Remembering a special person, former Maple Leaf player and coach, Red Kelly

I was about to sit down today and pen a few thoughts about the passing of Leonard "Red" Kelly, the highly-regarded former Maple Leaf standout. Just as I started typing, I received a note from Alec Brownscombe from the Maple Leaf Hot Stove web site.

Over the years I've contributed a few articles to the good folks at MLHS, and Alec was asking if I would be able to do a piece for them about Red.  I was only too happy to to do.

Rather than do an entirely new piece here at VLM, I'll share a link to the piece over at the Hot Stove site for those who might wish to read that post.

I'll just add a few quick thoughts here.

I don't know the whole "back story", but somehow Red, though he went to school and played for the old St. Mikes Junior A team (a team owned/"sponsored" by the parent Maple Leaf hockey Club), became a Detroit Red Wing- just like fellow future Hall-of-Famer Ted Lindsay. Kelly had a remarkable career with the Red Wings, being an end-of-season NHL All-Star as a defensemen in front of all-time great netminder Terry Sawchuk (and Glenn Hall for a time, too, I believe) eight times during the 1950s.

He won a Norris Trophy and several Lady Byng trophies in Detroit as well. But he had, almost unbelievably, just as much success with the Leafs in Toronto when General Manager and coach Punch Imlach acquired him in a trade and asked him to play centre. (That's Kelly, left, #4 with the helmet, scoring a goal against Glen Hall and the Hawks in the early 1960s at the old Chicago Stadium, with Armstrong and Keon in the background.) 

He did a splendid job for several seasons in that role as a two-way forward with the Leafs, just as he had been not only a great defensive defenseman but also a spectacular offensive threat from the backline with the Red Wings as well.

He was a gentleman on and off the ice, but there was no mistaking how driven he was to be successful- and to help his teams win.

Kelly played through serious injuries many times in his career, including, if I recall correctly, during the playoffs against Chicago and Montreal in the spring of 1967. He always soldiered on, played through pain and made his team better.

Those were wonderful Leaf teams that he was such an important part of.  They won four championships in the 1960s. So many greats- Mahovlich, Bower, Sawchuk for a few seasons, Horton, Stanley, Baun and Brewer. (Brewer was a mainstay for the first three Cup years.) Some invaluable "5th" defensemen like Al Arbour, Larry Hillman and Kent Douglas, all of whom contributed to at least one Stanley Cup.  Up front you had Duff and Nevin for the first two championships, Bathgate and McKenney for the one in '64, Ron Stewart and Eddie Litzenbeger for the first three.  Billy Harris was a fine player for the first three championship squads. Ellis, Pappin, Stemkowki, Walton and Brian Conacher, along with the great Marcel Pronovost, helped massively with the '67 championship[.

Guys like Armstrong, Pulford, Keon and Shack (I'm likely forgetting somebody) were mainstays on all the Leaf championship squads of that era.

And so too was Red Kelly, who was just as well regarded and respected for his life off the ice as he was during his time as a player and later coach with the Maple Leafs.

Red died on May 2, 2019- 52 years to the day the Leafs won their last Stanley Cup, on May 2, 1967 against Montreal in Game 6 at Maple Leaf Gardens. I'll say again what I wrote about Red in my piece for MLHS- thanks Red, for everything.

I welcome VLM and MLHS readers to share their thoughts on Red, who will always be remembered fondly.