against the Philadelphia Flyers in April 2, 1974. I was sorry I didn't go out a winner. The score was tied at 3-3 with I gave up three goals in less than five minutes in the third period.
"The final goal against me - I allowed 2432 in my NHL career - was scored by Dave Schultz. He was born the year I played my first pro game in 1949."
Gump was a large part of my hockey life. I watched him firsthand as a Rover and then covered him as a Ranger. It's safe to say that I disliked Watson with the same vehemence as Worsley.
And I was as tickled as anybody when Gump made it into the Hall of Fame in 1980. This was as much a reward for his courageous work as a Ranger as it was for the four Stanley Cups he won as a member of the Montreal Canadiens.
Gump will go down in the hearts and minds of hockey fans everywhere as one of the finest goalies in the history of the hockey.
