Loss of Chynoweth hits close for Parker

Greg Harder, The Leader-Post
Published: Friday, April 25, 2008

The passing of Ed Chynoweth hit close to home for Brent Parker.

The Regina Pats' GM was in his early teens when he first met Chynoweth, the long-time WHL president who died Tuesday after a battle with cancer.

Parker was a minor baseball rival of Chynoweth's son Jeff, now the GM of the WHL's Kootenay Ice. They both grew up in Calgary and eventually became friends, helping establish a family bond that has endured for more than 25 years.

The relationship extends to Ed Chynoweth's other son, Dean, the head coach/GM of the Swift Current Broncos, who is a long-time acquaintance of Parker's brother Blake. There was also a bond between the patriarchs of both families, with Ed Chynoweth and Russ Parker both being prominent sports/business figures in Calgary.

Russ Parker is the former owner of the Calgary Cannons pro baseball team who went on to become the owner of the Pats. He sat at the WHL board of governors table for many years with Chynoweth, who doubled as the owner of the Ice.

"Ed was Mr. Hockey in Calgary and Russ was Mr. Baseball," noted Brent Parker. "There were a lot of ties to the families. The (Chynoweth) boys were stick boys with the (NHL's Calgary) Flames and (WHL's Calgary) Wranglers while I was a bat boy with the ball team. I knew the family and Ed extremely well over the years. The best way to put it is it was an honour and a privilege to know him. He was a remarkable man and truly the patriarch of our league. I don't know how many people have any idea how big a player Ed Chynoweth was in the hockey world.

"It's really hard to fathom the Western Hockey League without Ed Chynoweth in it."

Parker has always had "nothing but tremendous respect" for Chynoweth, even when they didn't agree. The best example came in the mid-'90s when the Parkers were trying to land a WHL franchise in Kelowna. The rights eventually went to Bruce Hamilton, who relocated his franchise from Tacoma.

"We thought at the time that we were going to get it and then obviously were bitterly disappointed and upset and even angry at the way it worked out," recalled Parker. "But you look back and it's a perfect example of what made (Chynoweth) a tremendous commissioner. At that time we weren't a partner in the league and he did what was right and looked after one of his partners. Tacoma's lease was bad and things weren't in good shape, so they had to move and Ed looked after them. I think the league and Ed certainly would have done the same for us if we were in that boat."

That said, Parker believes that Chynoweth's biggest impact was on the players. He helped establish the WHL education fund which sees players earn a year of free schooling at a CIS institution for every year of WHL service.

"I think he just tried to pass on to everybody what was important and that was the kids," said Parker. "Obviously we're in a business so you're trying to do things that are right for your business too, but it had to be in the context of what was going to be best for the kids and treat the kids the right way so that when they leave our league, whether they play pro hockey or not, the (WHL) experience was a positive one for them. I think that's something we always need to remember."

Gone but not forgotten, Chynoweth's "legacy" will live on -- through his contributions to the league and through his sons.

"You can see it in how they go about things and how they do things with their own franchises; it has Ed's fingerprints all over it," added Parker. "Everybody had a tremendous amount of respect for him and how he conducted himself and ran our league. At the meetings it'll be different not having him at the front of the room putting everybody back in place when things got off track. He had a very unique way of doing it. It was not unlike your grandpa or your dad at the front of the room kind of knocking you back in line a little bit. Because of how he did things, we have a tremendous league. Anybody who's involved in it -- from fans to players, management, officials, everybody -- has to be indebted to what he has given us."

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