People of importance that truly intrigue you?

[gitrdun]

A friendly discussion about people from the past that you find inspiration and guidance from. For me, it is as follows, but who are people that give you time to think it over. For I, it is as follows:


1. Nikola Tesla is at the top of my list. A true visionary with incredible brain power. To me in fact, better than that of Einstein.

2. Second is Robert E. Lee, a general in the Confederate Army. Don't let the fact that he was a "confederate". Read his biography, comments and thought before passing judgment.

3. Third but not least is Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady. If only Trudeau had her brass balls, we'd be in far better shape.

Those are three people that intrigue me, my thoughts and what I believe in. What are yours?

[3blade]

Theodore Roosevelt. Just finished reading hunting trips of the ranch man and the wilderness hunter. His vision for the future was remarkable.

[Weedy1]

Leonardo da Vinci aka Leonardo “Dough” Vinci

Any guy that can produce an artwork that sells 500 years later for a half a billion dollars is in my books.

[Newview01]

Originally Posted by gitrdun

A friendly discussion about people from the past that you find inspiration and guidance from. For me, it is as follows, but who are people that give you time to think it over. For I, it is as follows:


1. Nikola Tesla is at the top of my list. A true visionary with incredible brain power. To me in fact, better than that of Einstein.

2. Second is Robert E. Lee, a general in the Confederate Army. Don't let the fact that he was a "confederate". Read his biography, comments and thought before passing judgment.

3. Third but not least is Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady. If only Trudeau had her brass balls, we'd be in far better shape.

Those are three people that intrigue me, my thoughts and what I believe in. What are yours?

I could not agree more with the first two. Although Benjamin Franklin would be up there between them. He had societies figured out, along with his peers. The American founding fathers really knew what freedom was about.

[Echo-Gecko]

Winston Churchill
Jan Smuts
Teddy Rooseveld
Jimi Hendrix
Pik Botha
Nelson Mandela

[grouse_hunter]

Mark Twain and George Carlin, also Jesus.

[spyguy 0-0-7]

Elmer Keith
Jack O'Connor
LT.Col.George Armstrong Custer (What were you thinking)?

[ReconWilly]

Hands down the baddest ass that ever walked the Earth...

TANKMAN.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFzeNAHEhU

[silverdoctor]

Tesla for sure, I'm still amazed at how many people don't know the name - let alone what he gave to the world.

Einstein, through thought experiments he figured out the entire universe. People ask when the "theory" will be proven wrong, it hasn't and won't be. Tesla and Einstein didn't really see eye to eye.

Another one is Percy Julian, brilliant chemist. I can only imagine what he would have accomplished if he was white. If you want to watch a good documentary, Forgotten Genius is a gooder about Percy.

Mr God of the gaps, Isaac Newton. another brilliant mind.

[cat336]

Botanist.Maybe not in the league of some of the people mentioned above. Pioneered alternate crops to build soil up depleted by constant cotton crops. Kept finding uses for alternative crops. Non were commercially viable but never quit trying to help farmers.

[Trochu]

Robert E. Lee;
Churchhill;
Queen Elizabeth II;
J.R.R. Tolkien;
Stonewall Jackson;
Henry Ford;
C.S. Lewis;
Douglas McArthur;
Erwin Rommel;
W. Buffett....

It would be tough to narrow it down to a top three.

Surprised there are no celebrities making peoples lists.

[Maxwell78]

RF Scott - Captain Scott
Earnest Shackleton - Endurance
Bob Bartlett - The ice master
Thomas Musgrave - Island of the lost

All great books on Explorers that went through hell all for the name of their country.

[BuckCuller]

Some that deserve a good study.

Mahatma Gandhi

Alexander the Great

Galileo Galilei

Sun Tzu

Sophocles

Ayn Rand

And of coarse.
Theodore Roosevelt

[silverdoctor]

If you really want intriguing, dig into the Bush family history - starting with Prescott Bush.

I near choked when Trump tweeted a nazi flag to Jeb.

[BuckCuller]

Originally Posted by silverdoctor

If you really want intriguing, dig into the Bush family history - starting with Prescott Bush.

I near choked when Trump tweeted a nazi flag to Jeb.

Only one American family more corrupt than the Clinton’s and that would be the Bushes.

[silverdoctor]

Originally Posted by BuckCuller

Only one American family more corrupt than the Clinton’s and that would be the Bushes.

Considering Prescott plotted a nazi coup in the 30's, I would think you're right.


Want more intriguing? Adolf Hitler - puppet.

