Former Canadian Press sportswriter Neil Stevens, who earned Hall of Fame recognition in both lacrosse and hockey while criss-crossing the globe in more than three decades with the national news agency, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 74.
Stevens was a rich character, a talented writer unflappable on deadline and someone who lived life to the fullest.
In profiling Stevens ahead of his 2008 induction into the St. Catharines Sports Hall of Fame, Bernie Puchalski of the St. Catharines Standard said Stevens had been Canada's eyes on some of its most memorable sporting moments.
Puchalski noted Stevens, in his 34 years at CP, had covered eight Olympic Games, 22 world figure skating championships, 20 Stanley Cup finals, four Canada Cup hockey tournaments, eight National Lacrosse League Champions Cup games, as well as countless other sporting events prior to his retirement in 2008.
That year, Stevens was honoured with the Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded annually by the Hockey Hall of Fame "in recognition of distinguished members of the hockey writing profession whose words have brought honour to both journalism and the sport."
"Neil is a rare combination of a beautiful writer and an inquisitive reporter," Scott White, then editor-in-chief of The Canadian Press, said at the time. "But ultimately, what sets Neil apart from many sportswriters is his passion for the story behind the game. He always looks beyond the scores."
"As a wire service journalist, Neil Stevens' name didn't always appear in the newspaper, but he might have been the most widely read hockey writer in Canada for the past 30 years," added Kevin Allen, then president of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. "He's an old-school reporter who can craft a game story in 30 minutes and make readers feel like they were there.
"His longevity as a Canadian Press hockey writer says volumes about how well he mastered his craft."
While Stevens covered hockey for CP for years, he tackled many sports, with figure skating, rowing and lacrosse also areas of considerable expertise.
Stevens literally wrote the book on Kurt Browning, co-authoring the figure skating star's 1991 autobiography: "Kurt: Forcing the Edge."
He was honoured by the National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame in 2008.
"His influence and coverage of the sport has given lacrosse a presence in newspapers across Canada and introduced the sport to thousands of new fans," the NLL Hall said in recognizing Stevens
Lacrosse was always a favourite.
Stevens was born in St. Catharines, Ont., on June 14, 1947. His father got him into lacrosse at the age of five in nearby Port Dalhousie. He went on to play right up to the pro level for the St. Catharines Golden Hawks in 1969.
"I would never have been involved with sport if I hadn't grown up a block from a lacrosse bowl and with the Henley regatta course in our backyard," Stevens, who was also a coxswain growing up, told the Standard.
After retiring, Stevens continued to write about lacrosse. There were other writing projects like his 2014 novel "Eddie's Top 100," about a retired sportswriter who wins a $50-million lottery and, to take his mind off the money, devises a list of his top 100 songs.
Following high school, Stevens went to Ryerson for business administration, which he said was the only course he could get into. Six weeks later, he quit school and went backpacking in Europe.
Upon his return, he enrolled at Niagara College where he met Catherine, his future wife. After applying to newspapers looking for a reporting job, he found a new vocation after Peterborough Examiner sports editor Wayne Parks recognized his name from covering lacrosse games and called him in for an interview.
"It was a great place to start writing hockey," Stevens said in his speech accepting the Elmer Ferguson Award.
Roger Neilson coached a Petes team that featured Craig Ramsey, Colin Campbell and John Garrett. Stevens started covering the B team games, where he got to write about a young Bob Gainey.
The Buffalo Sabres held their first training camp in Peterborough and Stevens recalled walking back to the paper after a Sabre workout when a Lincoln Continental pulled over and the driver yelled out, "Hey, kid, you want a lift?"
It was Buffalo boss Punch Imlach, who took Stevens to the Empire Hotel and treated him to a beer.
Stevens left the Examiner after two years, eventually landing at the Sudbury Star. His work there resulted in a 1974 move to The Canadian Press, where he switched from news to sports in 1979.
Working for the wire service took him across the country and around the globe.
Stevens documented Mario Lemieux scoring the winning goal in the 1987 Canada Cup in Hamilton, Browning winning four world titles, Florida Panther fans hurling plastic rats onto the ice during the 1995-96 Stanley Cup final, Silken Laumann's silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games, Gordie Howe playing in a sixth decade in a one-game stint with the IHL's Detroit Vipers in 1997 and Canada's men winning Olympic hockey gold at the 2002 Olympics.
In 2000, he was on deadline when Kaleb Toth beat Rochester Knighthawks goaltender Pat O’Toole with one second remaining in regulation time to give the Toronto Rock a 14-13 victory, and their second straight National Lacrosse League title. It was the last sporting event held at Maple Leaf Gardens.
The normally ice-cool Stevens backed away from his computer in the press box and threw his arms in the air in a combination of admiration and disbelief at the last-second championship decider. Then he was quickly back at the keyboard, pounding out a new top to his story.
Throughout the years, he listened to a lot of Bob Dylan and occasionally got into some mischief. At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, that reportedly involved a plan to free caged kangaroos, although the full story never met the light of day.
He knew how to make a colourful entrance, albeit usually a quiet one, often strolling in with a dapper hat on an angle.
The soft-spoken Stevens savoured his family, friends and the many memories from his time with what he called "the people's wire service."
"I made some friends along press row and I’ll always cherish the memories of conversations during intellectual post-game get-togethers," he said, referencing gatherings over a cocktail or three.
In his Elmer Ferguson acceptance speech, he cited many of them. "Thanks for putting up with me," he concluded.
"To have my name attached to the same award as some of my sportswriting heroes — (the late) Frank Orr (1989) and the late Jim Coleman (1984) in particular — is a real thrill," he said. "When I was starting out at CP, they were respected veterans who had no need to give me the time of day. But they did. It meant a lot to me. Still does."
It was the legendary Coleman who dubbed Stevens "Looseleaf," a nickname that stuck.
Stevens used to use loose-leaf foolscap paper to take notes, with Coleman observing the only times he saw him was at events involving the red maple leaf (Canada) and the blue maple leaf (NHL Leafs).
Stevens' CP colleagues never knew what to expect from him. One Saturday night, he arrived for an editing shift wearing a poncho and sombrero with chips and dips. He could wrangle an elegant NHL roundup at the drop of that or any other hat.
Not much fazed him.
A morning staffer walked in to find Stevens asleep, his feet propped up on the sports desk. He had left his car keys in Cyrano's, the local watering hole across the street, and didn't realize the loss until his night shift was over and the bar was closed.
So he opted for some shut-eye until it re-opened the next day.
Stevens was old-school in many ways. He would show up at figure skating events with a bouquet flowers to place on the Canadian writers' desk. He liked getting postcards from faraway places.
And he made a Christmas gift exchange in the CP sports department an annual adventure, with a (live) goldfish and chicken feet among his offerings to fellow staffers.
In his retirement, Stevens divided his time between his home in Brampton and a cottage on Lake Huron.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2022.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
