Blackhawks fans mourn 'The Enforcer'

The Chicago Blackhawks and their fans will pause during the opening of the Blackhawks Convention today to honor the memory of "The Enforcer."

Reggie Fleming earned the nickname during his four seasons with the Blackhawks, including their 1961 Stanley Club championship.

He passed away Saturday from complications from a stroke he had suffered three years ago. Mr. Fleming, who had lived in the Northwest suburbs since 1970, was 73.

Just before he was reassigned, Blackhawks General Manager Dale Tallon joined Chairman Rocky Wirtz in reflecting on Fleming's legacy as a Blackhawk.

"On the ice he was a fierce competitor," Tallon said in the released statement, "and off the ice he was caring and gentle. We will certainly miss him and his strong passion for the Blackhawks."

Wirtz called Mr. Fleming a "lifelong Blackhawk."

"He'll be remembered for his fiery personality and for his support for this franchise which did not waiver in good times or in bad," Wirtz said.

Just last year, Mr. Fleming participated in a Blackhawks tribute held at the Claremont Rehab and Living Center in Buffalo Grove, where he'd been living since his stroke.

He joined fans and other residents in watching a video describing their 1961 championship series, called "The Forgotten Champs," before reflecting on it himself.

"My favorite memory is scoring that tying goal," Fleming said of the sixth game of the final series between the Hawks and the Detroit Red Wings, enabling the Hawks to win the game and the championship in Detroit.

He went on to describe how he had earned his role as the enforcer. Mr. Fleming described how his coach, Rudy Pilous, had told him to protect his star players, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita.

"When one of your players is in trouble," Fleming recalled Pilous saying, "you just don't walk away."

Mr. Fleming and his family moved to Hoffman Estates in 1970, where they began raising their two children, Christopher and Kelly, until the couple divorced in 1977. Mr. Fleming then moved to Arlington Heights.

Christopher Fleming said he hoped his father will be remembered for his charitable efforts, including his work with the American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association started by Stan Mikita, the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota and Maryville Academy.

Services will take place at 10 a.m. today at Maryville Academy, 1150 N. River Road in Des Plaines, where the Rev. John Smyth will officiate.