[calgarychef]

Alaxander graham bell..... Colonel Saunders.....Ray crock (sp)

[Newview01]

Originally Posted by BuckCuller

Only one American family more corrupt than the Clinton’s and that would be the Bushes.

X2

[ReconWilly]

Originally Posted by silverdoctor

Considering Prescott plotted a nazi coup in the 30's, I would think you're right.


Want more intriguing? Adolf Hitler - puppet.

Plotted or pulled off?

Sure would explain a lot if he pulled it off...

How about Wehrner Von Braun and his buddies, how did they escape persecution to America "after" the war?

[sgill808]

Tupac Shakur

[bat119]

Archimedes
Knew how to pump it up

[Digger1]

Sir William Stephenson ( the book: A Man Called Intrepid ). A fascinating Canadian businessman who worked as a spy for Churchill and the king, and definitely had an impact on WW2. Brilliant. I think I’ll have to take the book down and read it again now.

[Unregistered user]

Charles Darwin

John Lennon

[antmai]

Twain, Tesla, Hemingway, Hitler, Stalin, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Nimoy...This list goes to an exponential 3 real fast!

[lmtada]

David Thompson, always intrigued with this early Fur trapper/explorer.

David Thompson
The fur trader who mapped most of Canada.

by Bill Moreau

Painting
ROBERT CARTER
To champion David Thompson as Canada’s greatest explorer appears an uphill climb. It was primarily as a fur trader that Thompson passed his long career in western Canada, from his arrival as a fourteen-year-old Hudson’s Bay Company apprentice to his retirement to Montreal in 1812. The demands of business afforded him little time for journeys of discovery. But explore he did, most notably between 1807 and 1812, while, as a wintering partner of the North West Company, he extended the trade across the Continental Divide.

Knitting together a network of routes through the Columbia Plateau, Thompson linked posts on the Upper Saskatchewan River with the Pacific Ocean by way of the Howse and Athabasca passes, determined the course of the entire Columbia River, and, in 1811, made a dash to Astoria, at the mouth of that great waterway. Thompson’s realization of the dream of a transcontinental passage for commerce is a fine achievement; as for exploration, though, his every step (or dip of the paddle) traced a well-travelled Aboriginal route, and he did not so much forge a path through the land as proceed where tribal people permitted him to go.

Perhaps his one truly original piece of exploration was a harrowing 1796 journey for the Hudson’s Bay Company, in which he traced the length of the Fond du Lac River, from Wollaston Lake to the east end of Lake Athabasca (in present-day northeast Saskatchewan), attempting to open a route to the fur riches of the subarctic; yet this was an utterly fruitless venture, the way so impractical that it would not be travelled again until almost a century had passed.

Is Thompson’s modest claim enough to place him in the company of Samuel de Champlain, Samuel Hearne, Alexander Mackenzie, or John Franklin, who daringly ventured forth into lands utterly unknown to Europeans? Perhaps not on these terms. And yet, this model of exploration may be too narrow; greatness as an explorer can be achieved on a more ample stage, when we remember that to explore means not only to traverse a place in order to make discoveries but also to inquire, investigate and examine. In this broader sense, Thompson’s pre-eminence is clear. No other Canadian explorer travelled with the same spirit of inquiry and sense of wonder, or, crucially, combined these qualities with the ability to communicate his vision to others.

He used his surveys to create the finest Canadian maps of his generation, ones that would be in use for decades.
Thompson didn’t merely travel; he also surveyed, measuring the land as he proceeded through it and staying up deep into the night to observe the heavens (his slumbering companions often suspected him of divination). He then used these surveys to create the finest Canadian maps of his generation, ones that would be in use for decades. His greatest achievement in cartography, his “great map” of 1815, provides an expansive view of the lands from Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean and from the Missouri River basin to the Athabasca region. In central and eastern Canada, his surveys and map-making extended to the Great Lakes, Muskoka, and the Eastern Townships. He knew our nation deeply, because he spent years literally plotting it out.

Even greater and more lasting achievements, and the fitting companions to his maps, are the volumes of writings he left behind, most notably the Travels narrative he completed in his late seventies. In prose that balances scientific precision and a poetic imagination, Thompson explored an encyclopedic range of topics, from the formation of basalt and the habits of the Northern Pacific rattlesnake to the vocabulary of the Salish language and the voracious appetite of the French-Canadian voyageur. These writings reveal Thompson’s profound understanding of the geography, natural history, and people of this land to an extent unmatched by his peers.

