WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1975, PAGE 9 he other side ofEd rouch To many Whitby residents, Ed Crouch has been a familiar figure for the past six years, whose efforts have made this town's fire department the third-ranking fire department in all Canada. But there is another side of Ed Crouch--the man who has been devoted to the sport of hockey for nearly 30 years. Since starting the play organized hockey at the age of 13, he has been a player, coach, manager, referee, scout executive of a minor hockey association, and an inventor of safety equipment. Chief Crouch's father was a hockey coach in Toronto, and it was natural that his son would take up the game. It was a big thrill for him when he joined the Danforth Radio team in the Metro Toronto Hockey League at the age of 13, for it was the first time he was provided L with a hockey sweater. In the following years Chief Crouch was a member of the Beaches Lions team which won two city championships. When the team won t'e Mid- get championship, he was its captain. . In 1948-49 he played with the North Toronto Lions team which were Ontario Junion B finalists, and he then went on to join the Barrie Flyers. Throughout these early days of his hockey career he always played goal. In 1950-51 Chief Crouch played with the Oshawa Gen- erals, alongside such well- known personalities as Fred Etcher, George Samalenko, Bobby Attersley, Harry Sin- den, and Ted O'Connor, who went on to become members of the world champion Whitby Dunlops. Two other players on the Generals tean that year were Lou Jankowski, who later played for the Chicago Black Hawks, and is now a chief scout for the St. Louis Blues; and Alec Delvechio, who played for the Detroit Red Wings and is now their general manager. Today, Harry Sinden is general manager of the.Boston Bruins and Ted O'Connor is chief scout for the Minnesota North Stars. After leaving the Oshawa Generals, Chief Crouch tried out for the Springfield Indians in the American Hockey league, but decided that rather than remain a hockey player, he wc-ild enter the coaching and management field. From 1952 to 1954 he coacbed the Scarborough JRangers Junior B team, and jinm 1954-55 he was as Ontario scout for the Detroit Red 1Wings. Other duties included referee for the Metro Toronto Hockey league and Toronto High School League, and coach for the league's minor 1'hockey teams. Froma~ 1955 to 1960 he cagdfrom goalie to for- ward and defenseman for the ScarboroÿhJ Firefighters team in the Ontario Fire- fighters' Hockey League. For tbree years be was also isecretary for the league. On bis appointment in 1969 as Whitby Fire Chief, the youngest in the province, Chief Crouch began taking an active part in the sports scene in Whitby. He coached the Midget all-star team fo'r two years, and in 1972-73 was president and manager of the Whitby Fireman Junior Bteam. In 1971 Chief Crouch was responsible for the amalgama- tion of the Brooklin and Whitby minor hockey associa- tions, and served the next two years as pSsident of the com- bined organization. A number of problems faced the two hockey associa- tions at the time, sucli as population distribution, and residents of the corridor area wanting their chadren to play in Whitby while the structure required them to play in Brooklin. These problems were solved by the amalgamation. In 1971 and 1972, Chief Crouch organized two winter carnivals which featured broomball and hockey games by students of Whitby's high schools. During the past year, C'*ef Crouch has turned his atten- tion away from the manage- ment and coaching side of þockey to the problem of safety in the game. Three years before he came to Whitby he was in charge of the Eatons of Canada safety program for eastern Canada and "became well schooled in safety devices". Late in 1974 he began to become concerned about goalies having inadequate protection to deal with de- flecting slapshots. Of pi.rti- cular concern was the throat and neck area which was not protected. On Jan. 5, 1975 the prob- lem was brough home very clearly to Chief Crouch when his son Kim was slashed in the neck by a skate while playing goal for the Markham Waxers. "Five hockey players were killed in the last three years from neck injuries, and Kim could have been the sixth", he says. "I was working on the theory of a throat protec- for before the accident which immediately brought the en- tire problem to a head and. I did something", - By February 19, when Kim returned to the ice, he was wearing a throat collar invent- ed by his father, and during the next few months it was refined to the point where it weighs only 3/2 ounces. "Two people say they have been hit in the neck while wearing the collar and they didn't feel a thing. On.was by a stick and one was by a puck", says Chief Crouch. "The reception to the collar is very encouraging. It is being marketed in sports stores from Winnipeg to Ottawa, to Toronto, to Louisville Kentucky". Every collar is custom made rather than on an assembly line basis, and about 700 bave produced since February. Chief Crouch bas also produced about 50 muscle protectors for arms and legs. Cbief Croucb hopes to expand the distribution of bis collars into as many Ontario towns as possible and then to the West, Quebec, and the United States. "Wbetber the collar be- comes a manditory piece of equipment will determine its future", lie says. "No one can lie entirely devoted to his occupation 24 hcurs a day, seven days a week", says Chief Crouch. "I use it (the collar) as my hobby or means of diversion from thinking if the fire department ail the time, until I receive a call and I'm back thinking fire department again". "Hockey has taught me to be a competitor, developedMy character, made good contacts and it's been an education that can never be paid for in dollars", says Chief Crouch, "But I firmly believe that parents should not push their children into the game, espec- ially during the. ages of six to 12". "After the age of 12, the parents should be with them as much as possible for sup- port guidance and encourage- ment, because the older the boy becomes, the more diffi- cuit the game is not only to play but to be protected from the many disheartening occur- rences that will develop". Chief Crouch says there is just as much violence in hockey today' as there was 25 years ago, and it is part of the game. "You will always have fivh %th i h di th g ts,o gierwise ow (the players) expel emotions? The day yo control a person's em Whitby Fire Chief Ed Crouch spends his working day at the fire hall managing the third-ranking fire department in ail Canada, but during his spare time he is devoted to making the game of hockey safer~for its playzrs. A former hockey player himself, Chief Crouch has invented a neck protection collar and muscle protector for arms and legs. He has patented his collar, and is distributing it to various communities in Canada and the United States. Free Press Photo their is the day you can control According to Chief Crouch, injuries in hockey, and he is u can that,.and I don't think that safety protection devices are doing his part in furthenng otion day will ever come". what are required to prevent this aspect of the gam-e. SHOPPIR'S SPCIAL THURSDAY & FRIDAY DECEMBER 4 & 5 ô,t Buyone- getone FRE Treat the whole family for half the regular price. 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