Humble Hero

Dale Hawerchuk might have been born in Toronto, but he was Winnipeg through and through. While other hockey greats, such as Gretzky or Lemieux, played the superstar role, ‘Ducky’, as he was so lovingly known, was simply a humble ‘get ‘er done’ work-a-day hero on the ice that often earned him 100 points a season and took him beyond 1000 points in a 16 season career. On and off the ice, he embodied Winnipeg’s characteristic low-key attitude that has made us the ‘collars up’ ‘walk-it-off’ city we are today.

Fitting then, that this past October, Winnipeg hockey fans, alongside Jet’s ownership at True North Sports + Entertainment and the Hawerchuk family unveiled a bronze statue commemorating the team’s famed number 10, who passed away in 2020 at age 57. The artwork, located in the heart of downtown in True North Square, was created by sculptor Erik Blome, a US-based artist known for other prominent works on sports greats Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan, and shows Centre Dale Hawerchuk in classic form. Standing on a base of local Tyndall Stone, the larger-than-life bronze displays all the grace and determination of this down-to-earth hockey hero where his effortless glide and drive to the net are on full display.

“Dale’s NHL career alone made him worthy of a statue in this city, but what really set him apart was the fact that he made Winnipeg his home, and that he became one of us,” says Mark Chipman, Executive Chairman, Winnipeg Jets and True North Sports + Entertainment. “As great of a player as Dale was, he was a finer human being. He was a humble guy that did all his talking with his game, and never lost that sense of humility. This statue is in honour of much more than his on-ice play – it’s a legacy to the values that he lived every day.”

Chipman was on hand in 1981 when Hawerchuk stood amid a sea of enthusiastic fans at Portage & Main to sign on with the Jets.“ I’ve never lost that sense of pride for our community and for what the Jets mean to this province. No one epitomized that or created that sense of pride in my lifetime more than Dale did, and it’s clear he’s left a similar mark on many Manitobans.” Over his career, Hawerchuk did it all. He was a player, a coach and a captain. Current Centre Mark Scheifele was coached by Hawerchuk when he played junior in Barrie.

"He was the best coach I've ever had," said Scheifele during his remarks at the unveiling. "I don't think there's many out there like him. He was a guy that just wanted to teach guys, no matter if you were a first-line [forward] or a fourth liner, whoever it was, he wanted to teach you about how to get better or what to do on the ice [and] he would be on the ice showing you how to do it.”

BY KELLY GRAY Humble Hero

Chipman agrees and points out that he was a true leader, on and off the ice.

“Dale was a fantastic Captain for many of the same reasons that endeared him to Manitobans,” he says, noting that what you saw was what he was. “As Winnipeggers, we pride ourselves on not having a lot of pretense in our community. We are who we are. We don’t try to be something we’re not. That was Dale as well, throughout his career and throughout his life. That authenticity is something I always admired, and is no doubt, what made him such a great leader on and off the ice.”