Shack, Ukraine, and Literacy

Today we learn (Boston Globe) that Eddie Shack, one of the more colorful legends of Bruins and NHL history has returned to his maker. For some reason I always associate Eddie Shack with Fred Cusick and his “clear the track; here comes Shack” voice overs. Now they are both gone.

I learned from research on Shack today that his parents emigrated from the Ukraine and he remained illiterate for most of his life!  –“Illnesses derailed much of his schooling between grade one and three, yet each year he was still passed into the next grade. As a result, he remained illiterate [and dropped out of school]”

He was Ukrainian. It turns out the Canadian Government actively encouraged emigration from Ukraine (and other Eastern European Countries) in the late 1800’s so they might homestead farms in the Godforsaken plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Many, many came. We used to read to the children illustrated stories like a Prairie Boy’s Winter by William Kurelek which captured the incredible cold up there along with the great times:

And then the Canadian Government imprisoned 1,000’s of Ukranians as “enemy aliens” at the outbreak of WWI. Ukraine was part of Austria Hungary and Canada part of the United Kingdom. Incredible!!! Today the only country with more Ukranians than Canada is Ukraine.

And its amazing how many NHL greats come with Ukrainian names, like Johnny Bucyk, Terry Sawchuk, Wayne Gretzky, Dave Andreychuk, etc.

So Eddie Shack is a part of that Ukrainian heritage and in the final analysis he “..used his fame to advocate for literacy in schools, trying to motivate children to study so they won’t face the same struggles that he did.”  He also provided a model of how to play the game for some of the less finessed hockey players among us. ☺

RIP Eddie Shack and Fred Cusick.