Bobby and Dustin
When I was little, I liked certain athletes for any variety of reasons beginning with a) They were cute; b) They were good; c) They had funny names.
For example, I loved Bobby Knoop, who stopped by the Chicago White Sox on his way from the California Angels to retirement, with a layover in Kansas City. His name was pronounced [kuh-NOPP] but when you’re eight and it’s 1969, chanting “Bobby Kanoop, Bobby Kanoop,” passes for a world of fun.
That’s part of why Dustin Byfuglien, the enormous defenseman for the Blackhawks with the funny name, is mine and my kids’ new hero.
There are other reasons too, of course. He is 6-foot-3, they list him at 247 pounds and he glides around a sheet of ice on two pieces of metal less than an inch in width . A shy guy in the lockerroom, supposedly because he’s closer to 270, but I’ve seen enough of him to say he’s no 247.
His mother is Norwegian and his father is black, which makes him a rarity as only approximately two percent of the players in the NHL are black.
He also very good, particularly in this second-round playoff series against Vancouver where he created the equivalent of our recent Miss America gay marriage flap when he skated into the Canucks’ goalkeeper Roberto Luongo on Saturday.
In Canada, this is deeply frowned upon, prompting this bit of prose in a local paper:
Byfuglien not only barged into Luongo's crease, he broke into the goalie's head.
Asked for a response afterward, Luongo – fortunately still able to speak with his head broken into -- defended Byfuglien as hockey players do, saying the Blackhawks’ player had not fallen intentionally to the ice in order to ram him.
“But then he got me in an arm bar afterwards and he almost broke it,” said Luongo. “I’m not kidding, he almost broke my arm.”
But he said it admiringly.
Byfuglien’s name is officially pronounced [BUFF-a-lin] which only makes the whole thing more confusing because how do you get Buffalin out of Byfuglien in any language? But that’s how they say it in Roseau, his hometown in rural northern Minnesota.
He says the correct pronunciation really is actually as it looks, sort of, and that is [by-FOOG-lee-an].
“But I don’t like it said that way,” he says and how can you argue?
Growing up in Roseau, Byfulgien lived with his single mother in a trailer in the backyard of his grandparents’ house.
“My grandparents kept an eye on me and still do to this day,” he said. “My grandfather stepped in for [my father] and did a pretty good job with me.”
During winters in Roseau, which just sounds cold, there was “no choice,” Byfuglien said. “You had to play hockey.”
And if there was potential for a bi-racial boy to feel left out or lonely as his mother worked back-to-back jobs, hockey filled the gap.
“I fell in love with the game right away,” he said. “It meant so much to me, right from the get-go. I was always at the rink playing. I loved being at the rink. If I wasn’t there, I was home sleeping.”
His family struggled to get him the proper equipment. “But we could lease skates back then, wear them for three months then trade them in for a new pair,” he said.
At 15, he left Roseau for junior hockey in Chicago and didn’t look back.
“At the time, I didn’t even think about it,” he said. “I just packed my bags and left. I wanted to start new and see where it would take me.”
Hockey gave him a family wherever he stopped. “I was fine,” he said, speaking fondly of a family from Warrenville, with whom he still keeps in touch. “I didn’t want to go back. I always found a home, everywhere I went.”
The sport also gave him friends. “I didn’t feel left out,” he said of being black in a white sport. “Everywhere I went, I always found a good group of guys.”
And ultimately, hockey made him a man.
“The coaches were strict,” he recalled. “I remember walking into a restaurant for a team meal with my hat on, and being told to turn around and leave, ‘you’re not eating with us.’
“You learn.”
Byfuglien was the second-to-last person I interviewed for the Tribune. I never got to finish the full interview. Or the full story.
But sometimes it’s enough.
Categories: Unemployment, Junior Hockey, Hockey, Miss America, Gay Marriage, NHL Playoffs, Chicago Tribune
Tags: Roberto Luongo Chicago White Sox Vancouve Canucks Roseau Minn Bobby Knoop Chicago Blackhawks Dustin Byfuglein Melissa Isaacson
Missy, for the record, who was the last person you interviewed and who was your first when you arrived back in Chicago?