Gathering thousands of discrete observations, he wrote an appreciation of the great regions of the West: the Great Plains, the Canadian Shield, the Hudson Bay Lowlands, and the Cordillera, each seen as a providential system of landforms. His investigation of the natural world operated on the microscopic scale, too — he observed a mosquito biting his arm with enough care to discern that its proboscis is “composed of two distinct pieces; the upper is three sided, of a black color, and sharp pointed, under which is a round white tube, like clear glass, the mouth inverted inwards.” A lesser explorer would have slapped.

Thompson was an explorer of First Nations traditions, and he regarded the Native peoples among whom he travelled and worked as members of distinct and rich cultures. With the help of his wife, Charlotte Small, herself born of a Cree mother, Thompson came to know and value Algonquian cosmology. He wrote with sympathy of Native ways of understanding the world, acknowledging that the Cree concept of the manito (Great Spirit) explains goose migration at least as well as the learned European’s “instinct,” and he was humble enough to fall silent before the reproach of a tribal companion: “You white people, you look like wise men and talk like fools.”

Even the mysteries of his own psyche provided a field for Thompson’s exploration. He famously, he described his passage to adulthood and its responsibilities as a game of draughts with the Devil, in which he repeatedly bested Satan on the checkerboard. “My eyes were open,” he wrote, “it was broad day light, I looked around all was silence and solitude: Was it a dream, or was it a reality? I could not decide.” This explorer had the courage to journey inward, even as he journeyed forth.

Thompson’s greatness is not to be measured in miles alone, though these are many. Rather, he is great because he explored as much with his mind and pen as with his feet. And he still has something to say to us today, for his readings of our country and its people are as fresh and topical now as when they were made. While his tracks are no more, he continues to guide us through this land.

Colour photograph
BILL MOREAU is the editor of the three-volume Writings of David Thompson (The Champlain Society and McGill Queen’s University Press). The first volume was published in 2009 and the second will appear next year. Moreau teaches Grade 5 at Dunlace Public School in North York, Ontario, and has worked as a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto Scarborough. In 2011 he was a contestant on Jeopardy, amassing a total of one dollar. He lives in Woodbridge, Ontario, with his wife, Daiana, and their children.

[stuckincity]

Benjamin Franklin

Ayn Rand

George Orwell

Ron Paul

Eric Frank Russell

Jack London, after reading his non-fiction The People of the Abyss

[58thecat]

The king of Canada.

Don Cherry
This article is about the hockey play and broadcaster. For other uses, see Don Cherry (disambiguation).
Donald Stewart "Don" Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian ice hockey commentator for CBC Television. He is a sports writer, as well as a retired professional hockey player and NHL coach. Cherry co-hosts the "Coach's Corner" intermission segment (with Ron MacLean) on the long-running Canadian sports program Hockey Night in Canada, and has also worked for ESPN in the United States as a commentator during the latter stages of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Nicknamed Grapes, he is a Canadian icon known for his outspoken manner, flamboyant dress, and staunch Canadian nationalism.

Born February 5, 1934 (age 83)
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb)
Position Defence
Shot Left
Played for Hershey Bears
Boston Bruins
Springfield Indians
Trois-Rivières Lions
Kitchener-Waterloo Beavers
Sudbury Wolves
Spokane Comets
Rochester Americans
Tulsa Oilers
Vancouver Canucks
Playing career 1954–1972
Cherry played one game with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five seasons after concluding a successful playing career in the American Hockey League. He is also well known as an author, syndicated radio commentator for the Sportsnet Radio Network,[3] creator of the Rock'em Sock'em Hockey video series, and celebrity endorser. Cherry was voted the seventh greatest Canadian on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's television special, The Greatest Canadian. In March 2010, his life was dramatized in a two-part Canadian Broadcasting Corporation made-for-television movie, Keep Your Head Up, Kid: The Don Cherry Story, based on a script written by his son, Timothy Cherry. In March 2012, CBC aired a sequel, The Wrath of Grapes: The Don Cherry Story II.

