“…his biography still resonates today…a must-read.”

 –Jim Bender, Toronto Sun

“…a fascinating inside view of two sports in the low-salary, high-quality 1950s and ’60s. But what stands out are the stories and feelings James shares about his father, the CFL Hall of Fame two-way star Eddie “Dynamite” James, and the legendary Bomber coach Bud Grant.”

–Gordon Sinclair, jr, Winnipeg Free Press

“If you’re a sports fan…you owe it to yourself to give it a read.”

–Rob Carnie, CHAB radio, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan

“The James biography by Smith…is well-researched and engaging.”

–Cleve Dheensaw, Victoria Times-Colonist and Vancouver Sun

“The book is so revealing that James’ children learned new things about their father by poring through the pages.”

–Rob Vanstone, Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon Star-Phoenix

“Gerry James’ sporting accomplishments are legendary, but how he achieved success in the NHL and CFL — at the same time! — is a story well-told by Ron Smith in his book “Kid Dynamite: The Gerry James Story.” James joined the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as a 17-year-old, eventually winning four Grey Cups while also playing rough-and-tumble hockey for the Toronto Maple Leafs before becoming a legendary coach in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. Smith chronicles the journey and isn’t afraid to show revealing insights into the personality of one of Canada’s greatest athletes, an estranged son who reconciled with his father, Eddie “Dynamite” James, before joining him in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.”

–Darrell Davis, former Regina Leader-Post sports writer and 2006 inductee into the media wing of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

“Ron Smith’s use of prose, I thought, was excellent. I was hooked from the Preface on. As for the content, I thought I knew a lot about Gerry. I stand corrected. Back in those senior hockey days, my late father, Howard, refereed many games. I’m sure no one put Gerry James in the penalty box in Yorkton more than he did. But, he also had great admiration for Gerry, particularly his drive and determination as an athlete – an aspect of his character brilliantly told by Smith in his book Kid Dynamite: The Gerry James Story.

Congratulations, Ron Smith, on a great read. Whether you know Gerry, like him or not, the book gives real insight into the man, both as a person and athlete. His drive and determination, truly made him one of, if not, the best athlete this country has ever produced.”

–Randy Atkinson, GX Radio, Yorkton, SK

“Congratulations, Ron, you are a gifted journalist. The career of this outstanding athlete, as you tell it, is so interesting and the insight and the behind-the-scene stories make it a very good book. As someone who grew up and worked through those years as a journalist and who associated with so many of the individuals you mention, the pages flew by with much enjoyment. Your journalistic talent in the final part of the book is truly exceptional. Your comments on the challenges faced by Gerry and Marg in their later years and their determination never to quit and the way you explained their efforts and perseverance is a wonderful example of great writing and thoughtfulness.”

–Linus Westberg, retired radio host

“He was the youngest player to ever play in the CFL at the young age of 17 and the only player to play in a Grey Cup and Stanley Cup in the same year. Gerry James is a Canadian sports legend who can add one more accomplishment to his stacked resume, he can now add story teller to the list. James was in Regina on Saturday in support of a biography written about his life by author Ron Smith, Kid Dynamite: The Story of Gerry James. The book captures a rare glimpse into not only

James’ sports life but his personal life. ‘It’s kind of invasive to have your life story told and something’s you don’t want known…. I am a shy private person, although I may not look like it and so it was a hard hurdle to get over.’ James said, after sharing memories from his professional sports career with an audience at the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame. James and Smith entertained the audience sharing stories from their golf games (Smith usually the winner of) to conversations they had while making the book.”

–Lindsay Dunn, CTV, Regina

“Gerry James, who is one of a kind, was once two in my mind. Smith does not gloss over the relationship between James and his father, Eddie (Dynamite) James. The elder James, who starred for the Blue Bombers and the Regina Roughriders, entered the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1963. When Gerry James was inducted 18 years later, his bust was placed alongside that of his late father. “I never got to know my father the way I should have,” lamented James, who is retired and living in Nanoose Bay, B.C. (on Vancouver Island) with his wife of 57 years, Marg. The book is so revealing that James’ children learned new things about their father by poring through the pages. Smith conducted his research by spending untold hours going through archival material, such as newspaper accounts of James’ career. But it was especially important to spend time with James, and to earn his trust, if the book was to become a comprehensive portrayal of Gerry James – both of him. For his part, James is very pleased with how the book turned out. When asked for his appraisal, he responded with a patented deadpan answer: “I know the ending.”

–Rob Vanstone, The Regina Leader-Post

“Gerry James did it all in storied sports career. New book’s a dynamite read.”

–Jim Bender, The Winnipeg Sun

“The first reaction to a book just released about CFL legend Gerry James is that it came out about 40 years too late. After all, he starred at running back, kick returner and placekicker during the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ glory years back in the 1950s and early ‘60s. Yet, his biography still resonates today and Kid Dynamite, The Gerry James Story (Oolichan Books, $35) by Ron Smith is a must-read for both diehard Bombers and CFL fans, and even some NHL observers.”

–Jim Bender, Toronto Sun, October 20, 2011

Two-sport hero’s story full of success — and loss

As usual, I couldn’t help myself.

It was a couple of Saturday mornings ago, and we were having breakfast at Stella’s on Sherbrook, when I turned to the four young men seated next to us and asked one wearing a Detroit Tigers hat if he was cheering for them in the playoffs.

