OT: Ted Lindsay passes away at 93

Submitted by Charlestown Chiefs on March 4th, 2019 at 9:07 AM

Just came through on my sports app feed.  Truly a Detroit legend.  RIP Terrible Ted.

84BaldwinBlue

March 4th, 2019 at 9:39 AM ^

Met him several years ago.   A true gentleman who took the time to talk to every fan who came up to see him.  Never saw him play but listened to my dad talk about the production line.  Would love to time travel back and see the Wings play the Leafs in Detroit on a Friday night, and take the train to Toronto for the rematch on Saturday.  I remember a quote from one of them, that said something like we play hockey for money but we’d play the Leafs for free.   Different era for sure.  RIP Ted.

Terrible Ted

March 4th, 2019 at 9:52 AM ^

"They pay us to play hockey, but we'd play the Toronto Maple Leafs for nothing."

Sid Abel uttered that line, and it's one of my favorite sports quotes.

Lindsay was the fiercest of competitors on the ice, but he also was a pillar in the community who donated his time to numerous charitable causes. RIP to one of the greatest.

Code-7

March 4th, 2019 at 10:04 AM ^

He started the NHLPA and the tradition of carrying the Cup around the ice after winning the finals.

 

RIP to the last living member of the Production Line. 

Dr. Detroit

March 4th, 2019 at 10:20 AM ^

Saw him play once, at a charity event at the Joe.  As a pass just missed his stick that you know he gets every time back before age took away his speed he shouts "SON OF A BITCH" that was clearly heard in the stands.  When you saw him up close it was tough not to notice that his face was pretty much all scar tissue.  I doubt there has ever been anyone tougher than Ted Lindsay.

 

RIP.

rob f

March 4th, 2019 at 10:37 AM ^

Pound-for-pound, the toughest man ever to play hockey and yet a true gentleman in every sense of the word.

RIP, Mr Lindsay. 

xtramelanin

March 4th, 2019 at 11:13 AM ^

He was friends with my dad and Gordie, and they all 3 had lunch together about a month before my dad passed.  I saw him later at the Joe and told him of dad's passing.  He was very gracious.  My dad's nickname for Ted was 'scar face'.  Tough, tough, tough guy.

uminks

March 4th, 2019 at 1:42 PM ^

I'm not old enough to remember his playing days but I do remember when he was the assistant coach to Kromm when the wings made the playoffs and beat Atlanta in the  '77-'78. I thought after Kromm was fired and Ted became the coach that he would turn the wings around but he only lasted 2 seasons as the wings coach. Ted had a nice long life. RIP.

loucreekmur

March 4th, 2019 at 1:52 PM ^

My first hockey game was in January, 1951.  I was six and my brother was 12, and our parents allowed us to take the bus to the Olympia to see the Wings play the Bruins.  Today, they would have been arrested for child abuse.  I remember the game so well because it featured one of the most brutal NHL fights: Ted Lindsay vs Bill Ezenicki.  It started with stick swinging, progressed to fisticuffs and ended with Ezenicki having his head banged on the ice.  Both players were suspended by the league.  Not too severely as I recall.  Interestingly, in junior hockey, they were teammates for a time.

Thanks for letting an old fart share a memory.  Unfortunately, the Wings lost the game.

Don

March 4th, 2019 at 7:26 PM ^

“My first hockey game was in January, 1951.”

You’re one of the few people here older than me, and I’m one of the few who know who Lou Creekmur was.

Love your account of Ted’s fight—it brings to mind Gordie’s legendary ass-kicking of Lou Fontinato.

I wish I’d been able to see the Production Line at its height.

I Bleed Maize N Blue

March 4th, 2019 at 2:08 PM ^

He was a small but highly explosive keg of dynamite. Lindsay won four Stanley Cup championships with the Red Wings during a 17-season, 1,068-game career --14 with Detroit, three with Chicago -- and won the 1949-50 Art Ross Trophy as the League's top scorer with 78 points. He was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in 2017.

At 5-foot-8 and 163 pounds, he forever was the smaller dog in the fight, but no matter. His 1,808 penalty minutes gifted him one of the most distinct faces in hockey history, deep valleys carved into his mug by scraps from which he never backed down, even if he had to climb a ladder to get at the hulking opponent who with poor judgment wanted a piece of him.

"I loved the corners," said Lindsay, who had 851 points (379 goals, 472 assists) in the NHL. "That's where you found men. You found more chickens. You knew who the chickens were on the other team because they'd always back off a little bit. If I was coming they knew they were going to get lumber or elbows or anything. They were going to get into the screen [before there was glass]."

Link

M1983cpa

March 5th, 2019 at 7:15 AM ^

I got my father an autographed puck from  teds foundation for his 72nd birthday in August.  My dad had a stroke in January and is in a rehab facility in Kalamazoo- brought the puck to his room last night. 

rob f

March 7th, 2019 at 8:08 PM ^

The Little Caesars Arena tribute to Ted Lindsay is very cool: "Ted 7" on the boards in each of the four corners of the rink, and the number "7" embedded in the ice behind each net.

Ted Lindsay----all 5' 8" and 160 lbs of him---owned the corners and the area behind the nets.  Anyone who dared challenge him usually regretted it