Contents
Early life and family Edit

Cherry was born in Kingston, Ontario to Delmar (Del) and Maude Cherry.[4] His paternal grandfather, John T. (Jack) Cherry, was an original member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and a Great Lakes ship captain. His maternal grandfather, Richard Palamountain, was a British orphan of Cornish parentage who was emigrated to Canada as one of the Home Children. The name Palamountain is a corruption of the Cornish language "pol-mun-tyr" meaning "pool by the mineral land".[5] Palamountain was also a veteran of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.[6] Cherry's father Del was an amateur athlete and worked as an electrician with the Canadian Steamship Lines.[4] On the March 15, 2008 edition of Coach's Corner, Cherry wore the green and gold colours of County Kerry, Ireland. In his segment following the game, he claimed ancestry from that region. Cherry's younger brother, Dick Cherry played hockey at various levels, including two seasons in the National Hockey League with the Philadelphia Flyers.[7]

In his first year with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League, he met his future wife Rosemarie (Rose) Cherry née Madelyn Martini (born 1935 in Hershey, Pennsylvania). Rose was hugely influential in Don's life—because of Don's minor-league hockey lifestyle, they moved 53 times; they rarely had decent housing or furnishings, and Don was often away playing during major events, such as the birth of their daughter and first child, Cindy Cherry.[8] Six years after Cindy's birth, Rose gave birth to son Tim Cherry.[9] When Tim needed a kidney transplant at age 13, Cindy donated one of hers. The two currently live across the street from each other, around the corner from their father, in Mississauga.[10]

Rose died of liver cancer on June 1, 1997 and in honour of her perseverance, Don created Rose Cherry's Home for Kids.[8] Her name has motivated Cherry to always wear a rose on his lapel. Cherry contributed in developing Rose Cherry's Home for Kids which has since been renamed to The Darling Home for Kids, in Milton, Ontario.[11] The Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, is located on "Rose Cherry Place", a street named for his late wife.

In 1999, Don married his second wife, Luba.[12]

Playing career Edit

Cherry played junior hockey with the Barrie Flyers and the Windsor Spitfires in the Ontario Hockey Association. Cherry won the Memorial Cup as a defenceman with Barrie in 1953. He dropped out of high school, and in 1954 he signed with the American Hockey League's (AHL) Hershey Bears.[13]

Cherry had a long playing career in professional minor hockey, and in 1955 played his only NHL game when the Boston Bruins called him up during the playoffs. According to Cherry, a baseball injury suffered in the off season kept him from making the NHL, despite his almost 20 years playing in the minor leagues. He retired as a player in 1970, but came out of retirement 2 years later to play 19 final games with the Rochester Americans.[13] Cherry won the Calder Cup championship (AHL) four times—1960 with the Springfield Indians, and 1965, 1966, 1968 with Rochester. He also won the Lester Patrick Cup, the Western Hockey League Championship, with the Vancouver Canucks in 1969

After the end of the 1968–69 season, his playing career was essentially over. Cherry struggled for a time as a Cadillac salesman and a construction worker. He worked as a painter earning $2 per hour.[14]

In the middle of the 1971–72 season, Cherry became the coach of the American Hockey League's Rochester Americans and won Coach of the Year. The following year, the title of General Manager was added. In his third season behind the bench, Cherry was voted the AHL's "Coach of the Year".

Boston Bruins Edit
After his three-year stint in Rochester, he was promoted to the NHL as head coach of the Boston Bruins. The Bruins were coming off a successful run of two Stanley Cups and three first-place finishes, but would soon see the exit of superstars Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito.[15]

Cherry quickly developed a reputation for being an eccentric, flamboyant coach who strongly encouraged physical play among his players. According to Cherry, he modeled the Bruins' playing style after that of his dog, Blue, a feisty bull terrier.[16] While the team had previously been known for Orr and Esposito who were highly skilled scorers, their impending departures had Cherry remake the team with enforcers and grinders which became known as the "lunch-pail gang" (or "lunch pail A.C.") and "the Big Bad Bruins". Albeit for a brief slump until Esposito and Carol Vadnais were traded to the New York Rangers for Brad Park and Jean Ratelle, as Esposito disagreed with Cherry's coaching while Park would thrive under it. This approach of "balance over brilliance" rejuvenated the Bruins as they continued to be one of the NHL's best teams during the latter half of the 1970s, capturing the division title four straight seasons from 1975–76 through 1978–79. In the 1977–78 season, Cherry coached the Bruins team to an NHL record of 11 players with 20 goals or more on a single team. Cherry won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in 1976.[17]

The Bruins were able to defeat the rough Philadelphia Flyers twice in the playoffs under Cherry's tenure. The Bruins made the Stanley Cup finals twice, both times losing to their arch-rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, in both 1977 and 1978. In the 1979 semi-final playoff series against the Canadiens, Cherry's Bruins pushed the series to the limit but they were undone by a late penalty in the seventh game. Up by a goal with less than three minutes left in the seventh game, the Bruins were called for having too many men on the ice. The Canadiens' Guy Lafleur scored the tying goal on the subsequent power play, and ultimately the Canadiens won the game in overtime. Montreal went on to easily defeat the New York Rangers for their fourth straight Cup title. Cherry, who had an uneasy relationship with Bruins General Manager Harry Sinden, was fired by the Bruins afterward.[18][19]

