It is not often that Cory Truscott is left lost for words. The man enjoys conversation, but when asked about receiving his John Garrett hockey card back from the late commentator's family just a week after Garrett's death, Truscott pauses.
"I wasn't expecting to see my card again," Truscott says. "I've written to other players that passed and never got my card or letter back from the family."
However, it comes as no surprise that someone as conscientious as Garrett would have a daughter, Sarah, who made sure to follow up, even in mourning.
"It is with a heavy heart I am returning your card," she wrote in a note to Truscott. "He had a pile he was going to get to over the summer."
Truscott sent the card at the end of March. Garrett died on April 27. The card was back in Truscott's hands a week later.
Truscott, a commercial driving instructor and occasional ice-road trucker by day, is an avid collector and hockey fan by night. Sending cards to get them signed is a regular habit. Getting Garrett's would have been a little more special than the others. First, because Truscott is a Canucks fan. Second, because he had actually met Garrett when he was young during a visit to GM Place about 30 years ago. The Canucks were hosting an alumni meet-and-greet on the concourse. Truscott, who does not seem to know the meaning of shy, was not afraid to approach the former Canucks goalie, who by then was a decade into an already charming broadcasting career.
"He was really friendly," Truscott recalled, matching the description every other person has ever given about an encounter with the man everyone knew as 'Cheech'.
No matter who you were, Garrett would make the time. A star goalie in the 1970s, he spent several years as a jovial backup goalie in the early 1980s, always ready to poke fun at himself. He loved to point out to fans that his last card from the 1985-86 O-Pee-Chee set featured a note explaining he was "now assistant general manager," a job title he had already lost by the time the card was printed.
Truscott had sent along a 1979-80 card of Garrett's, when he was still with the Hartford Whalers. That set, he pointed out, was the same year as Wayne Gretzky's rookie card. He has been collecting cards since he was very young, chasing autographs since he was 10 or 11. His first signatures were Eddie Shack and Guy Lafleur.
All these signed cards are special in one way or another, but now he has an unsigned one that will be without equal in meaning. "I was quite touched about it, that Sarah took the time to write a letter and return my card back to me," he said.
