Saturday, November 11, 2017
Floyd Crawford-A Hockey Icon.
Floyd Crawford, the talismanic captain of the city's most accomplished sports team, died early Saturday, surrounded by members of his family. He was 88.
"Floyd died peacefully, he didn't suffer,” said Bobby Crawford, one of Floyd Crawford's nine children. “He had a great life.”
Great was a word often associated with Crawford — great leader, great coach, great father and grandfather, great man.
Recruited to Belleville in the 1950s to help build a team that could challenge for the Allan Cup, emblematic of senior A hockey supremacy in Canada, Crawford captained the McFarlands to a national title in 1958 and a world championship gold medal one year later in Prague. At that time, senior A hockey in Canada was only one or two steps below the NHL.
Many members of the Might Macs team remained in Belleville to help guide the next generation of hockey players in the city. Crawford was foremost among them.
He coached, managed and mentored hundreds of young athletes through the Belleville minor hockey system and on into junior. Some would go on to the highest levels of the sport. Many would stay behind and become contributing members of their community, passing down the lessons they'd learned from Crawford during cold winter mornings at Memorial Arena.
Crawford's playing, coaching and life philosophy was built on the cornerstones of faith, loyalty, hard work, determination and optimism. His words of encouragement were often delivered in harsh fashion, but the intended goal was always the same — be your best.
Together with his wife and household manager, Pauline, Crawford raised nine children — Susan, Peter, Michael, Bobby, Marc, Louis, Todd, Danielle and Eric. Three of the boys — Bobby, Marc and Louis — would go on to play in the NHL.
Marc won a Stanley Cup as bench boss of the Colorado Avalanche in 1996 and is now an associate coach with the Ottawa Senators. Louis coached the OHL Belleville Bulls to their only league title in 1999, with Floyd as chief scout.
When he was inducted into the Belleville Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, Crawford — born and raised in Toronto — recalled walking down a busy Front Street on his first Friday night in town after being recruited from the old Quebec senior league to join the Macs, now more than 60 years ago.
"I liked Belleville,” he said. “I thought it was a good place to raise a family.”
Thanks, Floyd. We're glad you stayed.
Notes from Paul Svoboda-The Intelligencer.
# posted by James Hurst @ 7:40 AM 