Colorado Rockies Edit
Cherry went on to coach the Colorado Rockies the following season. Under his tenure, the Rockies adopted the motto "Come to the fights and watch a Rockies game break out!" and the slogan could be seen on billboards all over Denver in the 1979–80 season. Cherry's hiring as head coach immediately rejuvenated the ailing franchise's fortunes.[citation needed]

However, as he later admitted, his outspokenness and feuding with Rockies general manager Ray Miron did not endear Cherry to management. While Cherry did much to motivate the players, goaltending was still the team's weakness as Miron refused to replace Hardy Åström, whom Cherry dubbed "The Swedish Sieve". Cherry recalled one game where his players had taken ten shots on goal without scoring, but Åström then conceded a goal from the opponent's first shot and so was yanked from net. Of course, Cherry didn't help things when, after watching defenseman Mike McEwen ignore him and refuse to come off during a game, he reached over the boards and manhandled McEwen to the bench. When the Toronto Maple Leafs' Lanny McDonald was abruptly traded to Colorado, McDonald found himself at the centre of another power struggle between Cherry and Miron. Cherry was sympathetic to the fact that McDonald's wife was less than two weeks away from giving birth (as Cherry had not been present when his own wife Rose had given birth), and gave McDonald permission to leave the team on off-days to return to his wife in Toronto. However, general manager Miron did not approve of McDonald's leave. This became another factor that led to Cherry's contract not being renewed after one season.[20][incomplete short citation]

Cherry's NHL career ended on a positive note when they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5–0 in the final game of the season held at home. Years later, while commentating during the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals between the Colorado Avalanche and New Jersey Devils (the Rockies franchise moved to New Jersey after 1982), Cherry recalled the experience of the Rockies' last game where he was wearing cowboy boots and after it ended, the Rockies players formed two lines with their hockey sticks raised to form an arch so he could depart the ice between them while acknowledging the cheers of the crowd.[citation needed]

Other Edit
Cherry was expected to become the new head coach of the St. Louis Blues contingent on the franchise being purchased by an investment group led by Bill Hunter and transferred to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.[21] However, the NHL's Board of Governors rejected the move on May 18, 1983,[22] and the Blues eventually remained in St. Louis.[citation needed]

Internationally, Cherry was an assistant coach for Team Canada at the 1976 Canada Cup and was head coach for Canada's team at the 1981 World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.[citation needed]

Cherry was the part-owner and the former coach of the Ontario Hockey League's Mississauga IceDogs. As owner and general manager, he gained notoriety by refusing to take part in the CHL import draft, and by only playing North American born players. The IceDogs' first three seasons were difficult ones with the team winning a total of 16 games combined. Cherry took over coaching duties in the fourth season. During Cherry's one season as head coach of the IceDogs, the team managed 11 victories (only a slight improvement) and failed to make the playoffs for the fourth straight year. Cherry drew some criticism for his sudden decision to allow European born players onto the IceDogs line-up during the one season he coached the team.


Cherry at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah
After the Colorado Rockies failed to qualify for the 1980 Stanley Cup playoffs, Cherry was hired as a studio analyst for CBC's playoff coverage that spring, working alongside host Dave Hodge. CBC hired him full-time in 1981 as a colour commentator, but he didn't last long in that role due to his tendency to openly cheer for one of the teams playing, especially the Boston Bruins or Toronto Maple Leafs. Instead, "Coach's Corner" was created, a segment that appeared in the first intermission on Hockey Night in Canada, with Dave Hodge. In 1986, Hodge was replaced by Ron MacLean, with whom Cherry has been teamed ever since. For several years he also hosted his own half-hour interview show, Don Cherry's Grapevine, which began on Hamilton's CHCH-TV in the 1980s before moving to TSN. His loud, outspoken nature became notorious, and his shows are described as "game analysis, cultural commentary and playful parrying with host Ron MacLean."[13] Cherry also hosted a syndicated weekly television show called Don Cherry's This Week in Hockey during the 1987–88 NHL season. It featured highlights from the previous week's NHL games. The highlight of each show was when Cherry awarded a Black and Decker cordless drill to the player who levied the "hit of the week" (called the "Drill of the Week" in order to tie into the cordless drill giveaway).