Mike, the last person I interviewed for the Tribune was Denis Savard and there is no one I would have chosen over him. A true Hall of Famer and gentleman in every sense of the word, Savard called me on a Wednesday afternoon. That morning I had been laid off and all I could think of was how much I had wanted to do that column. As it turned out, it was painful but poignant irony for me. I had wanted to ask Savard how he could still hold such love for an organization that earlier in the season had fired him as head coach. How, even though the Hawks graciously kept him on the payroll as a team ambassador, he could embrace his new role with such passion and genuine affection? And then that day, I suddenly understood. He loved his boys and the franchise. I loved my job and I loved to write. I still wrote it that day, interviewing him in embarassment as I had to stop often so I wouldn't start crying as he patiently consoled me. It turned out to be the easiest column I have ever written.
As for the first interview, I couldn't remember so I tried to look it up and the closest I could come up with were some coaches at a high school basketball tournament. The next week, I was on the Illinois basketball beat with Lou Henson. I'll have to look closer and see if it triggers something in my memory!
Reply to this
Just found the "real first interview." It was then Orlando Magic rookie and former Illini star Nick Anderson, who told me that if assistant coach Jimmy Collins, under fire for possible NCAA violations, was forced to resign, many Illinois players would transfer in protest.
Reply to this
Thanks for the update Missy. Sevard has always seemed like a class guy to me. I'm glad you are still writing on your site. Always enjoy the columns. Keep up the great work
Reply to this
Melissa, I just read your piece on Dustin Byfuglien and I loved it! He's my absolute favorite 'Hawk - those big brown soulful eyes of his GOT me the first time I saw him, and his skills on the ice are exciting to see.
He's such a good role player who has carved out a niche for himself with that big body, and his speed and reactions in front of the opponent's net is amazing. He's such a presence!
Dustin sort of reminds me of Horace Grant, my all-time favorite Bull - they're both guys who know their jobs and they just go in and do it, without asking for accolades or special treatment, despite how deserving they are of them.
Dustin's definitely a prize and I'm glad someone recognized that - thanks for reminding everyone what an asset he is to the team, even if he's not a scoring maniac. His contribution to the team is still great.
I really enjoyed your article on Pippen too - I guess that's probably the day you knew you had become "one of the boys" in the sportswriter department - a high honor, no doubt.
And even though I'm sure the wound from being let go at the Tribune is still sore (but healing, I hope), I'm thinking now that they did all your fans a HUGE favor - we get to read your articles in the blog more often than we read them in the paper recently, and for this I know I can speak for all of us when we say "way to go, Tribune." (I hope the sarcasm is as evident as I intended, too!) Your blog pieces outshine most of what is left in the whole paper nowadays. And I feel like I can say once again to you to "keep 'em comin'" (as I unknowingly said in my e-mail to you about Savard) without any irony.
Reply to this
Last summer my wife and I, both lifelong hockey fans, went to the Hawks Convention--taking a chance that maybe just maybe we would buy season tickets if we liked what we saw and heard. There was much to see and hear, but our best memory and the clincher for us both was a chance meeting with Dustin.
We stayed at the Hotel where the Convention was being held and while walking down the hallway one afternoon we came face to face with Big Buff. Dustin at once smiled, stuck out his hand and said "thanks for coming"...neither of us had said anything not even hello, he initiated the greeting...I was frozen not with fear but in awe that a pro athlete would do that and my wife went on to tell Dustin he was in fact my husbands favorite player...at which time I pulled out a convention puck I had bought and he signed for me with again a smile and a thanks for being a fan comment. He was so gracious in that small moment and space it just made such a positive impression on us both.
A true gentleman and a great hockey player and one who helped us become season ticket holders when he wasnt even trying to.
Reply to this