Kennedy: Hoynes shares fond memories of grandfather who was “Babe Ruth of hockey”

Headliners for the 1928 Champions of Sport banquet in New York. (Top row, L-R): Babe Ruth, Gene Tunney, Johnny Weissmuller, Bill Cook; Bottom row: Bill Tilden, cyclists Fred Spencer and Charlie Winter, Bobby Jones. Photo supplied.

January 12, 2024

By Patrick Kennedy

Canadian Baseball Network

Years ago while quenching his thirst at some forgotten oasis in Cleveland, Ohio, Paul Hoynes, veteran “beat writer” for that city's Guardians major-league baseball team, noticed an intriguing photograph on the wall.

The image depicted eight tuxedo-clad men who sat at the head table of the “1928 Champions of Sport Banquet” in New York City. Hoynes's chest swelled with pride when he spotted a familiar face among such luminaries as Babe Ruth, heavyweight champ Gene Tunney, tennis titan Bill Tilden, Olympic champion swimmer (and later Hollywood's original Tarzan) Johnny Weismuller, and others from the so-called "Golden Age of Sports." Bookending the top row with the Sultan of Swat and standing just behind the golfer Bobby Jones is New York Rangers great Bill Cook, the National Hockey League team's first captain who that year spearheaded the upstart “Broadway Blueshirts” to the Stanley Cup in just their second year in operation.

Picking out Cook from the octet of sports heroes, Hoynes grinned and thought: “Well, look at that … it's Daddy Bill.”

Bill Cook was Hoynes’ grandfather, a.k.a. “Daddy Bill” to grandkids on both sides of the 49th.

And Bill's brothers Fred and Alex were “Uncle Bunny.” and Uncle Buddy,” respectively.

Bill Cook, the eldest of three brothers (all three played in the NHL), was born in Brantford, Ont., but grew up in Kingston. His father, also named Bill., was the manager of the Dominion Textiles factory on lower Cataraqui Street. The Cook clan – mom, dad and 11 kids – lived in a big three-storey company house at 251 Rideau St., near the foot of Charles Street.

Bill and “Bun” Cook formed 2/3 of the Rangers potent Bread Line along with fellow Hall of Famer Frank Boucher. The durable unit, which remained intact for a productive nine seasons, combined for more than 1,000 points. The trio tallied every New York tally in the 1928 best-of-five final.

“Daddy Bill was a helluva guy,” Hoynes recalls over the phone from Cleveland, where soon he'll begin his 42nd year covering his hometown's big-league ballclub.

“All those summers that we spent as kids in Picton, hanging out with my Kingston cousins at Daddy Bill's two cottages. They were absolutely amazing times.

“Daddy Bill taught me how to swim, how to fish and how to clean a fish. He bought me my first pellet rifle and taught me to respect wildlife and enjoy the outdoors.”

Robin Cook Bradley, Daddy Bill and wife Claire's oldest grandchild, says her American cousin Paul seemed destined to one day make a living with the alphabet.

“He was cut out to be a writer of some sort,” says the 74-year-old. “Paul was always writing little stories. His mom, Aunt Billie, would send boxes of library books to Picton. We all had to read them, then write book reports.”

“I don't know how many books I actually read,” Hoynes, 73, confesses. “I was too busy being a kid and having fun outside.“

His cousin Chris Cook laughs at the time young Hoynes coaxed an annoyed snapping turtle to bite a large stick, then dragged both stick and snapper back to the cottage, where Daddy Bill unequivocally told the boys to “drag that thing back to where you found it!”

Bill Cook in the dressing room at Madison Square Garden before a 1985 ceremony honouring the Ranger icon. Cook is flanked by Pierre Larouche (L) and Ron Greschner. Photo supplied.

How good was Bill Cook the hockey player?

It's not a stretch to say that in the latter half of the Roaring 20s and into the Great Depression years, Cook was the toast of the Big Apple - “the Babe Ruth of hockey,” local writers dubbed him. He was as popular as boxer Jack Dempsey - and just as tough and nasty whenever an opponent on skates lit his fuse. They didn't call Cook “Bad Bill” for nothing. The consensus among puck-game pundits of the day was that the rugged forward with a sniper's eye was the sport's finest right wing. The Rangers’ linchpin still holds the team mark for most hat-tricks (nine). In his rookie NHL campaign, at the advanced age of 30, Cook topped the league in goals and points. He earned $5,000 for the season. Today he'd need his own Brinks truck.

Cook also was named to the league's inaugural all-star first-team at right wing, kudos he earned in each of the next three seasons. In 1933, at age 36, he became the oldest scoring champ in league history, a record that stood until Tampa Bay Lightning centre Martin St. Louis broke it in 2013 at age 37. That same year, Cook scored the Cup-clinching goal in overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the first of four Kingston lads who've turned that trick. Small wonder that for several years William Osser Xavier Cook was a star that shone brightly over “the city that never sleeps.”

