I first met Earl in November 1992 when I was invited to the Newport Restaurant by Ervin Budge, a former Canadian Snooker Champion. Ervin (Budgie) lives in Aylmer and had read several issues of "The Informer". Since I was the publisher of the paper, Budgie wanted me to meet Earl and become a member of the "Elvis Sighting Society".Budgie had decided that our growing popularity in town was an opportunity for our newspaper to do some charity work and promote other charitable organizations.
So we (with my partner Tony Ruffo) met Earl and Moe over a breakfast at the Newport Restaurant on Richmond Road in Ottawa. The breakfast was mostly small talk, some sports talk but towards the end of the meal, Earl mentioned that the paper, Tony and myself should become members in good standing of the Elvis Sighting Society, - a charity that does good work and raises funds for various organizations in the city.
Our First Venture
Moe had been using the Newport on Christmas Day to serve a free meal to the homeless, lonely, needy - indeed anyone in need of some companionship on Christmas Day and suggested we do the same for Aylmer and Hull.
So after much organizing in a very short time, we did manage to pull an Aylmer version of the event off and it became a yearly tradition on this side as well as in Ottawa. Over the next few years, we worked our dinners simultaneously and leaned on each others supplies and resources. I remember running over to the Newport at 6:30 pm on our first dinner and pleading with Moe and Earl for some buns, that we were almost out! Of course, Earl went into the kitchen and came out with about 6-8 dozen.
Unfortunately, the demise of "The Informer" in 1995, and the restaurant location we were using having been sold to a bar in 1996, spelled the end of the event on this side of the river. We looked for and failed to find a suitable venue to host the hungry.
Next - A Sports Benefit
Tony and I met with Earl, Moe and Budgie often over the next few years and had discussed several additional opportunities. In the cold Days of January 1994, we again had a nice breakfast discussion - this time Tony and I brought an offer to the table.
A few days earlier, an opportunity arose, when a woman came into our office for an interview about a story we were working on. The woman was starting the (now) Aylmer Women's shelter for battered and abused women. As part of our story line, the need for funding came up, including the need for start-up capital.
So after some planning, we decided we would play a charity hockey game vs "The Evil City of Aylmer" recreation department. The (then) Sun Sports Editor - Jane O'Hara and Earl would referee the game, and we would organize our teams and fundraising. Tickets were printed and sold, some corporate sponsors ponied up some cash and we did a couple of street hockey tournaments in the parking lot of the Glenwood plaza. The Sun and Earl gave us some publicity, we ran our own ads and various events, and the city organized the players and gave us free ice time.
The day of the big game came along, and to my surprise, Earl and Jane were dressed as full on referees! The game was a huge success with 600+ people showing up, - I don't remember the score (but we lost). That was the day I found out that Earl couldn't skate, and the referee outfit was his way of hiding this fact! In fact for most of the game he slowly skated between blue lines and let Jane O'Hara do all the end to end action. After the second period, he took off his skates and put shoes on!
Earl was a fun loving guy and when we bagan losing badly, he started doling out penalties to the other team. He gave one player a penalty for not being a Sens fan! He gave the goalie a penalty for making a nice stop and as he put it "The puck should have gone in, you get 2 minutes for hwy robbery." A few timely off-sides were called on the City team during clear cut break-away's and more outlandish calls were Earl's way of enjoying himself and playing to the partisan crowd. We did raise over $3000 that day for the Women's Shelter.
A True Humanitarian
Over the many years I have known Earl, I have to say he spent more time helping other people make their lives better than he did living his own life.
I won't go into detail about the many charity events he helped in, organized or worked at.... these are all public knowledge - if you want to know more, go to the Newport and check out the wall of fame.
Its not that I knew Earl well, I didn't. I considered him a friend and someone I could stop and have a coffee with at the Newport, a pint at the Prescott or wine at Donna's Express.
In the Spring of 2010, my son Alex was severly beaten by a couple of Gatineau police officers, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Alex, a now college graduate, was at a bar waiting for a friend - being the designated driver, when the police showed up and all heck broke loose. While I don't know all the truths behind this story, I do know that Alex was beaten by police, passed a breathalyzer and then never charged with any crime.
The day after this, I asked Alex to outline the happenings from that evening in writing and to email them to my work. I then added my own comments and sent the entire email, photo's and information to Earl. Not 30 seconds had passed when Earl called my office asking me my permission to investigate and perhaps publish a story on this.
Of course this was Earl at his best - always looking out for the little guy, always looking to take on the "Mean Machine' regardless of the cost. While we never did anything publicly over the incident (Alex received an apology from the Chief of the Gatineau police, and a promise that the officers would be more humane towards others), I know Earl did look into the events. He contacted me a week or so later saying, "If I wanted to, and only if I agreed, would he put paper to pen and have this story told." We agreed that the apology from the Chief was sufficient and no mention of this would be made on the pages of the Ottawa Sun.
Again, this was Earl at his humane best. A lesser journalist would have published the story and earned public honours for an investigative report. Earl was after no such distinctions.
Earl I'll miss you, even though we've had limited contact over the years, you always seemed to find time to talk to me and always had a friendly word or smile.
Heaven will never be the same, look out Lord, The Lippy Little Shin Kicker is on the way!
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