Dickie Moore, a great hockey star and an even greater person
I cannot express how saddened I was to get the phone call Saturday afternoon telling me that Dickie Moore had passed away Saturday morning. My contact with Dickie began in 2005 when I asked a friend I had worked with on the Montreal Stock Exchange to suggest someone for an interview; I needed a respected Quebec business person for an opinion on the economy and business. He suggested that I call Dickie Moore, the retired Montreal Canadiens’ star left winger and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. A star? Dickie led the National Hockey League in scoring twice and won six Stanley Cups with the Canadiens.
That choice turned out to be perfect as Dickie was a very successful businessman and entrepreneur. As it turned out, I could not have been more fortunate not only for hearing his business insight but more for the privilege of knowing him. I wrote an article for the old Canaminvestor site and titled it “Dickie Moore, Just a slap shot from the old forum” about a decade ago. After we published it, I could not believe how many people outside of Quebec called me and inquired about Dickie. It was the standard “whatever became of” query.
After conversations with Dickie, it was obvious that his success was due to his work ethic which prioritized his customers. He couldn’t say enough about how fortunate he was to have such great customers over the years. He told me of his experience with the Dairy Queen and upper New York State business renting heaters, he had a feel for business. He built his heavy equipment rental business with hard work and long hours. My first interview was the start of phone calls and later visits that continued for ten years. Actually, I had last tried to call him two weeks ago for his view on the economy but he was not at the office.
It was about ten years ago when I asked Dickie for his outlook for the economy. He told me that it was holding up but he thought that a recession could begin in “about 18 months.” As it turned out, his forecast missed the exact start of the “great recession” by less than two weeks. I later reminded him of his incredibly accurate forecast and he just shook it off as if it was nothing at all. The fact is that Wall Street and major financial institutions hire so called “experts” at enormous salaries for economic forecasting; yet generally their forecasting record is pathetic and always has been pathetic. A successful businessman like Dickie Moore could do it far better than the experts ever could. You may wonder why.
Why? The fact is that if you want an honest and factual overview of the economy, ask a person who owns a business and meets a payroll such as Dickie Moore. Over the last three years I would occasionally ask Dickie for his opinion on the economy. His answer was always the same, the economy is grinding along but it is not strong.
Dickie was involved in several charities and had continuing concern for his friends.
Several years ago, he asked me to see how one of his boyhood friends from Montreal was doing; he lived in the Philadelphia area not far from me. I phoned him and he was elated that Dickie was asking about him. In another conversation, Dickie told me that one of his biggest regrets was that try as he did, he was unable to help his teammate Doug Harvey. He told me that Doug was probably the best athlete he ever saw. He still missed Doug all the years after Doug’s death in 1989. Dickie’s friends were his friends for life.
Dickie’s office in St-Laurent contains a history of the glory days the Montréal Canadiens had during his tenure with the team. The photos of Jean Beliveau, Maurice Richard and the other teammates are displayed with Dickie’s awards. For me his office was like to going into a Hall of Fame.
Dickie had a great sense of humor. One day he told me to call him that afternoon at 2:00. I phoned but he wasn’t in. I called him an hour later and he apologized and told me that he had run out of gas in his car. I asked him what happened. He said that he was driving around looking for the cheapest gas station and he just ran out while looking. I asked him if by any chance he was of Scottish extraction since nobody tries to stretch a dime more than a Scot. “Oh no!” he said, “my parents were English and Swedish.”
People will miss Dickie, but there are many people that are so happy to see him again. Saint Peter probably already has told Dickie that there is already a Dairy Queen franchise in heaven but more importantly, there is somebody else who has been waiting to see him again for a long time.
God bless you Dickie
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