bill wirtz

Condolences to the family of the man who owned the Blackhawks and congratulations to the few remaining fans who will admit to still following the team.

I know it sounds insensitive, but if we are going to pass ourselves off as being in the truth business, then the truth is that the greatest impediment to the Hawks success was the Hawks owner, one of the worst in sports history from a fan's standpoint and the man who almost singlehandedly killed hockey interest in this city. Rich, stubborn and backward, Wirtz's business practices were rooted in another century, protecting the laughable concept of "season reservation holders." In fact, you will probably see more of the man's funeral on home television than you saw of his team. Truth is truth.

I had a lot of conversations with Wirtz. Some got loud, like the time he thundered down a hallway in the beloved Stadium to chew me out for something I'd written about the "joint venture," which is how he referred to what would become the United Center. What I'd written had something to do with Wirtz having to fork over some extra money for a new version of the Sonja Henie Room, or something like that. Anyway, the man yelled at me, which was fine, and then at the end of his tirade, he paused, stuck out his hand and said, "Friends?" Yeah, well, OK, sure.

That's the way it went with me and him. Wirtz could be surprisingly charismatic, and it was a joy to talk hockey history with him. I guess our discussions of how the Hawks just had to have Jim Pappin in the late '60s stuck with him, because no matter how much I criticized "Billfold Wirtz" in print, the man always veered away from his escort to shake my hand in the new hallways of the "joint venture." The man honestly loved the NHL and hockey, I swear, but the contradiction that was Wirtz was that he had no idea how to treat the fans who made it all go. That's why Wirtz made the NHL almost extinct around here. Truth is truth. I mean, just look at his record:

Wirtz presided over the longest active championship drought in the NHL, the Hawks not having won the Stanley Cup since 1961. And it was on Wirtz's watch that so many fan favorites left the once-proud Indianhead logo, from Bobby Hull to Chris Chelios to Mike Keenan to Eddie Belfour to Jeremy Roenick to Darryl Sutter. Jeez, Wirtz even ran out brilliant announcer Pat Foley after 25 years of being the most consistently good thing about the or-gan-I-za-tion. In almost every case, it was about money. Most damning about the endless exits over cash were that many of those people were still good enough to help their new teams to championships -- Hull in the World Hockey Association, Chelios twice with the dreaded Red Wings, Belfour with Dallas, Keenan breaking the Rangers' 54-year drought. Oh, and I forgot former defenseman and general manager Bob Murray, who just won a Stanley Cup ring with the Anaheim Ducks.

Imagine: Anaheim, NHL champs; Chicago, NHL chumps. Truth is truth. How sick is that?

Here's how bad and embarrassing the money thing could get with Wirtz: After taking the Hawks to the Stanley Cup finals, Keenan was offered a new contract as general manager in which he was not allowed to spend over $10,000 without approval (which meant he had to go through Bob Pulford, the exchequer of Wirtz's fiefdom for 30 of the championship-less years). True thing. I saw the contract. Couldn't spend over 10 grand. Stupid. But typical.

Here's something else that Keenan once told me: Wirtz, who owned scores of businesses, mostly real estate, demanded that every one of them -- every one -- turn a profit, which included the Hawks, which is why Wirtz said he didn't want family members to try to buy championship teams the way Mike Ilitch's family did in Detroit. I guess it made a difference to Wirtz whether he had $800 million instead of just $750 million, seeing as how all those players left and Brett Hull never got paid here the way he wanted to be. Whatever, Ilitch's Wings won three times in less than a decade. Wirtz's Hawks haven't won one freakin' time in almost five decades. In fact, the Hawks, a team that charges $250 on the glass, have made the playoffs only one stinkin' time in the last decade.

Is it any wonder that many Hawks fans will regard Wirtz's death as a potential Hawks rebirth? Again, truth is truth.

And here's one more truth: The Wirtz family can turn into heroes by stepping away from the franchise and selling it to Wolves honcho Don Levin. Certainly one would have to look long and hard to find much good that occurred during Bill Wirtz's 41-year reign as president of the Blackhawks, and in the end, you likely would come up empty. He was not a good steward for a public entity, which is what a professional sports team really is.

Rich people own sports teams the way children own toys: to play with, to show off, to have as a source of pride. With Wirtz, however, one got the impression that the Hawks were no different to him than his other businesses.



Perhaps if Wirtz had some Jerry Jones, Mark Cuban or even George Steinbrenner in him, the last four decades would have been different and Wirtz would be remembered in a different light. There was a time when Jerry Reinsdorf was as unpopular as Wirtz. Six NBA titles and a World Series championship go a long way toward repairing relations with the paying public.

There were no Stanley Cup titles under Wirtz's rule, though. Only frustration, an ever-declining fan base and a once vibrant sport on life-support.

Perhaps Wirtz's public legacy will be his part in building the United Center and in turning around a blighted neighborhood. Michael Jordan was the main architect of that urban renewal, but Wirtz played an important role.

That is not an insignificant achievement, but unfortunately, it won't be the first thing that comes to mind in recalling Bill Wirtz.

Bob Foltman is a former Hawks beat reporter for the Tribune.
the longtime owner of the Chicago Blackhawks notorious for driving a hard bargain, died Wednesday at age 77.

In an announcement on the team Web site, the Blackhawks said Wirtz died at Evanston (Ill.) Hospital after battling cancer.

The family, led by Arthur Wirtz, purchased the Chicago Blackhawks in 1954. In 1966, William Wirtz became team president. advertisement





Wirtz was chairman of the Board of Governors of the NHL for 18 years and helped negotiate the merger of the NHL and the World Hockey Association in the late 1970s.

In the past 12 years, the Blackhawks have made just four playoff appearances - only two since 1997. The Blackhawks haven't played in the Stanley Cup finals in 15 years.


Flyers


Forward Scottie Upshall could miss up to six weeks with a broken wrist, and forward R.J. Umberger also needs surgery on his hand and could miss two weeks. Upshall and Umberger were both hurt in Philadelphia's 4-2 loss against Ottawa on Tuesday night, and the Flyers said both players were scheduled for surgery today.

Umberger broke the pinkie finger on his left hand.


Ducks


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"There is a hockey tradition here that goes back to Lord Stanley," said Ken Yaffe, a senior vice president for NHL International.


Hurricanes


Carolina returned first-round pick Brandon Sutter to the juniors and sent goalie Michael Leighton and forward Trevor Gillies to the AHL affiliate in Albany, N.Y.