Palatine man has advised Blackhawks' Wirtzes for 64 years - and counting
Ken Scranton loves nothing more than spending time with "Rocky and the boys."
The Wirtzes send a limousine out to Palatine to chauffeur their longtime legal adviser - always donning his Sunday best - to meetings at the United Center.
Scranton has worked alongside three generations of Chicago Blackhawks owners in his 64-year career.
"I've been treated equally wonderful by all of them," Scranton said of Arthur, Bill and now Rocky Wirtz. "I always felt like I was one of the family."
By all accounts, he was.
Rocky Wirtz recalls Scranton would bring his family to the Wirtzes' Ivanhoe Farm near Mundelein for Sunday buffet dinners and a first-run movie viewing.
"He was my grandfather's trusted adviser and has in some way been a part of every major deal we've ever done," Wirtz said. "You'll never meet a warmer man with more terrific values."
In 1945, Scranton returned from 34 months in the South Pacific with the U.S. Navy. He joined a small Chicago law firm and soon began working on various real estate and business deals with Arthur Wirtz, an imposing figure who stood 6 foot 5 and topped 300 pounds.
"He was so clever and unusual," Scranton said of the late Wirtz patriarch. "We spoke the same language."
Scranton remembers the 1:30 a.m. meeting Arthur set up to sell the St. Louis Arena, and midnight flights back from Las Vegas so they could start the work day back in Chicago. And they played as hard as they worked, sometimes with figures like Hugh Hefner and George Steinbrenner.
In the 1960s, '70s and '80s, Scranton represented Blackhawks players on everything from investments to immigration matters. He helped secure legendary Canadian goaltender Tony Esposito's American citizenship just in time for the Canada Cup. He also worked with the late Keith Magnuson to establish the Chicago Blackhawks Alumni Association, a charitable organization made up of retired teammates.
It's encounters like those that made Scranton into a die-hard fan.
"Frankly, I'm a little surprised they made it to this point because they're so young," he said. "But it's a strong nucleus. They'll be back next year."
Aside from praising the decision to hire coach Joel Quenneville, Scranton coyly says he "defers to Rocky on that stuff."
Scranton lived in Mount Prospect until the avid cyclist was on one of his "hundred milers" and spotted a house in Palatine. He moved the family there in 1975. He speaks warmly of his late wife Ginny, who died in 1982, and three children, Denise, Dennis and Debbie.
A recent fall has temporarily sidelined Scranton, who sits on the boards of the Wirtz Corp. and a Wirtz-owned bank, but he hopes to return to work soon. In the meantime, he still advises Rocky and the boys via conference call.