Sunday, December 13, 2020
Larry Mavety
The sports world lost one of its iconic characters last week with the passing of Larry Mavety. To most of us, he was simply “Mav”.
As a player in the hockey and baseball and softball world, Mav took no prisoners. That is to say, he always let it be known that he was not someone you messed with.
He was a mainstay behind the plate in his youth in Belleville. I have vivid memories of Mav taking his position behind home plate at the “Alemite” ball field on Pine Street in Belleville. He controlled the game from that position. Runners rounding third base on a ball hit to the outfield knew that they were in for a battle when they neared home plate. Mav would receive the throw from the cutoff man, and would turn to face the runner, blocking the plate. He was able to handle that job with no problem because of his imposing stature. “Solid” is the word that comes to mind.
Mav was an exceptional hitter as well. He was always in the top tier of batters in the leagues he played in before he began his hockey days in earnest. Recently, I had a fine chat with Bill Latchford, Mav's battery mate. They had some fine duels with teams from Kingston, over the years.
In the hockey world, he gained a reutation as being an imposing player as a defenceman. Opposing forwards who went into the corners with Mav expected a struggle for the puck. When they decided to park their butts in from of Mav's goaltender, they knew that he would pass along a message, in a physical way. “You simply don't belong here”, Mav would suggest, with a shove, a crosscheck, a tap with his stick.
After he hung up his blades, and his baseball cleats, Mav moved easily into the coaching ranks. If he did not capture your attention with his size, he did that with his voice. He had a legendary growl, a raspiness that was not to be forgotten. Junior hockey players who skated for Mav will always remember his “instructions” from behind the bench. And yes, there was the odd curse word interlaced with Mav's recommendations.
Larry Mavety played for more than 18 teams in his hockey career which stretched from 1960 to 1978. He played in 248 games in the World Hockey Association including a brief stint with the Toronto Toros in the 1974-75 season. He skated with the Chicago Cougars, the Los Angeles Sharks, the Philadelphia Blazers, the Long Island Cougars, the Denver Spurs, the Ottawa Civics, and the Indianapolis Racers, all WHA teams. All told, he palyed in 8 different leagues.
Mav's first coaching assignment was behind the bench of the Belleville Bulls during their inaugural season in the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey Level. The team spent two years at that level, advancing to the Canadian championships in their second year. The Bulls were defeated by the Prince Albert Raiders in the final game. In 1981, the team moved up to the Ontario Hockey League. With the exception of a couple of years, Mav coached the Bulls until 1997. The two years that he left the team were spent in Kingston.
He moved down the road to coach the Frontenacs in 1997, and remained as coach and general manager until 2009. On a few occasions, he turned over the coaching duties to others: Greg Bignell, Jim Hulton, Doug Gilmour, and Bruce Cassidy. He remained with the Kingston team as a special consultant until 2020.
I would venture to say that Larry Mavety rubbed shoulders with almost every hockey icon in hockey history. He coached thousands of players, and shared his “old school” hockey philosophy with those players. Even when the players broke the rules, sometimes seriously, he would simply say, “They're all good kids”.
Mav was 78 years old when he passed away.
