final credits - cecil "tiger" goldstick
It's hard to sum up Tiger Goldstick. A new editor at the Edmonton Journal once sent a scathing memo to the sports department to cease and desist writing about a fictitious character they'd created. He seemed a legend without a legacy -- until one looks back at a lifetime of devotion to local sport.
Tiger Goldstick died February 3rd, 2006 at the age of 90.
Goldstick was born in Edson and was the son of Edmonton's first rabbi. There are two plausible stories for the origin of his nickname: he became "Tiger" as a child because of his displays of toughness despite his small size; or that while wrestling in the Navy he was introduced as the "Tiger of Western Canada."
Goldstick first entered the sports world as an athlete, coach, trainer and promoter for lower-league local teams. He served as a referee for Stu Hart's pro-wrestling cards and worked as a brewery rep for Bohemian Maid. Goldstick became a local media celebrity hosting a short sports interview segment called Tiger's Den, part of CFRN's Popcorn Playhouse children's show. Goldstick's enthusiasm gave the low-budget local show enough appeal that figures such as Gordie Howe were frequent guests.
As a reporter for CFRN Sports, Goldstick wore his heart on his sleeves. He won more Canadian Football League battles than the Edmonton Eskimos, somehow managing to get into a fight at each of the thirty Grey Cup finals he covered. According to Goldstick, he usually won because of the element of surprise. Hardly a master of elocution, the gap-toothed man with a face made for radio was famous for his quick one-liners: "If that game was played in my backyard, I'd draw the drapes" and "If I had your money, I'd throw mine away."
Goldstick's lasting legacy will be the sports equipment he made available to needy kids. In 1992, the Edmonton Sports Reporters Association helped create Sports Central in Tiger's honour. For years Goldstick had scrounged used equipment that he distributed out of the trunk of his car.
While not active in recent years due to illness and a battle with dementia, Edmontonians of an older generation will remember Goldstick as a scrappy supporter of local sports and youth. His work promoting traffic safety earned him honours from the Alberta Motor Association. In 1986, the City of Edmonton dedicated a park in his honour on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River at 39th Street and 103rd Avenue.
While just 5-feet 4-inches tall, Goldstick was a good enough amateur wrestler to earn a place on the city's boxing and wrestling commission's honour roll. In 1988 he was inducted into Edmonton's Sports Hall of Fame and he was named to the Order of Canada in 1990. Goldstick is also paid tribute in local historian Lawrence Herzog's The Tough Guy With The Soft Heart article in Edmonton's Real Estate Weekly.
Other Edmonton area tributes can be found here.