One entry into the 1989-90 O-Pee-Chee hockey card set featured Theoren Fleury a young Calgary Flames forward in his first card.
His hair nicely done, he's looking off to the side, helmet-less, as the Flames are clearly in some sort of pre-game warmup.
Clearly, the photographer wasn't thinking of getting this kid in an action shot, or maybe didn't trust his camera to take NHL action, whatever. The numbers on the back were impressive, given he only played half the season (14 goals, 20 assists in 36 games) before helping the Flames win the only Stanley Cup they've ever won in his rookie season. The Oxbow native certainly had made quite the name for himself already as a junior hockey player.
Things looked up for Fleury at that point, having escaped sexual abuse at the hands of former junior coach Graham James. Nobody knew it at the time but Fleury had already lived through hell and was about to go through even more.
His drug and alcohol addiction, depression and other aspects of his life were covered in his book Playing With Fire and HBO Canada special. He's used his struggles to come out the other side as a sexual abuse survivor's advocate and has cleaned up his life in an amazing way.
The one thing people don't talk about enough is his case for the Hockey Hall of Fame. There are certainly enough lifetime accomplishments on the ice. He scored 1.088 points in 1084 games with the Flames, Avalanche, Rangers and Blackhawks. Only five retired players above him have more points but haven't been selected for the Hall, and only four achieved the 1000 point mark quicker who aren't in the Hall. He won a world junior gold medal, an Olympic gold medal, and a Canada Cup medal.
But more than anything else, it's what he's done off the ice that's shone a light on the game and the abuse many young players received. James was able to abuse Fleury because he controlled his ice time as a teenager. The amount of abuse, emotional and otherwise suffered since then by Fleury can not fully be measured.
For the first time in professional North American sports, the Fleury case grabbed the spotlight and focused it on the abuse and power coaches have when young players are in their control, sometimes far away from their hometowns. It had been previously unthinkable to imagine a coach abusing the power to the extent James did to Fleury and other young hockey players.
Now, we're aware of it and the stigma of being an abuse survivor has been lifted somewhat.
He led people here in Estevan last week on a Victor Walk, symbolic of the strides made so far in realizing the kinds of things abuse survivors have to go through in their recovery.
It's true he would have accomplished more had his addictions been under better control during his playing days. But the Hall has allowed us to imagine the careers of players like Eric Lindros, Cam Neely, Pavel Bure and Paul Kariya, all of whom careers cut short by injury and factors outside of their control. Does the Hall treat those with addictions issues and who were sexually abused differently? It seems to.
The Michael J. Fox-style hair, covering the young face with bright eyes in the hockey card belied the trouble he'd had in his life to that point. When you read the book, you catch your breath thinking about how his life could have ended in a much more tragic way, with him unable to help those in the game and outside who have suffered similar abuse. Imagine if you will, Fleury stepping up in the near future to make a Hockey Hall of Fame induction speech which empowers those who have suffered to seek help; a speech which once and for all celebrates a lifetime of victory over circumstances beyond one's control.
That will be a true victor's walk.
