You will be amazed if you read this obituary....

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timescolonist/obituary.aspx?n=george-ferguson&pid=171625687&

From The Times Colonist in Victoria, BC.

What to say about George? Certainly, no one could accuse him of having been a loving son, brother, or father. He'd gladly have stolen the shirt off your back and he was generous to a fault with other people's money.

 

Awesome.

 

That's epic. Certainly the first line grabs you.

 

Great stuff, from beginning to end.

No survivors mentioned, so I wonder who wrote it?

 

From the story link attached to the obit:

The obit is rich with personal details, citing favorite watering holes, the fleecing of romantic interests and an arrest by heavily armed police. The obit includes little hint as to the identity of the anonymous author. Who wrote it? A former wife? An ex-business partner? A disgruntled victim of a con? Or had the unrepentant hustler played one last caper by writing his own unflattering farewell?

The answer can be found in a modest house outside Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, that is the home of the elder of Ferguson's two daughters from his first marriage.

Karen Shirley, a 53-year-old college philosophy instructor, wrote the obit shortly after joining her father in his final days at the hospital.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timescolonist/obituary.aspx?n=george-ferguson&pid=171625687&

 

From the name in the link line, thought this might be about the former Leaf.

 

I figured JR and I would be the only two people who remembered that guy even existed.

If memory serves, he went to Pittsburgh with Randy Carlyle in a trade for Dave Burrows.

 

I still have a Topps card of him from, I guess, 1975 or so.

I was re-reading Tiger Williams's book recently and seem to recall Tiger thinking Carlyle was somewhat of a floater in his early days.

 

I love that book, especially considering he was still an active player when he wrote it and he was not charitable toward more than a few current and former teammates and opponents, many of whom were also still active at the time. I'm pretty Ferguson and Carlyle were two of those people.

Tiger was a bit iffy on some facts, though - for instance, he claimed Lanny McDonald took the puck from him to score the OT winner in '78 against the Islanders, but the reality is that McDonald knocked down a pass from Ian Turnbull at the blue line. I don't even know if Tiger was on the ice at the time. It does make you wonder how true the rest of his stories are.