Cherry's commentary is usually peppered with catchphrases like "All you kids out there...," unrestrained affection for his favourite players (including Steve Yzerman and Kingston native Doug Gilmour, whom Cherry affectionately refers to as "Dougie" and once kissed on-air in a famous TV gag), and overall political incorrectness. Another trademark is his bull terrier Blue, originally a gift from the Bruins players.

Cherry tends to frequently focus on a few pieces of advice that he feels strongly about. Virtually every week on Coach's Corner he spends time exhorting the evils of attempting to block a shot using one's hockey stick (arguing that it often causes deflections while impeding the goalie's view of the puck). Two other perennial favourites are the dangers of touch icing (a rule he blamed for the premature end to Pat Peake's career) and the extremely sensitive rules about crease violation during the early 2000s (since relaxed). He is also critical of the two-minute penalty for firing the puck into the crowd from the defensive zone, introduced since the start of the 2005–06 NHL season.

He also praises hockey players who show great toughness. Examples of this include when, in the 1999 playoffs, a Phoenix Coyotes winger crawled off the ice after enduring a bone-shattering slap shot from St. Louis Blues defenceman Al MacInnis so that another could take his place. Usually at the end of the NHL season, his send off words in recent years have been about NHL prospects entering the NHL draft. His position is that unless a player is guaranteed to be selected in the first or second rounds, they should not physically attend the draft, reasoning that some players could be disappointed if they are drafted later than expected, or worse, not at all.

Cherry returned to the news in May 2004 amid rumours that CBC would terminate his contract for Hockey Night in Canada. However, he re-signed with the network in July.

Branching out from his Hockey Night in Canada duties, Cherry began to release a series of videos called Don Cherry's Rock'Em Sock'em Hockey in 1989. The 15th anniversary video was released in 2003, with a 'Best Of' released in 2005. For the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, NBC decided to feature Cherry in its intermission coverage, a rare appearance on American television. He was partnered with Bill Clement and Brett Hull and it did not conflict with his usual role on CBC as he appeared on NBC during the second intermission.

In May 2008, ESPN announced that Cherry was joining Barry Melrose as a commentator for the remainder of the 2008 NHL Playoffs. He provided pre-game analysis for the conference finals, pre- and post-game analysis for the Stanley Cup finals, and appeared on ESPNews and ESPN Radio. ESPN also announced that he would donate his fees to the Humane Society.[23]

One of his trademarks is the colourful jackets, shirts, and ties he wears during the "Coach's Corner" segment of Hockey Night In Canada.

Cherry has been criticized for comments targeting specific ethnicities, such as French Canadians and Europeans, and this has led to Cherry's broadcasts being put on a seven-second delay by the CBC.[24]

Opinions on hockey Edit
Cherry is a strong advocate of a tough "Canadian" type of hockey which emphasizes physical play and a "code" of conduct among the players. He believes that fighting is an integral part of the game as it enforces respect between teams and players, as well as being popular with some members of the public.

He has long been a champion of hardworking "journeyman" players, whom he identifies with from his own time spent playing in the minor leagues. Don Cherry's favourite player of all time is Bobby Orr who he says is the greatest player of all time.[25] Other favourites include Doug Gilmour, Vincent Lecavalier, and Cam Neely. Cherry has criticized many players for what he considers dishonourable conduct, but perhaps none more than Ulf Samuelsson and Matt Cooke, whom he considered to be exceptionally dirty players responsible for many severe injuries.[26][27]

Cherry has strongly criticized the direction taken by the National Hockey League in recent years, reducing fighting in favour of speed, and skill. Specific rules that he criticizes include touch-up icing and the instigator rule.

He also frequently criticizes players for elaborate celebrations after goals. In 2003 Cherry made headlines by criticizing then heavily publicized junior prospect Sidney Crosby for being a "hot dog" because of the way Crosby slid around on his knees after scoring. He also disapproved of a tricky behind-the-net goal the young star pulled off when a game was already out of reach for the team he scored on.[25] He commented on the controversy caused by Alexander Ovechkin's celebration after he scored his 50th goal in 2009.[28]

Cherry is a staunch supporter of women's hockey, and sledge hockey.[29] In 1997, Canada's Women's Olympic Hockey Team paid a tribute to the late Rose Cherry. Canadian Hockey chairman Bob MacKinnon thanked Cherry stating "The growing popularity of the women's game in our country owes a great deal to Don and Rose Cherry... Don has been a strong supporter of the female game since the early 1980s and continues to speak out in favour of women's hockey. It's a pleasure for me, as chairman of Canadian Hockey, to be a part of this tribute to Rose Cherry, who was a keen supporter of female hockey herself."[30]

