US veteran who had a lifelong passion for Hockey
GARY EGGLESTON OF NHL Central Scouting speaks at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft in Pittsburgh, PA. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
MELROSE — Gary S. Eggleston passed away peacefully at The Elmhurst HealthCare in Melrose on Tuesday, October 22. He was 89. Born January 15, 1935 at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, Gary was the first of three children to bless the lives of the late Paul and Barbara (Schaffner) Eggleston of Melrose.
Gary attended public school in Melrose, leaving for New Hampton School in New Hampshire after his freshman year. There he would excel as goalie for the school’s hockey team. A 1954 graduate, Gary was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014 for Ice Hockey, one of only eighteen male athletes honored to date.
“No one involved in hockey ever expects recognition like this. Rewards for me were always those received from seeing players especially those from New England whom I had scouted and promoted, go on to enjoy successful college and NHL careers.”
Gary worked for a number of years as a sales rep for Open Court Publishing Company before beginning his full-time career as NHL’s Central Scouting’s Hockey East scout. (He had worked part-time as a scout for the Detroit Red Wings in the 1960s. It was during this period that he became friends with one of his idols “Mr. Hockey”, the great Gordie Howe. One of Gary’s prized possessions was a photograph from the 1980s of him holding the Stanley Cup with Mr. Howe.) He would spend 31 seasons with NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau before retiring in 2012.
Hockey was a lifelong passion for Gary. From his early days when he was chided by his parents for standing in front of the refrigerator, freezer door open, dreamily tracing with his fingertips a rink of his imagining (he had “flooded” the layer of ice at the bottom with water from the tap), his fingernails the stand-ins for the blades of a player contesting in an action-packed game, to his days as a goalie in school; skating with his sons and playing in impromptu games on Lake Quannapowitt and at rinks throughout the area; and, finally, as an NHL scout of some standing. Gary would go on to be a member of the MA Hockey Hall of Fame Committee where his tireless advocacy for neglected figures important to the development and advancement of ice hockey in Massachusetts helped to see the posthumous inductions of a number of deserving nominees.
“Eggleston is a walking encyclopedia of every significant New England player. The possessor of a keen analytical mind and a great eye, he’s missed around the rinks of New England.” U.S. Hockey Report, Tuesday, November 12, 2013.
Gary was inducted into the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013. During his acceptance speech, he made a special point of thanking his wife Judi for her patience and understanding as the life of a full-time scout required his being away from home, often travelling to places like the Canadian provinces for two weeks at a time.
One time I came home from a two-week trip and she had a name tag on her pajama top…”Hi, My Name is Judi”. Humor can sometimes trump adversity. I still joke that she thought that NHL stood for “not home long.”
Gary and Judi (Boogar) Eggleston were a couple for seventy years and married for sixty-seven. The two met in Provincetown, Judi’s hometown where they were married in 1957. Judi was a sophomore in high school and Gary was working for Provincetown-Boston Airlines (PBA) under John C. Van Arsdale (the airline’s founder) when the two started dating. Married two days after Christmas, there was a brief gathering outside their wedding reception to watch Sputnik, the Soviet satellite pass by overhead.
It was off to Germany for the young couple when Gary’s unit in the 4th Armored Division at Fort Hood in Killeen, TXs was deployed to Leipheim at the height of the Cold War as a peacetime force and part of the NATO shield. When his military service was concluded, he and his young family would settle in Wakefield, where he and Judi would live at the same address for sixty-four years.
A Wakefield resident since 1960, Gary gave of his time volunteering as manager or coach for a number of Little League and Babe Ruth teams in the 1970s. A popular and positive presence in town, he also volunteered with the Cub Scouts, Webelos and Boy Scouts where his soft-spoken and supportive manner earned him the respect of scores of young Wakefieldians.
Above all, Gary Eggleston will be remembered as a kind and caring man of his word who loved his family and was true to his many friends. His absence is keenly felt.
Gary is survived by his wife Judi and two sons Paul of Holyoke and Jeff of Wakefield. Robinson Funeral Home is assisting the family. There will be no public services for Gary. For online tribute, please visit www.robinsonfuneralhome.com
