September 13, 1926: Emile Francis Is Born

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Gil Hodges managed the Mets. Wilbur "Weeb" Ewbank coached the Jets. and William "Red" Holzman coached the Knicks. These men received everything they needed to win a World Championship, including a little bit of luck.

Emile Francis was the biggest man in New York hockey at the time. He had everything he needed -- except a little more luck.

Emile Percival Francis was born on September 13, 1926 is born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. He tended goal in professional hockey from 1943 to 1960, including in the National Hockey League from 1947 to 1952. With the Chicago Black Hawks in 1948, he designed an improved goaltender's glove, based on a baseball catcher's mitt. He was a member of the New York Rangers team that reached the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals, losing to the Detroit Red Wings in 7 games. If that had been the extent of his contribution to the game, that would be enough to remember him.

After retiring as a player, "the Cat" went straight into coaching, and was named the Rangers' general manager in 1964, naming himself head coach in 1965. He built a team that included Eddie Giacomin in goal; defensemen Brad Park, Gary Doak, Dale Rolfe, Jim Neilson, Rod Seiling and Ab DeMarco; left wings Vic Hadfield, Glad Sather and Dave Balon; centers Jean Ratelle, Phil Goyette, Bobby Rousseau, Pete Stemkowski and Walt Tkaczuk; and right wings Rod Gilbert and Ron Stewart.

Gilbert remains the Rangers' all-time leading scorer. He, Ratelle and team Captain Hadfield formed "The GAG Line," short for "Goal-A-Game." All three of them, plus Park and Seiling, would be named to the "Team Canada" for the 1972 "Summit Series" with the Soviet Union. Gilbert, Ratelle, Park and Giacomin would join Francis in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

This team was good, and good enough to not play dirty. There were no thugs on the roster. Later goons like Nick Fotiu, Tie Domi and Ulf Samuelsson would have had no place on it.

On January 12, 1969, the Jets won Super Bowl III. On October 16, 1969, the Mets won the World Series. On May 8, 1970, and again on May 10, 1973, the Knicks won the NBA Championship. The pieces for the Rangers seemed to be in place: A smart builder, a strong and deep team, and a new Madison Square Garden with a passionate fan base to support them.

But it just didn't happen. There were too many other good teams at the time. In 1968, the 1st season of "The New Garden," the Rangers reached the Quarterfinals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but lost to the Black Hawks of Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito. In 1969, they got to the Quarterfinals again, but lost to the Montreal Canadiens of Jean Béliveau, Henri Richard and Yvan Cournoyer, who went on to win the Cup. In 1970, again, they got to the Quarterfinals, but were beaten by the Boston Bruins of Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito, Tony's brother, who went on to win the Cup.

In 1971, they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Quarterfinals, the franchise's 1st Playoff series win in 21 years. They faced the Black Hawks, and in Game 6 at The Garden, Stemkowski scored in the 3rd overtime to win it. It became the franchise's "Where were you?" moment. But they lost Game 7 in Chicago.

In 1972, it looked like it was all coming together: They beat the defending Champion Canadiens in the Quarterfinals, then swept the Black Hawks in 4 straight in the Semifinals. But the Bruins were back, and were just too strong for them. Nobody spoke of a "curse" on the Rangers, and there was no great moment of calamity: Francis' Broadway Blueshirts were simply beaten by a better, stronger, more experienced team.

In 1973, the Rangers beat the Bruins in the Quarterfinals, and hope rose that this could be it. But they lost to the Black Hawks in the Semifinals. This was the 1st season for the expansion team in the suburbs of Long Island, the New York Islanders. In 1974, the Rangers beat the Canadiens in the Quarterfinals, as they were in a transition between the Béliveau-Richard years and the Guy Lafleur years, and goalie Ken Dryden took a year off to finish law school. But the Philadelphia Flyers were on the rise, and beat the Rangers in the Semifinals, then won the Cup by beating the Bruins.

In 1975, the 3rd-year Islanders shocked the Rangers in the 1st round of the expanded Playoffs. Suddenly, there was a new "team of the future," and the Rangers looked like a team of the past. Francis' transactions seemed to take on an air of desperation, a "The future is now" idea. His waiving of Giacomin to make room for the prospect John Davidson was right in the long term, but the public relations of it, and of the subsequent trade of Ratelle and Park to the Bruins for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais, earned himthe wrath of Ranger fans. It's been suggested that the change of Ranger fans from "the classiest fans in hockey" to the boors of "the Blue Seats" began at this time.

Francis was fired as head coach in late 1975, and as GM in early 1976. He later served as head coach and GM of the St. Louis Blues, helping find new owners that saved the team (Ralston Purina, who briefly had the St. Louis Arena renamed the Checkerdome); and of the Hartford Whalers.

He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and died on February 19, 2022, at the age of 95. Apparently, he and the Rangers made up, because they annually present the Emile Francis Award to a notable supporter of youth hockey. The Emile Francis Trophy is presented by the American Hockey League to the winner of its Atlantic Division.

His son, Bobby Francis, won the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year with the 2002 Phoenix Coyotes. (Established for the 1973-74 season, Emile never won it.)

Emile Francis will never be as well-remembered in New York sports as Gil Hodges, Weeb Ewbank or Red Holzman -- or Billy Martin or Joe Torre, or Bill Parcells. He might be better-remembered than Mike Keenan, who walked out on the Rangers right after they finally won the Cup in 1994. He should be remembered as a man who gave everything had to build a hockey winner in New York.

While Emile Francis was their boss, the New York Rangers were good, if not quite good enough. Certainly, there was no reason to say they "sucked."

