Rozner: Wirtz's rocky road back to Blackhawks

Against the backdrop of all that his father and brother tried to do to ruin a franchise and bring down a corporation, Rocky Wirtz has been one surprise after another over the last 11 years.

You probably think you don't need anyone to tell you just how terribly the Blackhawks had been run - or run down - by Bill and Peter Wirtz in the decades before Bill died and Rocky took over the operation.

But you would likely be wrong, and this is where the latest remarkable decision by Rocky Wirtz comes into focus.

The Hawks owner decided to cooperate with Chicago magazine scribe Bryan Smith on "The Break Away," which tells the story of the Wirtz family, the history of Hawks ownership and just how bad relations were among family members in the years before and after Bill's death.

This book is not something a Wirtz would do, the family - before Rocky - known for guarding even the simplest Hawks secrets like nuclear launch codes.

So why do it?

"Bryan was going to write it eventually on his own. He kept talking about it in 2010, 2013, 2015," Rocky said of the Stanley Cup years. "And then I thought, 'If we have an author who would agree not to make it a puff piece, I will help.'

"And I said, 'I want to be able to read some of your drafts and take out any of the gushing,' and Bryan was good enough to do that. He had a tendency to over-compliment and I said, 'That is not acceptable.' "

Once again, Rocky Wirtz separating himself from his dad and those who worked for Bill Wirtz.

"The players should always get the credit," Rocky said. "They are the product. They are the ones who accomplish it on the ice. They win the titles.

"I didn't want any credit. The credit should always go to the players, not anyone else."

Of course, none of what occurred this decade in Hawks hockey would have happened without Rocky Wirtz, which you could only quibble with if you're new to the planet.

Nevertheless, this Wirtz does not believe in seeking glory.

"So I said, 'If we can do it, we'll have all the proceeds from the signed copies go to the foundation, Blackhawks Charities,' " Wirtz said. "I committed to a certain number of books and that's why Tony (Esposito) and I are going around signing them, because all those proceeds go to the foundation."

As for the information in the book, it does not paint a pretty picture of Bill Wirtz or the family finances when Bill died.

"I wanted the story told correctly," Rocky said. "Some of dad's erratic behavior was kind of sad. He had early stages of (dementia) and he just wasn't right.

"My job at the time of his death was to shield him publicly from his anger and behavior. My job after he passed was to keep the wheels on the business or the Hawks could take the whole company down."

That might have been the most shocking part of the book. The team's finances were much worse than even Bill would say publicly, and the club was $30 million underwater just in the final year of his life.

They were all self-inflicted wounds, but the worse it got the more Bill became entrenched, Peter always there to back his father's losing play, in lockstep on every franchise-wrecking decision.

And if things weren't bad enough, just as Rocky was taking over the team, the credit crisis hit the world economy, followed a year later by an economic collapse.

"It was not getting any better," Rocky said. "All the problems on the real estate side, the banks were in trouble, the economics of it all. Not one of our businesses could bail out the rest. The businesses were cratering at the same time."

The irony was that in the decades prior, Rocky was the one keeping the Hawks afloat by doing well in the businesses that he ran, constantly feeding cash to the hockey team.

And all that time - and this has always been the most impressive part about Rocky Wirtz - he stayed away from the team he loved.

He did it in part so that the Wirtz stink would not stick to him when he did take possession of the club, knowing he would have to win back a fan base that had all but disappeared, and despised the family name.

But the cold reality is that Bill and Peter had no interest in his opinions and did not want him around the team.

They were cruel in their treatment of him and Rocky could take a hint.

"I wasn't even in the press guide," Rocky says, shaking his head. "I had been an alternate governor for 20 years, and they didn't even have me listed as an alternate governor.

"It was hard to stay away, but we had so many other businesses and thank God we did because I could concentrate on those. My job was to raise enough money in the other businesses to cover the losses from the Hawks.

"Behind the scenes, I would give my thoughts, and my dad and Peter would take their anger out on me because they didn't agree with me.

"They'd get up and walk out. They'd be in their offices or another room and they'd wall me off, shut the door and keep me out. Or they'd walk away and go somewhere else.

"It was obvious they didn't want me around. I just had to grin and bear it."

Rocky knew eventually he would get his chance. He just hoped the Hawks would still be in business when that chance came. To read the book is to understand that from a financial standpoint, it happened just in time.

"I stayed away until it was my time to change things," Rocky said. "My plan was to get really good people. Hiring John McDonough, I pat myself on the back for that one because it was the best sell job I ever did on anybody or anything.

"Think about it. He was president of the Cubs, president of a major league baseball team, had done a spectacular job selling out the park and made Wrigleyville a destination.

"Why would he want to come to the Hawks? I knew what he wanted more than anything was winning.

"I told him, 'Before I hang up my logos, we're going to win it all,' and he believed me. And that was it. If you go fishing, you set the hook. I was going to reel it in because I knew he wanted to win something.

"He believed me."

McDonough was not alone in that belief.

Rocky Wirtz has delivered for generations of Hawks fans who had given up hope and burned their sweaters. Even if the Hawks never win again, Rocky has given them back something they love.

Believe that.