Blackhawks historian to be honored at Hockey Hall of Fame

Bob Verdi has always had a way with words. And he's always loved sports.

So when the Blackhawks historian was a young lad - either in high school while growing up in New York or at Lake Forest College in the late '60s - a light bulb went off.

"Somewhere along the line I decided it would be great if I could get a job where I could go to games and actually get paid for it," Verdi said.

That he did, with his first gig coming as the Blackhawks beat writer for the Chicago Tribune in 1969. Nearly five decades later, the affable, approachable, down-to-earth Verdi will receive the 2016 Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for excellence in hockey journalism at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Monday.

Verdi, who was on the hockey beat until 1975, worked at the Tribune until 1997 and has been Hawks historian since 2010. He has been named Sportswriter of the Year in Illinois 19 times.

"It's a great honor, tremendous man," said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville. "(He's) got a great sense of humor, always smiling and good-natured.

"He's been great for the sport and good for Chicago sports writers and the history of several sports teams here. Very happy for him and well deserved."

Verdi was kind enough to answer some questions about this honor, and discuss how he became one of the best sports writers in the country.

Q: What was your reaction when you found out you would be honored by the Hall of Fame?

A: I was very surprised. It's been a long time since I've been on the beat. I'm not covering the team now; I'm working for the team. Whoever voted must have gone back in the archives.

Q: Is hockey your favorite sport to cover?

A: Well, hockey has a special place for me because it was my first job and I still believe … hockey is unique. The people in hockey - there's something different about them. It's a great game. I thought all the sports would be like hockey. When I hear people in the business say, 'Oh, the hockey people, the hockey players - they're the best to deal with,' it confirms what I always believed.

And I'm not knocking baseball or golf or football. I love all of them. But there's some unique spirit about the (hockey players). They're just down to earth, you know?

Q: Was there a person who influenced your career path?

A: No, I was just a sports junkie. I just read box scores. I'm still a junkie.

Q: Who are some of your favorite Hawks you covered over the years?

A: Oh, wow. Too many. I broke in the year they went last (in 1968-69) to first (in 1969-70). I broke in with Tony (Esposito) and Keith Magnuson and Cliff Koroll. All rookies. I was a rookie. Not that I was a player's guy, but there was kind of a little relationship that we started together. There's so many of them.

The first day I walked into the locker room I'm scared stiff. There's Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita. I went up to Bobby and he goes, 'WHAT YA NEED KID?' He was right there to help me out. He probably could see that I was shaking.

Q: How do you get the players to open up to you the way they do? What's your secret?

A: I don't think I have any secret. I just think the whole thing is to be fair and develop a trust. Someone tells you something's off the record, it's off the record forever. Not just for a week or two weeks.

I think you can have an opinion without having an agenda. You can say a guy had a bad game without saying he's a bad player. And do it with a little humor if you can.

The thing I've been able to do is listen. I mean I always thought humor was the best thing to read. And if you listen to some of the players that you cover in any sport … a lot of them are really funny. I mean Tiger Woods is hilarious. Now, I would tell that to most people and they would say, 'What?' He looks like he's got the stone face on the golf course. … But if you get him off to the side or in the locker room, he's (really funny).

I tried to listen because there's a lot of funny people. It's a game, right?

Q: Do too many guys go into an interview with pre-written questions and they don't listen, so they don't follow up?

A: I don't know. I was never afraid, when I was writing a column, to let someone write it for me. I mean if I'm interviewing Bob Uecker - which I did - do you think I'm going to get in the way?

He's funny. He's hilarious. Who am I serving if I get in his way? He's Bob Uecker. Let him talk.

Q: How do you think the speech will go Monday? Are you one to get nervous?

A: They tell me it's got to be like five minutes. I can do that. I just hope I don't do anything stupid like break down or something.

Q: So you are emotional?

A: Oh yeah, I'm a crier. I cry at supermarket openings.

But I don't think I'm going to cry. Nothing to cry about, you know? I'm very grateful. I think I'll be all right.