Why Dale McCourt wants Leafs’ Gavin McKenna to tell his story

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When Dale McCourt was drafted first overall in 1977, few cared about his indigenous heritage.  

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The NHL drafts of the day were long before a walk-up pre-show with fans and media, or any kind of public access to the proceedings. The Detroit Red Wings just called McCourt at home in Sudbury from their ballroom table at a Montreal hotel, without a TV documentary story or feature article.   

“There was no recognition of my background, other than I was (Maple Leafs great) George Armstrong’s nephew,” McCourt said Monday in a phone interview with the Toronto Sun.

So when Gavin McKenna rocked the red carpet on Friday in Buffalo, gladly showing the cameras his wolf clan logo and his sister’s homemade beadwork representing ‘Every Child Matters’ and tribute to Residential Schools survivors, McCourt swelled with pride. 

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Before and after McKenna was chosen No. 1 by the Leafs, the Whitehorse, Yukon, product has been very forthcoming when asked about being part of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation through his grandfather, Joe Mason, who had harrowing experiences as a child in the Schools’ system.

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“It’s just super that he’s doing that,” the retired 69-year-old McCourt said. “The Indigenous have been shunted aside and it’s finally coming to people’s attention what we’ve gone through.” 

McCourt hopes to one day meet McKenna, the 2024 winner of the Bryan Trottier Indigenous Player of the year award for outstanding play and community leadership.  

What was the NHL’s past indigenous history?

“When you understand the (shared) history, there definitely is a connection without public acknowledgment,” McCourt said. “You’re proud there’s another one in hockey.” 

McCourt and the late Armstrong are Kitigan Zibi, the largest Algonquin First Nation, still thriving in present day Quebec. 

“I’m kind of caught in the middle,” McCourt explained. “My grandmother married a white man and they had to make a decision back then to live off of the reservation and all the rights that come with it. 

“But I keep that heritage close to me. Whenever I was going through difficult times in hockey (532 NHL games with Detroit, Buffalo and a final year with Toronto), I always felt there was some extra inspiration in me to get through.” 

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McCourt also had an unspoken kinship with players such as Johnny Bucyk, Henry Boucha and Ted Nolan.

“I had great respect for Ted. He was drafted by Detroit a year after me (78th overall). I’d watch him play and think here’s a guy who had it a lot rougher than me, who grew up on the reservation, and yet, he’s made it.”

What ‘Uncle’ George Armstrong meant to McCourt

McCourt would have no finer example through life than Armstrong, who retired six years before Dale was drafted with the most career games by a Leaf and four Stanley Cups as their captain. 

“I’d always looked up to him,” McCourt said. “He’d be so proud of what Gavin is doing now. His relatives still live in the towns (in and around Sudbury). There’d be the odd time his mother or someone would speak their native language that had been taken away from them. She understood what the government was doing and was hurt by it.” 

The gregarious, quick-witted Armstrong often slipped old stereotypical terms for the Indigenous into his many jokes and stories when among friends. 

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When the Leafs visited an Alberta reservation in 1950 during an exhibition game tour, he received a ceremonial feathered head dress and the title ‘Chief Shoot-The-Puck.’

“But the last 10 or 15 years of his life he became more (spiritual),” McCourt said. “He always wore a beaded crest around his neck.” 

‘He that carried strength’

Grand-daughter Kalley Armstrong loved hearing George’s tales about his mother and his grandparents’ rugged, nomadic lifestyle in the Northern Ontario bush.

“I think he carried that strength into his playing career,” said Kalley, now assistant professor at Nipissing University in North Bay.

“Things were in a different context when he played. He thought he must be the only indigenous NHLer, even though others came before him, because no one ever talked about it. It was great that became more reflective of that later on.”    

Upon completing four years playing at Harvard in 2015, Kalley devoted time to the hockey school that bears their surname and recently joined the GTA public school program Stronger Together to encourage involvement in hockey and team work for all ages and backgrounds.

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“Gavin’s story will be great for kids,” she said. “With any athlete, it’s good to show their journey, where they came from and what themselves might accomplish. For kids, it’s not just making the pros, it’s learning the characteristics of a team, through recreation and participation.”

McCourt, a couple of inches smaller than the six-foot McKenna, has seen highlights of the latter at the world junior championships. He had one piece of 1-to-1 career advice. 

“No matter if you have the talent, it won’t be a straight, smooth ride,” he said. “You’re No. 1, but there are 31 guys behind you in the first round who think it should have been them.” 

Lhornby@postmedia.com 

X: @sunhornby 

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