Dapper Bill Cook in his lone season as coach of the new New York Rangers (1940). Photo supplied.

“Daddy Bill had two cottages for family get-togethers, one for the grown-ups, one for us kids,” grandson Danny Cook remembers. “Those were splendid times for the young cousins. Memories of those Picton summers will always be in our hearts.”

Bill Cook could spin stories to his grandchildren 13 to the dozen, although few were hockey-related and practically none detailed his service overseas during the World War I. His brother “Bun,” on the other hand, while no horn-tooter himself, might sometimes regale listeners with past hockey tales, generally for the benefit of friends and family.

“I was in the kitchen one time with Daddy Bill while Uncle Bunny and some friends were in another room talking,” Hoynes recalls. “My grandfather pointed to the room and said: 'You'd better get in there. They're telling stories you may never hear again.'”

The Cook-Hoynes connection started soon after Bill Cook retired as a player and was hired by Cleveland businessman Al Sutphin to be general manager and coach of Sutphin's new American Hockey League franchise, the Barons. Five years later, Bill handed the coaching reins over to Bun, who guided the Barons to five Calder Cup titles over the next 14 seasons.

One summer in the early '40s, Cook invited Sutphin to Kingston. Among those accompanying the Barons owner on the trip north was 16-year-old Jimmy Hoynes, the son of a family friend. On a visit to the Cook farm on Hwy 2 east, Jimmy met 16-year-old Billie Marie Cook, Bill's kid sister. More trips north followed, and the young lovebirds were eventually married at St. Mary's Cathedral and settled in Cleveland. Billie Marie became “Aunt Billie” to her Canadian nieces and nephews.

Legendary Cleveland baseball writer Paul Hoynes. Photo supplied.

As for Hoynes the sportswriter, he seems to have gotten the knack of things. Exhibit A: Hoynes was a finalist (and runnerup — by nine votes — to winner Tom Boswell) for the 2025 Baseball Writers' Association of America Lifetime Achievement Award in Cooperstown, a distinction that longtime reporter and native Kingstonian Bob Elliott earned in 2012.

Elliott, who back when covered his share of minor hockey tilts at Cook Brothers Arena as a young Whig-Standard wag, recalls nights in a press box when Hoynes instantly seized the attention of the assembled scribes.

“At some point during a game Paul would let out a blood-curdling howl,” recalls Elliott. “I think it was from his rugby days. At any rate it would scare the crap out of everyone. “

Hoynes laughs heartily at the memory. “The hawk call,” he says, still chuckling, ”yeah it's from my rugby days at Marquette University. I only do it at home games and only on Fridays.”

Hoynes has never let his patronage of his hometown teams affect his craft. His stories are what we in the newspaper industry refer to as “good reads:” thorough, informative, insightful, interesting, objective.

As a fan, however, he's “died a few times with this team over the years.” He was still a preschooler when the New York Giants humbled his pitching-rich Indians in the 1954 Series, a four-game sweep highlighted by Willie Mays' famous over-the-shoulder catch. World Series defeats in 1995, 1997 and 2016 served to keep baseball's longest active championship drought alive – 78 years and counting.

“The worst had to be the 1997 loss to the Marlins,” says Hoynes. “They had the closer (Jose) Mesa on the mound with a 2-1 lead going into the ninth inning of Game 7.” (Florida tied the game and won on Edgar Renteria's 11th inning seeing eye single.)

Hoynes once wrote a story about surly Cleveland outfielder Mel Hall's off-the-field troubles.

“The next day Cleveland manager Pat Corrales sees me in the clubhouse and says, 'You'd better get outta here, there's a bounty on your head.' I turn to leave and run right into Mel Hall.”

The ballplayer and the former rugby hooker grappled in the clubhouse, with Hoynes ending up “in the bottom of Carman Castillo's locker with Hall on top of me and another player trying to pull him off.” Hoynes is laughing again, as he does in recollecting interviews with the talented but wholly unpredictable ex-Cleveland outfielder Albert Belle.

“Albert could charm you one day, then snap at you the next. You never knew which guy you were getting.”

Hoynes and wife Jackie recently celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. The couple have two grown sons and four grandchildren.

Recounting his famous grandfather -who was 90 when he died in Kingston in 1986 - and especially those summers on the Bay of Quinte, Hoynes says he feels fortunate to have had such an influential role model in his life.

“I remember one time when Daddy Bill took about 12 of us grandchildren fishing in a boat,” he says. “Each of us had a line in the water and Daddy Bill was constantly moving around in the boat, baiting hooks, making sure lines weren't getting tangled, untangling those lines that were. He was so patient and understanding and helpful, just a wonderful grandfather for us kids to have at such a formidable time in our lives.”

Patrick Kennedy is a retired Whig-Standard reporter. He can be reached at pjckennedy35@gmail,com