When he said yes — and because baseball, hockey and football overlap at this time of year, and I still couldn’t help myself — I asked the whole table another question.

Which of the major pro sports — hockey, football, basketball and baseball — takes the most athleticism? We debated that for a few minutes, then I asked the guys one more related question.

“Have you ever heard of Gerry James?” They hadn’t.

So I told them part of the story of the Winnipeg boy who was only 17 when he started playing pro football, and who would play in a Grey Cup with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and a Stanley Cup final with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the same season.

There is more to his story, but I didn’t know it until this week.

It was Tuesday evening and Gerry James was sitting at a book-piled desk at McNally Robinson Grant Park, looking a decade younger than the 77 he turns today. Beside him was his West Coast golfing pal and biographer, Ron Smith, the man most responsible for the pile of books on the desk.

And in front of them was the lineup of people waiting for autographed copies of Kid Dynamite: The Gerry James Story.

If you can call one man and his two little boys a lineup.

In retrospect, now that I’ve read my own autographed copy, the short lineup of father and sons is oddly appropriate. The book is a fascinating inside view of two sports in the low-salary, high-quality 1950s and early ’60s. But what stands out are the stories and feelings James shares about his father, the CFL Hall of Fame two-way star Eddie “Dynamite” James, and the legendary Bomber coach Bud Grant.

Gerry disliked Grant because, in his view, he treated Canadians as second-class players. And as a kid, his real father figure was never really there for him.

Gerry grew up at as a latch-key kid in a clapboard house at 570 Beaverbrook St., setting grass fires on the working-class western edge of River Heights and trying to put out fires at home.

His father had been away during the Second World War, and as Smith wrote, the return of “Dynamite” was a mixed blessing for the future “Kid Dynamite.”

Gerry finally had a male figure to look up to, but that male figure had become an abusive alcoholic.

As Smith writes: “At a time when he thought they should all feel blessed — after all his father had returned home safely — Gerry saw his parents fight, verbally and physically, day and night.”

Gerry, the little defender, would react by jumping on his father’s back, trying to stop him from hitting his mother.

None of this is the way I imagined the boyhood of one of my boyhood heroes.

Yet, as a hard-hitting forward, Gerry would go on to reprise his role as a guy who protected his Maple Leaf teammates.

And he would score touchdowns as a Bomber running back in ways that his father never did. He would also be a big part of four Grey Cup championship teams, named the CFL’s most outstanding Canadian twice and, in 1957, finish second to Rocket Richard for Canada’s outstanding athlete.

Which only made what he said in 1981 all the more compelling.

The occasion was his induction into the CFL Hall of Fame, where Gerry told an interviewer this about his Winnipeg childhood:

“It was either sports or jail, one or the other… Sports took me where I wanted to go. Who knows where I would have ended up without it.”

Where he ended up, for most of the years after his release by the Bombers, was in Yorkton, Sask., where he would add to his legend as a junior hockey owner and coach.

I had long wondered why Gerry James never returned to live in Winnipeg, where he had been such a big name. Reading the book gives a sense of why.

Gerry still sounds angry, even bitter, about the way the Bombers released him in a salary dispute and how it took decades before the football club began to appreciate what he and the rest of his teammates gave the city.

There is still a sense of a lingering loss between Gerry and the Bombers that even the gesture of being named honorary captain for tonight’s game against Montreal won’t heal.

And there’s a similar sense of loss with his dad. The man Gerry admired most died on Boxing Day 1958, at the height of his son’s career, never having given Gerry the validation he so wanted.

It was the feeling Bud Grant, the Bombers and all his sporting achievements never seemed to give him, either.

But I found Gerry seems to have a sense of peace — playing golf with the boys and growing ornamental grass on Vancouver Island. And, above all, being the kind of father and husband of nearly 60 years that would make his Dynamite dad proud.

Happy birthday, Gerry.

— Gordon Sinclair Jr.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 22, 2011 B1

When I was growing up, Gerry James was one of my sports heroes. As an 8 year old whose family didn’t have a TV until I was 12, I had to listen to football games on radio. I drew and coloured the gridiron on a cardboard approximately 18 by 12 inches (to the scale only an 8 year old could draw) complete with yard lines and end zones. For four years (until we got a TV) my parents would find me lying on the floor, listening to the game and tracking the play by play with a button that I would move up and down my gridiron along with each play as it transpired. The announcer’s exciting words coincided with Gerry’s long and hard fought runs and my button followed along with my imagination. What nostalgic memories this book brought back of a football and hockey hero we all wanted to emulate. But this well-written book by Ron Smith brought out more than the life and mind of an athlete and superhero of the era. Its balanced treatment of Gerry James’ life exposed the personality and challenges of a real life family man complete with not only all the well-deserved successes but also life’s struggles and unexpected setbacks. How Mr. James handled these before the days of the entitled and high priced pro athlete provides life lessons to us all no matter what our generation. There is something here for the nostalgic and also for those who just want to have their values of honesty, integrity and dedication to a goal, whether in sports or life reinforced. To Mr. James, congratulations on your career and thank you for finally sharing a part of you we wanted to know. To Mr. Smith, congratulations on a book which captures and presents the essence of a man I admire still. I highly recommend Kid Dynamite for all who want to be inspired.

–Taras Diduck, Edmonton

Canadian Biography of an NHL and CFL star.