Emile Francis, 1926-2022

We just lost another New York sports legend.

Emile Percival Francis was born on September 13, 1926 in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. Singer Joni Mitchell lived there during her childhood. In 1945-46, he was playing as a goaltender for a Saskatchewan team, the Moose Jaw Canucks, and a sportswriter described him as "quick as a cat." He was "Emile 'the Cat' Francis" from then on.

In 1947, he made his NHL debut, with the Chicago Black Hawks. They weren't very good at the time, and in the 1947-48 season, he led the NHL in losses and goals against. But his experience as a baseball player led him to adapt a first baseman's mitt to be his catching glove. Once the NHL approved its use, it became the most common goalie glove of the era.

After that season, the Hawks traded him to the New York Rangers. From that point until 1952, he would bounce back and forth between the old Madison Square Garden and the Rangers' top farm team, first the New Haven Ramblers, then the Cincinnati Mohawks. He would end up playing just 22 games for the Rangers, and 95 in the NHL. Though he helped the American Hockey League's Cleveland Barons win the 1954 Calder Cup, most of his career was spent in the Western Hockey League, until he retired as a player in 1960.

He was invited to return to the Rangers' organization, and coached the Guelph Royals of the Ontario Hockey Association. In 1964, he became the Rangers' general manager; and in 1965, took over as both GM and head coach.

The Rangers had won the Stanley Cup in 1928, 1933 and 1940; and reached the Finals in 1929, 1932, 1937 and 1950. But over the next 16 seasons, they made the Playoffs only 4 times, winning a grand total of 6 games.

Francis rebuilt the team, featuring the GAG Line, or "Goal-A-Game": Center Jean Ratelle, right wing Rod Gilbert and left wing Vic Hadfield. Brad Park and Rod Seiling were 2 of the top defensemen in the NHL. And Eddie Giacomin was a Hall of Fame goaltender.

From 1966-67 to 1974-75, a 9-season stretch that included the move from the old Madison Square Garden to the new one in 1968, the Rangers made the Playoffs every year, reached the Stanley Cup Semifinals 4 times, and reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1972, losing to the Boston Bruins in 6 games. With the growth of television, the Rangers became more popular than ever.

But in 1975, in only their 3rd season of play, the Long Island-based New York Islanders stunned the Rangers in the Playoffs. And the Ranger roster was aging. The 2 most controversial transactions in team history were about to occur.

On October 31, 1975, having handed the head coaching reins over to Ron Stewart but kept the GM's job, Francis waived Giacomin, and he was claimed by the Detroit Red Wings. As fate would have it, the Wings were the opponents in the Rangers' next home game, on November 2. All game long, the fans chanted, "Ed-DIE! Ed-DIE! Ed-DIE!" stopping only to cheer one of his saves, cheer a Wings goal, boo a Ranger goal, or to chant, "Kill the Cat!" at Francis. The Wings won, and it's been called the only time fans have left The Garden happy that the home team lost.

And then, on November 7, came "The Trade": Ratelle, Park and Joe Zanussi to the Bruins for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais. Both teams' fans hated this trade. Park really hated it: A few years ago, he was asked when he got over it, he said he still hadn't. But Esposito was getting his playing time reduced by head coach Don Cherry (later the loud-suited bigoted analyst on CBC's Hockey Night In Canada), and demanded a trade. This was it.

Espo made things worse: He had always worn Number 7, and wanted it with the Rangers. Gilbert had been wearing it most of his career, and, while Espo had more career goals and assists, Gilbert was already the Rangers' all-time leading scorer (and still is), so he had every right to keep it. Espo switched to 77.

But now, Ranger fans were furious with Francis, with Stewart, and with Esposito. In January 1976, Garden management fired Francis, and the new regime built the Rangers around Esposito, creating the team that reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1979.

Francis was hired as general manager of the St. Louis Blues, and got a 10 percent ownership stake. He briefly coached the team in 2 separate stints, and when it looked like the team might move -- ironically, to Saskatoon, only 80 miles or so from his hometown of North Battleford -- he found a buyer that kept the team in St. Louis. He then served as GM of the Hartford Whalers from 1983 to 1988, and as team president from then until 1993. Alas, he couldn't keep new ownership from moving them to North Carolina in 1997. 

In 1982, Francis was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the "Builder" category. That same year, the NHL gave him the Lester Patrick Award, named for a previous Ranger head coach and general manager, for service to hockey in America.

He and his wife Emma were married for 68 years, and had 2 sons, Bobby and Rick. Bobby Francis never played in the NHL, but coached the Phoenix Coyotes from 1999 to 2004, winning the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in 2002, an award his father never won.

Emile Francis died this past Saturday, February 19, 2022, at the age of 95. At the time, he was, by far, the earliest living former coach of any New York Tri-State Area major league sports team. With his death, those titles are held by:

* Earliest living New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets head coach: 1970, Lou Carnesecca, age 97.

* Earliest living New York Islanders head coach: 1972, Earl Ingarfield, 87.

* Earliest living New York Jets head coach: 1974, Charley Winner, 97.

* Earliest living New York Giants head coach: 1976, John McVay, 91.

* Earliest living New York Mets manager: 1977, Joe Torre, 81.

* Earliest living New York Rangers head coach: 1977, Jean-Guy Talbot, 89.

* Earliest living New York Knicks head coach: 1977, Willis Reed, 79.

* Earliest living New Jersey Devils head coach: 1982, Billy MacMillan, 78.

* Earliest living New York Yankees manager: 1986, Lou Piniella, 78.