|
8/21/19 |
Dick Berggren Photo, North
East Motor Sports Museum
- |
|
One of New England auto racing's
highest-profile personalities, Russ Conway, passed away on
Monday, August 19. He is shown in the photo above with his
friend Bentley Warren at an event honoring Conway a year ago
at Lee (NH) Speedway.
It was well-known that Russ, a
co-founder of the New England Super Modified Association
(NESMRA), had promoted over 1,000 races from Canada to
Florida. He was also renowned as a world-class journalist
who wrote extensively about racing and hockey, including a
Pulitzer Prize-nominated, bestselling book about the
National Hockey League. Tooting around in one of his string
of 18 Corvettes, he had a million friends and approached
life joyously every single day.
What is less known
about Russ is that he was the consummate benefactor who just
plain gave more than he took. He involved himself in
promoting many public charities, while quietly supporting
all kinds of folks who fell on hard times. But, along the
way, he made little reference to the challenges he faced
himself. Russ had been ill for many years with a seemingly
unending list of medical problems - stents, cancers,
pancreatic troubles, and even a horrible parasite from a
recent visit to the Caribbean.
Six or so years ago
Russ penned the attached obituary and sent it to me in
confidence, requesting that I send it to the racing media
and post it on our site when he passed. He did not think he
would last this long, but it is sad to think how many
surgeries he endured during that time.
It seems
particularly devastating when one of the best of us has to
face such a difficult end.
-
-
|
|
Russ Conway
Led unique
life with honors in three careers
|
Living three distinguished careers, he was inducted
as a Hall of Fame honoree in two professional sports, earned
a nomination as Pulitzer Prize finalist and authored a
best-selling book named by Sports Illustrated to its "Top
100" reading list of the 20th Century.
Russ Conway
became known across America and a recognized household name
in Canada. He died August 19th of coronary disease, for
which he had several heart procedures during his later life.
Best remembered for his journalistic influence
within the world of big-time hockey, he was the sportswriter
responsible for changing business practices of the National
Hockey League after exposing the corrupt dealings of
powerful players' union boss, R. Alan Eagleson. Conway's
persistent eight-year series of investigative reports led to
Eagleson's 1998 guilty pleas in both the US and Canada, and
multiple fraud convictions resulting in imprisonment in
Ontario.
Conway's tenacious work also uncovered
evidence aiding a lawsuit by former NHL players, claiming
League executives and team owners had misallocated pension
funds for their own benefit that should have gone to the
players.
In an impersonal age of corporate
conglomerate-gobbling takeovers, mega-media giants, and
computer newsgathering, Conway was a throwback to old-time
reporting, building his own network of reliable insiders and
sources, and producing responsible news stories for his
readers.
Eagleson's powerful career spanning three
decades was exposed for his corruption, unveiling multiple
conflicts of interest including fraud and misallocation of
player pension funds.
The pension case went all the
way to Canada's Supreme Court, upholding a lower court's
award of more than $42 million to 1,343 NHL players and
their families, plus court costs.
Conway's
investigative findings also aided several former NHL players
to win disability insurance claims, which they had either
been denied or shortchanged under Eagleson's rule.
In
later years, Conway was particularly helpful with retired
NHL players. From its inception, he became an advocate of
the Senior Players Benefit Plan. Both the NHL and NHL
Players Association agreed in 2013 to fund the plan for 10
years, committing $60 million to retired players age 65 and
over. Conway was named the NHL Players Alumni "7th Man"
award winner in 2013 for his dedicated work.
Hockey Hall of Famer
Conway covered hockey as a journalist from 1967 into the
fall of 2005. His reputation for factual, in-depth,
behind-the-scenes reporting became well known and trusted
within the sport. From Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe
and Maurice "Rocket" Richard, to Johnny Bucyk, Bobby Hull,
Jean Beliveau and Ted Lindsay, he knew them all well.
From Stanley Cup championship games to All-Star games
and major events, Conway covered them all and often broke
news-making "big" stories before his competitors. He was
inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999 in Toronto.
His passions for hockey, car racing and newspapers
developed early. As a child his father took him to the Pines
Speedway in the mid-1950s and to a Stanley Cup Final game in
1958 at Boston Garden. By 1960 he was delivering newspapers
and launched his journalism career writing auto-racing
columns in 1964 for the Haverhill Journal.
His
self-proclaimed "age-is-only-a-number" lifestyle became a
magnet for challenging adventures, noteworthy
accomplishments, well-known celebrities, fast cars, and
beautiful women. He owned 18 Corvettes over the years and
collectively drove them more than two-million miles. Engaged
four times, he remained a bachelor, claiming he never felt
ready to settle down.
Racing Hall of Famer
Conway also built a
long and respected reputation for organizing and promoting
successful auto races, extending from Florida to the
Canadian Maritimes. Along with business partners Ken Smith
and Charlie Elliott, he helped form and operate the New
England Super-Modified Racing Association (NESMRA) in 1965.
Together they opened and operated Star Speedway in Epping,
NH; Lee USA Speedway in Lee, NH; and Hudson Speedway,
Hudson, NH.
