Clark Gillies: Big man for Islanders, big man for Long Island

From the moment he arrived as a 20-year-old from tiny Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Clark Gillies considered Long Island a great place. So much so that, 40 years later as the Islanders honored him, he pointed out that he had lost his Canadian accent.

"I rarely say ‘eh,’ " he said at the time. "This really is home."

Generations of his fellow residents are certain that Long Island is all the more wonderful because Gillies was part of it. They were shocked and saddened Friday night by the death of the 67-year-old, whose legacy includes a plaque in the Hockey Hall of Fame, a retired jersey in the rafters, four Stanley Cup rings and thousands of "thank you’s" for his gifts of friendship and humanitarianism.

He will be forever remembered for raising the Cup and raising more than $1 million for the pediatric wing at Huntington Hospital. He will be revered as a strong and fierce competitor and a gentle and genial man off the ice. As his longtime friend Jim Johnson put it, "He was like a classic M&M: Hard on the outside, all mush and sweet on the inside."

The man’s sensitive side was never on greater display than during a layover in Toronto 20 years ago. Gillies and his family were traveling to Moose Jaw to celebrate his mother’s 80th birthday. He received an urgent message on his cell, quickly made a return call and instantly broke down in tears.

His family thought something had happened to the elder Mrs. Gillies. It turned out he was crying for joy about being elected to the Hall of Fame after having fallen short twice.

The man known as "Jethro" because of his resemblance to the strapping TV character on "The Beverly Hillbillies" always credited his wife, Pam, for deciding to put down roots on Long Island. They raised their three daughters here. Gillies got to know all the towns and villages by playing in 30 to 40 charity softball games in Nassau and Suffolk during summers.

"We really helped a lot of communities and they really appreciated it," he said years later. "I know we had a lot of fun. It was pretty decent exercise. And it was sort of like hockey. You played a game, then you had a beer."

No cause of death was immediately made public, which was reflective of Gillies’ belief in never complaining about problems. Johnson, a former Islanders executive and now executive director of Pat LaFontaine’s Companions in Courage Foundation, said few people knew that Gillies had prostate cancer a few years ago and that his stomach was perforated during surgery, forcing him to wear a urinary catheter for the rest of his life.

His charitable heart helped extend his life. The prostate cancer diagnosis came out of a routine physical requested by Huntington Hospital after he had pledged to raise $1 million (apparently, hospitals want to ensure the health of big donors).

Gillies went ahead with his treatment and his fundraising. When he heard about the death of a young local girl named Briana Titcomb, he got the Clark Gillies Foundation to team up with LaFontaine’s foundation to establish an electronic playroom in the pediatric wing and dedicate it in Briana’s memory.

SEE PHOTOSIsles' Clark Gillies through the years

"It’s an incredible story," Johnson said. "It impacts every single kid who goes in Huntington Hospital to this day. It’s the value of having guys like that in our community. Even if you met Clark Gillies only once, he made you feel like you had been a friend for life."

On the ice, Gillies had been a cornerstone in the Islanders’ foundation. He was the fourth overall pick in 1974, the same draft that brought Bryan Trottier. As a rookie in the 1975 playoffs, Gillies helped cement the deep connection between the team and its fans, a bond that still exists. He scored the deciding goal in the franchise’s first playoff game, a 3-2 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, setting the tone for an improbable postseason run that put the Islanders on hockey’s map and ensured they would be taken seriously.

In Game 5 of the Stanley Cup semifinals against the defending champion Flyers, with the Islanders in command, Philadelphia strongman Dave Schultz — the NHL’s de facto heavyweight champion — sought to send a message. He picked a fight with the young left winger. Gillies pummeled him.

Former referee Kerry Fraser tweeted of Gillies on Friday night: "A big teddy bear who protected his cubs with a mama bear’s vengeance. Never really liked to fight but man could he ever."

Fighting was a greater part of the sport in the 1970s and ’80s than it is now. Sometimes a team had to protect its identity and its stars. Perhaps Gillies could have scored more than his 319 goals if the Islanders had needed that, but sometimes he believed he served the team better by knocking people over and providing space for linemates Trottier and Mike Bossy.

SEE PHOTOSPhotos: Isles, fans pay tribute to Gillies

At Gillies’ 2002 Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Hall of Fame coach Al Arbour said of his former quintessential power forward: "He commanded respect the minute he walked into the dressing room. And he commanded respect every minute he was on the ice."

Gillies commanded respect for his talent as well as his toughness. He had six 30-goal seasons, including a career-high 38 in 1981-82.

He was a natural athlete who played professional baseball in the Houston Astros’ chain. Pat Gillick, then the Astros’ scouting director and on his way to becoming a Baseball Hall of Fame executive, signed him to a $5,000 bonus. The kid considered it a good summer job but figured he couldn’t improve unless he gave up hockey. That was out of the question.

Later in life, Gillies became known as a long-hitting scratch golfer. He played in Celebrity Tour events and took pride in having won the club championship at Huntington Crescent. He died too soon to realize his one unfulfilled athletic dream: playing at Augusta National. Johnson said LaFontaine had set that up for later this year.

No matter how much he accomplished, "Jethro" never took himself or his situation too seriously. When people inevitably asked him where Moose Jaw is, he readily answered them, "About six feet from the moose’s [backside]."

When several Islanders were on Team Canada during the Cup run, star players from other NHL teams asked if Billy Smith was always as cantankerous as he seemed during national team practice. Gillies replied, "Nah, he’s usually worse than this."

After the Islanders won their first Stanley Cup, Gillies ruffled sensibilities by filling the bowl atop the trophy with Ken-L Ration and allowing his German shepherd, Hombre, to eat out of it. When asked if that was really appropriate, Gillies said, "Why not? He’s a good dog."

Once, after Arbour left the dressing room after delivering a basso profundo tongue-lashing for the Islanders registering only one hit through an entire period, one of the players said, "OK, who’s the idiot who made the one hit?" Gillies later insisted he was not the one who said it, but he did appreciate it.

Last season, he was shown on the Nassau Coliseum screen celebrating the Islanders’ surge to within a win of the Cup Final. The camera spotted him draining a beer and crushing the can on top of his head.

So he was never a things-were-better-in-my day kind of alumnus. Aside from his final two seasons as a player with the Buffalo Sabres, Gillies was the greatest thread running through Islanders history. He was drafted after the franchise’s second season and remained a big presence right through this year.

Ray Ferraro, an Islander in the 1990s, issued a tweet on Friday calling Gillies "an amazing man . . . always welcoming those of us that came to the Island after their great teams." Current Islander Matt Martin, who plays Gillies’ former position at left wing, said, "I think he epitomizes everything being a New York Islander is. I remember when I met him for the first time, I was like, ‘That’s who I want to be when I grow up.’ "

Many Long Islanders have a great memory of the first time they met Clark Gillies. He connected with them, he entertained them, he appreciated them and ultimately, he was one of them.

He rooted for the Islanders until the end. He was superstitious about which road to take to the games from his Suffolk home. He was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame. He was an early and enthusiastic supporter of UBS Arena. This was home.

Longtime teammate Bob Nystrom knows the feeling. "I’ve spent a lot of my winter down in Florida, though," Nystrom said. "I was trying to talk him into getting a place down here, just to come down for a bit in the winter months. But that wasn’t going to happen."

Clark Gillies was determined to be a Long Islander. And Long Island will be eternally grateful.