Yellowknife (Apr 02/03) - Shorty Brown hated to see kids go without hockey skates so he organized a program that guaranteed every Northern kid who needed skates, got a pair.

Shorty Brown

Over time, Brown's effort supplied more than 10,000 kids around the North with free skates and equipment. Brown was also quite a hockey player back in his day and later a driving force behind minor hockey in Yellowknife.

In 1951, Brown was still a teenager playing commercial league hockey in Alberta when he caught the attention of a hockey scout who asked him to consider moving to Yellowknife.

"I was at loose ends then," said Brown. "I thought what the heck. I don't even know where this place Yellowknife is, but I'll go up."

Back in those days, Yellowknife was a raucous gold mining town. Yellowknife's three gold mines had hockey teams and the town had a team too. Sponsored by local businesses, it was called the Town Indians.

"It was a real wild head-hunter league," said Brown. "Made up of guys who didn't make the NHL."

He was paid to play hockey for the Indians and part of his contract involved helping with minor hockey. At that time, between 40 and 50 kids were involved in the minor league. Even in those days, Brown "hustled up" skates for kids who couldn't afford them.

As president and coach of minor hockey, Brown took players on trips to Alberta, Fort Simpson and finally Quebec City in 1966.

"It was a great effort by the local people," said Brown. "Especially when you figure none of these kids had ever left Yellowknife."

After the Quebec trip, Brown began to organize an international tournament, contacting ambassadors in various countries and gaining permission for planes to fly through Canadian airspace to Yellowknife.

However, the league just wasn't ready, said Brown. He didn't push it, and the tournament didn't happen. But years later, the idea resurfaced and the Arctic Winter Games was born.

When Brown stepped aside from minor hockey in 1966, he'd certainly made his mark. The league was fully sponsored and well organized with 340 kids and 18 teams.

In the mid-1950s, Brown left Canada for two years to play hockey in Europe for the Dutch National Team and the Belgium National Team. He met his wife in Holland. She couldn't speak English and he couldn't speak Dutch but they fell in love and she moved back to Yellowknife with him. They spent a summer babysitting an empty mine and hunting and trapping in the bush about 150 miles northwest of Yellowknife. It was their honeymoon, he said.

"I was the manager. My wife was the assistant manager. There was only two of us."

Brown's passion for making sure no kids went skate-less continued to grow as the government moved in to more remote areas communities began to build skating rinks. Many kids still didn't have skates.

Nellie Cournoyea, Jessie Sloan , Bernie Hughes and Brown held several meetings. They asked the recreation directors in the communities to send them wish lists. They found storage space and enlisted the help of a trucking company and airlines. Orders poured in and everyone rallied around the effort. No business -- not one -- declined to lend a hand. The media picked up the story, and Brown appeared on the Peter Gzowski show.

"It was a fantastic project," he recalls. "I think just about every kid who could skate and wanted a pair, got a pair.

Over the years, he's received hundreds of letters and photos of proud kids with their first pair of skates. It was a good feeling, said Brown.

At age 73, he's still sending skates out.

"I get phone calls all the time and if somebody needs a bunch of skates and equipment, I go to work."

Kugluktuk Mayor Stanley Anablak figures Shorty sent about 400 skates their way over the years. Brown also raised enough money to buy a Zamboni for the town's arena. And, when Kugluktuk recently added a cement pad to its arena, Brown sent up 50 pairs of in-line skates.

Anablak -- who refers to Brown as "my fishing buddy" -- hopes Yellowknife recognizes the efforts of his close friend.

"Kugluktuk is in support of naming the arena after him," said Anablak. "He's done lots -- not only for Yellowknife."

Brown was "pretty surprised" to hear people want to name the arena after him, according to his 38-year-old son Rod Brown.

"He doesn't go for the fanfare much. He's never been that kind of guy. He does a lot behind the scenes but I don't think he likes being the centre of attention...If it did happen, he'd be pretty honoured."

Shorty Brown couldn't agree more. "That would be great," he said. "It would be my crowning glory."