His promotions included over 1,000 events
between 1965 and 2013, including more than 10,000 races at
33 speedways.
Long before New England's major league
speedway was built in Loudon, NH, Conway personally
recruited top-name drivers and national sponsors to his
"Showdown of Champions" short-track events during the
mid-1980s. Two of the sport's icons, Richard Petty and Dale
Earnhardt Sr., both seven-time NASCAR national champions,
drove for him. Earnhardt won 10 of the feature events held
between 1983 and 1986.
Champions Cale Yarborough,
Buddy Baker, Darrell Waltrip, Tim Richmond, Ronnie Bouchard,
Terry Labonte, and Kyle Petty all raced in Conway's events.
Once, after a race program at Stafford, CT, the millionaire
stars even drove in "The Grand National Demolition Derby" -
another one of Conway's "try-topping-this" brainstorms.
Motivated to fill grandstands with his trademark
expression "Don't miss this one - tell your friends!", his
flair for unusual excitement delivered what he promised.
In 2006 Conway was inducted into the New England Auto
Racing Hall of Fame, joining his two former NESMRA partners
as lifetime honorees. At the time of his death he was also a
director of the North East Motor Sports Museum and board
member of the Racing History Preservation Group.
Award Winning Journalist
Conway's journalism career spanned over 40
years, mostly as a sportswriter and columnist. He won
numerous awards. He was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for
"Beat Reporting" in 1992 and received a rare commendation
from the U.S. Department of Justice and then-FBI director
Louis Freeh in 1995.
Conway authored numerous short
stories for hockey and auto racing magazines. In 1995 his
well-researched investigative accounts of scandalous
business activity in pro hockey instantly became a
blockbuster as a book he authored, "Game Misconduct," sold
out its first of three printings in a week, remaining on the
"Top 10 Best Sellers List" in Canada for 17 weeks. In 1998,
Conway authored an updated paperback version of the book
with additional chapters of information, which again became
a bestseller. It is widely acclaimed to be among the elite
of sports-related books, named by Sports Illustrated
magazine as one of the 20th century's "Top 100" books.
Active Life
He organized charity events, was a long-time contributor
and participant in numerous community programs. He was in
charge of the Allan B. Rogers Memorial Golf Tournament
between 1975 and 2005. Under his stewardship, it grew to
become the largest amateur championship golf tournament in
New England, to the point where it annually attracted 1,300
to 1,500 players for five separate phases of competition. It
raised nearly $1 million for the Eagle-Tribune Santa Fund,
helping thousands of less fortunate families and individuals
in the Merrimack Valley when they needed it most during the
Christmas holiday season.
Calling on friends and his
contacts, his fundraisers, charitable dinners, and special
events to aid badly injured or ill race drivers are
legendary. There were times he quietly helped pay funeral
expenses for his friends or their family members.
The
Professional Hockey Writers Association made him an honored
lifetime member. He served during three decades as a
nominated voter in annual balloting for the NHL's
season-ending top-player awards and all-star teams.
He was a "honored member" of the Boston Bruins Alumni
Association, active member of the New England Auto Racing
"Hall of Fame" Club, the Senior Tour Auto Racers Club, Tampa
Bay Area Racing Association, North East Motor Sports Museum,
Corvette Club of America, Massachusetts Chiefs of Police
Association, Haverhill Fire Department Credit Union and
Hundred Club.
He was the Special Senior Advisor at
Lee USA Speedway, Promotion and Selection Committee member
of the annual Pines Reunion, an owner of the famed Ollie
Silva supermodified/sprint car, and anonymous sponsor of
several race drivers. He was Chairman of Champ Enterprises
Inc., a company he formed and owned since 1970.
He
enjoyed golf and played on some of the finest golf courses
in North America, including Cypress Point, Pebble Beach, Big
Horn, Landmark and Tamarisk in California, Dural and Boca
Raton in Florida, Winged Foot on Long Island, and Celine
Dion's Mirage in Quebec. And he got to play with some of the
game's well-known stars including Arnold Palmer, former U.S.
Senator Open champ Larry Loretti, Rocky Thompson, and
multi-time national blind champion Joe Lazarro.
He
shared time at his residences in Hampton Beach, NH, and
Pompano Beach, FL and maintained an office in Haverhill, MA,
where he was born and raised before moving to Groveland. He
was educated in Haverhill schools, Northeastern University
and was an FBI Citizens Academy graduate in 1998.
His
father, Haverhill Deputy Fire Chief Paul S. Conway Jr.,
mother, school teacher and Groveland School Committee member
Betty G. Conway, and younger brother, businessman and
financial advisor Mark E. Conway, all predeceased him.
Survivors include a dozen cousins, special friends Catherine
Boksanski of Haverhill, MA; Gina Marini and Chiara
Panfili-D'llio of Montreal; Lucy-Maria Peralta of Puerta
Plata, D.R.; and Lesia Masich of Kiev, Ukraine.
Memorial donations may be made to the North East Motor
Sports Museum, 922 NH Rt. 106 N, Loudon, New Hampshire
03307. |
|
- |
|
© 2019 Lew
Boyd, Coastal 181 |
|
Previous
