When Rangers defenseman Adam Fox’s 99-year-old grandfather visited The Maven last Tuesday in Israel with other family members, Mel Fox said something meaningful that I had forgotten to mention in previous stories.
Naturally, our conversation had drifted to the subject of his grandson Adam, the Norris Trophy-winning Blueshirt blueliner.
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Adam learned his hockey on Long Island rinks and has had a meaningful influence on young kids who want to play an “Adam Fox Kind Of Hockey.”
With that in mind, Grandpa Fox offered this thought: “Adam should be a role model for Jewish kids playing hockey.”
In fact there were two previous Jewish defensemen who manned the New York blue line and were, in fact, role models but of a different kind and distant era.
The first was Alex “Kingfish” Levinsky, who Rangers boss Lester Patrick obtained from Toronto in 1934. Levinsky played only one season for the Blueshirts and then was traded to Chicago where Kingfish completed a successful ten-year NHL career.
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The genuine Jewish role model for a defenseman was Hy Buller. Born in Montreal but raised in Saskatoon, Buller was discovered by a Ranger scout in 1950 as a raw teenager.
By the fall of 1952 the Rangers figured that their Eastern Amateur Hockey League farm team, the New York Rovers, could use Hy as well as his two Saskatoon teammates, Vic Lynn and Dave Livingstone.
Playing for the Rovers at the old Madison Square Garden on Eighth Avenue between West 49th and West 50th Streets, Buller, Lynn and Livingstone excelled.
As a regular at Rover games, I watched the three Saskatoon prospects develop into solid pros. Lynn wound up skating for three Toronto Maple Leaf Cup-winners while Buller was signed by the Detroit Red Wings but failed in the Motor City.
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Hy had two cups of coffee with the Wings in 1943-44 and 1944-45 before his demotion to the Hershey (AHL) Bears.
“The NHL was a six-team league at the time,” said Rangers press agent Herb Goren. “And Buller wasn’t considered quite good enough at the time. He eventually wound up with the
AHL Cleveland Barons where he was considered the best defenseman not in the NHL.”
The Rangers signed Buller in 1951 and he became an instant hit. A huge BULLER banner — adorned with the Jewish Star of David was hung over the end balcony.
“In no time at all,” added Goren. “He became one of the best offensive defensemen in the league; but he also was good in his own end of the rink.”
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Buller played three seasons with the Blueshirts, through the 1953-54 season before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens. But Hy nixed the deal and retired from hockey then and there. Stricken with cancer, Buller died in 1968.
Not until the arrival of Adam Fox had the Rangers carried another Jewish defenseman. His grand-day remembers when Adam and Boston Bruins ace blueliner Charlie McAvoy teamed up on young Long Island teams.
“Adam and Charlie were inseparable,” said Grandpa Mel. “I was hoping that they both would wind up on the Rangers, but it didn’t work out.”
Mel Fox, all 99 years of him, will celebrate his 100th birthday in August. Date, time and place are still undecided but it would be neat if Adam and Charlie McAvoy showed up. Grandpa Mel would love that – two excellent role models if ever there was a pair.
Mel’s birthday wishes: 1. Another Blueshirt Stanley Cup in his lifetime and 2. Another Jewish Ranger like grandson Adam.
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