My Life in Hockey

By Jean Béliveau

Book Overview

Few stars of professional hockey have been as admired, respected, and loved as Jean Arthur Beliveau. For close to twenty seasons, Beliveau was le Gros Bill, "the gentle giant" centreman of the fabled Montreal Canadiens during the glory years of the 1950s and 1960s. Retiring from on-ice action in 1971, he went on to fashion a successful twenty-two-year career both as the Canadiens' senior vice-president of corporate affairs and as a sort of ambassador at large for hockey in general. Beliveau's statistical record as a player is an impressive one - 507 goals and 712 assists in 1,125 games, all of them played with Canadiens teams that included such legends as Rocket Richard, Dickie Moore, Jacques Plante, Gump Worsley, and Doug Harvey. At the time of his retirement, Beliveau had 176 points in playoff action - a National Hockey League record that was surpassed only in 1987, by Wayne Gretzky. But more than the goals and the assists, more than the many awards and trophies he won, more than the ten Stanley Cup victories, it was Beliveau's elegance, intelligence, competitive focus, and aristocrat-like dignity that seemed to incarnate both the best of hockey and the best of the Canadiens'formidable winning tradition. My Life in Hockey is the long-awaited first-person story of a remarkable life, proof that great dreams dreamed by those raised in humble circumstances can come true. The eldest of eight children, son of a hard-working Quebecois electrical worker and his devoutly Catholic wife, Beliveau vividly describes here how he was able to parlay his skill in fun-filled backyard shinny games into a highly successful, much-talked-about junior and senior hockey career. Then, in 1953, in one of themost anticipated signings in the history of professional sport, he joined the NHL Montreal Canadiens for what was then the most lucrative salary ever paid a rookie. My Life in Hockey is packed with stories, anecdotes, opinions, tributes. Name the player - Bobby Orr, Boom-Boom Geoffrion, Bobby Hull, Doug Cilmour, Marcel Bonin, Gordie Howe, Frank Mahovlich - or the coach - Dick Irvin, Sr., Toe Blake, Punch Imlach, Claude Ruel - and Jean BeIiveau has something perceptive, pungent, or personal to say about each. Beliveau is also refreshingly frank about himself. In 1962, during one of his worst seasons, when he felt his "personal fortunes were at their lowest ebb", he went to have a talk with Canadiens owner Senator Hartland Molson. "It wasn't a nervous breakdown", he writes, "or 'burn-out, ' as they call it now, but might have been on the way to that. There was a lot of pressure to perform (and) I was internalizing everything, not sharing my stress with anyone else". For all the awe-inspiring achievements cited on the pages of My Life in Hockey, Beliveau also conveys a genuine humility. "An autobiography", he notes, "can't help but be written in the first-person. However, the 'first-person' was never what my career was about on or off the ice...If they say anything about Jean Arthur Beliveau after he is gone, let them say he was a team man. It is the highest compliment that could be paid him".

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0771011075
• ISBN13: 9780771011078
• Release Date: October 1994
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.3" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

JEAN SCORES THE WINING GOAL WITH THIS BOOK

JEAN BELIVEAU FORMER NHL SUPERSTAR DOES A GREAT JOB TELLING US ABOUT HIS LIFE IN AND OUT OF HOCKEY. I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK AND FOUND HIS STORY AND HIS EXPERIENCES BOTH ENTERTAINING AND INTERESTING. I GREW UP BEING A BLACKHAWK FAN. I REALLY PULLED AGAINST MONTREAL FOR I FELT THEY HAD WON MORE THAN THEIR SHARE OF STANLEY CUPS. BUT WHEN YOU SAW JEAN PLAY, YOU COULDN'T HELP TO SEE AND ADMIRE HIS TALENT AND DEDICATION. SOME OF THE BEST PARTS OF THIS BOOK ARE JEAN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT ROCKET, HOWE, HULL AND MANY MANY MORE. I RECOMMEND THIS FOR ALL HOCKEY FANS AND ESPECIALLY THE ONES WHO SAW JEAN PLAY.

Fine Autobiography of an Original 6 Superstar

Mr. Beliveau provides a strong insight into a game that has ceased to exist anymore. Todays NHL (27 teams and more on the way) bears no resemblance to Mr. Beliveau's era when there were six teams and approximately 150 players, travel was by train and a 'players union' was the owners idea of having all team members in one place at the same time. The book is divided, roughly, into three equal parts; Mr. Beliveau's junior years in Quebec with the Citadels and Aces; his years with the Canadiens organisation, and; his insights into how the game has changed to its present form. As a participant, Mr. Beliveau reminisces fondly over his career and the many individuals (on both sides of centre ice) with whom he has played, including an excellent analysis on Bobby Orr's impact on the game. As an observer, Mr. Beliveau presents spirited and informed opinions on the many changes the game has endured since expansion 30 years ago, including thoughts on the WHA influence on the NHL.Hockey books are a dime a dozen, and I've read my share, but few I've read in recent memory contain an insight to the game, both past and future, that this one does.