Political views and controversy Edit
Over his career on television, Cherry has generated significant controversy about both hockey and politics.[10][31]

In 1989, he referred to Finnish-born Winnipeg Jets Assistant Coach Alpo Suhonen as "some kind of dog food", triggering the threat of a lawsuit from Jets owner Barry Shenkarow.[10]

In 1994, he surprised many viewers by discussing gay issues in a non-hostile manner during two successive installments of Coach’s Corner. In the first, on June 4, he read from two newspaper articles involving Vancouver writer Daniel Gawthrop’s commentary on the sex appeal of Vancouver Canucks’ “Russian Rocket” Pavel Bure and the “campiness” of Cherry’s on-screen wardrobe. In the second, on June 7, he read a press release from Gawthrop’s Vancouver-based gay hockey team, the Cutting Edges, which thanked him for the free publicity he had provided in the previous installment. Cherry read the release in its entirety, taking time to wish the Cutting Edges good luck at the upcoming Gay Games in New York. In the same segment, however, he took issue with the Cutting Edges for criticizing his suggestion, in an earlier broadcast, that Sikhs who enter the Royal Canadian Legion should observe the Legion’s hats-off policy by removing their turbans.[32]

In 2003, Cherry made comments on his CBC segment in support of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. On March 22, 2003, during Coach's Corner, a heated debate over the U.S.-led war with Iraq took place. Cherry criticized Montreal fans for booing the American national anthem before a game earlier in the week. The conversation then turned to the war when Ron MacLean said "everybody wants to know what you think". Cherry berated MacLean about being neutral on the war and strongly criticized the Canadian government for failing to support the U.S. in the war.[33] Cherry appeared on the American radio program The Jim Rome Show the following week, stating, "You have to realize the CBC is government owned [...] You have to say the government was against [the invasion of Iraq] and I'm for it and I'm on a government program. I really thought this could be the end."[34]

In January 2004, on the subject of visors, Cherry claimed on Coach's Corner that visor users have less respect for player safety and attempted to illustrate his claim by saying : "Most of the guys that wear them are Europeans and French guys". This statement triggered an investigation by the federal Official Languages Commissioner, and protests by French-Canadians. CBC consequently imposed a seven-second delay on Hockey Night in Canada. Later on, a study was published that proved Cherry to be half-right: while 50% of Europeans and 40% of French-Canadians wore visors, compared to 22% of North Americans born outside of Quebec, players who wear visors committed proportionately fewer high-sticking penalties than players who do not.[35] Cherry returned to the "Coach's Corner" for the 2005–06 NHL season without the seven-second delay.

After appearing in the Canadian House of Commons on November 7, 2006, he formally stated his support for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whom he called "a grinder and a mucker" by saying "I give a thumbs up to Stephen Harper for sure. He supports the troops and I support the troops."[36]

On December 7, 2010, Cherry attended the inaugural meeting of Toronto City Council, where he placed the chain of office around incoming Mayor Rob Ford's neck.[37] Cherry was asked to say a few remarks and he opened by stating "I'm wearing pink for all the pinkos out there that ride bicycles and everything, I thought I’d get it in." He then went on to state that he had "been ripped to shreds by the left-wing pinko newspapers out there" and ended saying "And that's why I say he's gonna be the greatest mayor this city has ever, ever seen, as far as I'm concerned! And put that in your pipe, you left-wing kooks." Left-leaning councillors were critical of Cherry's speech, and the following day some of them wore pink clothing in protest, including Joe Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul's West) and Ana Bailão (Ward 18, Davenport), who wore pink scarves while Janet Davis (Ward 31, Beaches-East York) wore a pink suit jacket.[38] Mihevc said, "We all love Don Cherry and his comments and forcefulness in hockey games, but this is council. It’s a political arena where we make it a habit to reach out, talk to others and achieve consensus. To have that kind of, frankly, belligerence and pushing people aside, to start out this way I think is really unfortunate." Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong defended Cherry though he stated that it was "A little over the top" and that "You take it for what it is and you shrug it off and move forward." Cherry defended his comments by stating "Well, what can I tell you? Don’t invite me. You don't invite a pit bull. If you want a pit bull, you get a pit bull."[39]

Cherry is a strong supporter of the Canadian Forces, police officers, and veterans.[40][41]

Greatest Canadian top ten Edit
In October 2004, the CBC program The Greatest Canadian revealed that its 'top ten' viewer-selected great Canadians included Cherry. Cherry remarked that he would have been inclined to vote for Sir John A. Macdonald (if he had lived in the same time period), who had also been a Kingston resident. He finished seventh in the final tally.[42] Cherry is the only living member of the top 10 greatest Canadians who hasn't been awarded an Order of Canada.

