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Fact Sheet |
"Rocket" Richard: The Legend – The Legacy
A word from the Curator
Sheldon Posen
Curator, Canadian Folklore
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Although I did not grow up in a sports-loving family, Rocket Richard showed up on my radar when I was quite young. While driving in the car one day, we heard on the radio that there was a new hockey player on the scene called "The Pocket Rocket." My father explained that they were referring to Henri Richard, Maurice Richard's little brother. I didn't know who Maurice Richard was, but I tucked "The Rocket" away in my memory as the-hockey-player-my-non-sports-dad-knew-about.
Working on this exhibition, I've learned quite a bit more about hockey and The Rocket, and in doing that, I've become one of Maurice Richard's most ardent fans.
I'm a fan of who he was and how he got there: the fierce competitor, the high scorer, the most exciting hockey player of his day. Furthermore, I'm a fan of Maurice Richard because of what he meant and still means to his fans.
From Folklore to "The Rocket"The Canadian Museum of Civilization is not in the business of presenting exhibitions about professional athletes; that is the realm of sports halls of fame. However, we are in the business of telling the stories of ordinary Canadians, and that includes the way that sports fit into our lives.
As a folklorist, my idea of a hockey treasure is the Eaton's or Dupuis catalogue that someone's grandfather stuffed in his socks for a shin pad when he played shinny on the slough. As a result, when it comes to Maurice Richard's Number 9 sweater, the real point to me is how Canadians react to it. What it is that turns an old, patched, red, blue, and white wool jersey into a revered relic that summons up – for those who understand its power – a man, a sport, a place, a time, and a heightened sense of who they are and what they've come through. If someone doesn't already see all that, then it's my job to help them see it.
What he means to his fansSeeing Maurice Richard's hockey trophies, sticks, sweaters and other memorabilia in this exhibition is like seeing his fans, the people who watched and loved him and took strength from him:
Fans who bought skates and bread and radios and jackets and lamps and fishing line and heating oil because they had The Rocket's name or number or picture on them;
Fans who wrote him poems and songs and knitted him sweaters and named their sons after him;
Fans who sewed a 9 on their hockey jerseys;
Fans who rioted through the streets of Montreal on the night of March 17, 1955;
Fans – meaning all Canadians – who carry the Number 9 on the $5 bills in their wallets.
Finally, the many thousands of fans who cheered The Rocket loud and long at the Forum when it closed, and the many more thousands who lined up to bid him farewell at his funeral, on his final journey through the streets of Montreal.
Once you've seen these fans as an inseparable part of the story of Maurice Richard, you will understand why Maurice Richard was more than, as he put it, "just a hockey player."
Maurice Richard is both a window and a mirror offering a unique perspective on Canada itself. His story is the kind of story we tell here at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
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