Acting career Edit
As part of his fame, Cherry has also branched out into some acting roles. He was cast as Jake Nelson in the television series Power Play. Nelson was the coach of the Philadelphia team playing against the Hamilton Steelheads in the playoffs during the first season. Also, he and Ron MacLean provided voices for themselves in the animated television series Zeroman, which starred Leslie Nielsen. He also appeared on an episode of Goosebumps called "Don't Go to Sleep!" where he plays a hockey coach. His voice was also used in Disney's animated feature The Wild, as a penguin curling broadcaster. He also appeared alongside the Trailer Park Boys in The Tragically Hip's video "The Darkest One". His voice was also used in the Mickey Mouse episode "Bad Ear Day", as an ice hockey game announcer.

In 2008, he also appeared on an episode of Holmes on Homes, the widely popular home improvement show. While not appearing scripted, Cherry apparently lived in the neighbourhood and he is shown speaking with Mike Holmes about the construction business and the ongoing project at his brother-in-law's house.[citation needed]

Business and charitable work Edit
In 1985, the first of a chain of franchised sports bars/restaurants bearing Cherry's name was opened in Hamilton. Cherry started as a partner in the operation and has more recently licensed his name to the chain without holding a significant ownership stake in the company. "Don Cherry's Sports Grill" has locations in Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta.[43]

Cherry, who is an advocate of options for pet owners to keep their pets healthy, has also partnered with companion animal organisation Pethealth Inc. to offer Canadians the hockey-inspired CherryBlue Pet Insurance program. Cherry is pictured on cherryblue.ca with his popular bull terrier Blue, for whom the program is named.

Cherry created the Don Cherry Pet Rescue Foundation and donates all profits from his Simply Pets snacks line to animal charities. During the 42nd Canadian Parliament, Cherry, typically a supporter of the Conservatives made a video supporting Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith's ultimately unsuccessful private member's bill that sought to toughen animal cruelty laws.[44][45]

Cherry has lent his considerable persona to several charitable causes, most significantly, organ donation awareness.

Other accolades Edit
In 1992, Cherry lent his voice to the charity song "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Techno" for Canadian Techno group BKS. On November 14, 2005, Cherry was granted honorary membership of the Police Association of Ontario. Once an aspiring police officer, Cherry has been a longtime supporter of the police services. In his own words, "This is the best thing I've ever had." In June 2007, Cherry was made a Dominion Command Honorary Life Member of the Royal Canadian Legion in recognition of "his longstanding and unswerving support of ... Canadians in uniform". In February 2008, Cherry was awarded the Canadian Forces Medallion for Distinguished Service for 'unwavering support to men and women of the Canadian Forces, honouring fallen soldiers on his CBC broadcast during 'Coach's Corner' a segment of Hockey Night in Canada'.

[BuckCuller]

Meriwether Lewis

William Clark

David Thompson

Are also on the list.

[Twisted Canuck]

Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic and writer of Meditations.

Ernest Hemingway.

Roger Williams.

Ian Fleming.

The list could really go on.....

[silverdoctor]

Originally Posted by ReconWilly

Plotted or pulled off?

Sure would explain a lot if he pulled it off...

How about Wehrner Von Braun and his buddies, how did they escape persecution to America "after" the war?

They didn't pull it off... Major General Smedley D. Butler, another intriguing historical figure claims to be the one that put a stop to it. His speech surrounding the coup is on youtube.

It explains a very small portion of what went on in the USA. In the 20's and 30's in America, there were nazi bund camps, training camps as it were set up in the USA. Someone had to pay for it - research who it was. Lots of rich families and corporations involved, big names that we know today. Research who owned the companies that used Jews as slaves in the concentration camps.

Werner Von Braun and his cronies, yep, another nazi responsible for the deaths of some 20,000+ jews for building the V2 rockets in slave camps. It wasn't until Braun's death in '77 that the US released the fact that they brought nazi's over to the US.

Want more intriguing historical figures? Fritz Thyssen. His ties to the Union Banking Corporation in the USA - and Prescott Bush.