Earl McRae
This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2010) |
Earl McRae | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | October 15, 2011 Ottawa, Ontario | (aged 69)
Nationality | Canadian |
Other names | "Earl the Pearl", "The Four-Eyed Lippy Little Shin-Kicker" |
Occupation | Journalist |
Known for | Journalist, writer and commentator |
Earl McRae (May 3, 1942 – October 15, 2011) was a Canadian journalist who wrote a daily general interest column for the Ottawa Sun.[1]
Early life
Born Earl Gerald Piche in Toronto to Betty Piche, a homemaker, and Earl Piche, a soldier with
Career
After a brief encounter with university, at 19 years of age, McRae dropped out and instead began work at the now-defunct
"When President Kennedy was assassinated I was eating a B.C. Delicious apple at my desk in the newsroom of the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder. The single teletype machine suddenly began chattering, its bulletin bell ringing, and news editor Paul Cragg ran back to check and shouted: 'Oh my God -- Kennedy's been shot in Dallas!' I know exactly what I was wearing. I can see, hear, and feel it all as if it happened this morning. Those of us who went through it will never, ever forget where we were and what we were doing around 1 p.m. on November 22, 1963. I phoned as many friends and family members as I could, and in the cold rain of that dark, late November afternoon, I walked back to my rooming house, crying."- McRae remembering November 22, 1963[2]
McRae later worked at the
After working at the magazine, McRae wrote for Quest magazine in Toronto, the most notable piece being a no-holds-barred lengthy profile on retired NHL player Bobby Orr and his life after hockey. Titled "Poor Bobby", it has been widely studied by journalism students for its biting honesty, eloquent prose and for McRae's steadfastness in remaining an impartial writer while covering a beloved public figure. As writer Stephen Brunt said in his 2006 unauthorized biography Searching for Bobby Orr, McRae's piece on Orr "became a genre exercise. A story about trying to pin down a star who refuses to be interviewed, the narrative tracing the futile chase, the pursuit itself taking the place of the traditional biographical sketch."[3]
McRae was also a successful, albeit controversial, broadcaster in Toronto, hosting his own sports shows on CJCL, CILQ-FM and CBC TV. His zany humour and sharp honesty sparked the ire of Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard due to McRae's repeated criticism of Ballard's ownership of the NHL team, with Ballard threatening to pull CJCL's broadcasting rights to the Leafs games due to McRae's commentary. McRae remained at the station and a staple of sports journalism in Toronto.
Aside from his sportscaster career, McRae wrote award-winning film biographies on
After other writing and sportscasting stints in Toronto, in 1986 McRae was hired by the Ottawa Citizen to be its sports columnist, a position he held for six years, before his move to the Ottawa Sun. It was at the Citizen where McRae became a fixture in the city's sports scene. Like in Toronto, McRae became known for his brutally honest pieces on sports events, as well as his talented writing, which made him a popular local figure in the city. During this time, he also hosted a sports show on CKQB-FM (54 Rock).
On December 11, 1989, McRae demonstrated his controversial style in an editorial broadcast on "54 Rock," only five days after Mark Lepine's massacre of female students at École Polytechnique. Despite the fact that Lepine killed fourteen women while explicitly shouting that he hated feminists, McRae believed that feminists were taking the issue too far. In his broadcast, McRae argued that "a frightening number of feminists in this country are politicizing the tragedy for their own idiotic, pea-brained purposes." He blamed "dim-bulbed feministas" for creating an environment in which women are supposed to be living in fear. He also accused feminists of being just as sick as Mark Lepine, noting that women who live in fear of men "demean themselves and their silly misguided philosophy" and prove that "they're empty-headed, misguided fools." McRae's opinion, which was reprinted in the Ottawa Citizen on March 14, 1990, demonstrates the extent to which journalistic standards surrounding integrity and hate speech have changed over time, especially in the world of sports journalism where women now participate in greater numbers.[4]
In 1992, McRae began working as a daily interest columnist at the new daily publication, the Ottawa Sun, where he would remain until his death. It was here that McRae spent the longest term of his career, writing for the paper for almost 20 years and becoming the publication's most notable writer, the Ottawa Sun being synonymous with McRae until his death in 2011. During his time at the paper, McRae's columns (for a time called McRae's World) were highly-read, keeping him as one of the city's, and nation's, most popular writers.
His columns varied between introspective, sentimental pieces to quirky and controversial, where he covered everything from international events, like the funeral of
McRae founded the Elvis Sighting Society in Ottawa in 1989, a non-profit registered charity that through its fund-raising events has currently raised upwards of $750,000 for various Ottawa-area charities.[citation needed]
Awards
McRae won the gold at the
In 2002, McRae was awarded the Friendship Medal, the highest civilian honour by the
In 2007, McRae won the Canadian Consumers' Choice Man of the Year honour in a Leger Marketing poll of consumers in the Ottawa-Gatineau area.
Death
On the early evening of October 15, 2011, McRae died of a massive
Legacy
Earl McRae is widely regarded as one of the greatest sports journalists in Canadian history, with veteran sports writer
References
- ^ "Columnists: Earl McRae". Ottawa Sun. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
- ^ ["Where were you on that fateful day?" by Earl McRae, Ottawa Sun, [1][usurped]]
- ^ "Searching for Bobby Orr" by Stephen Brunt, page 279.
- ^ McRae, Earl (14 March 1990). "'Pile of garbage': Feminists' attitude infuriates columnist". CJSB (54 Rock). The Ottawa Citizen.
- ^ ["Requiem for Reggie" by Earl McRae, re-printed in the Toronto Sun, July 15, 2009.http://www.torontosun.com/sports/columnists/2009/07/14/10133181.html]
- ^ ["Sports writer never lost his sense of wonder" by Roy MacGregor, The Globe and Mail October 18, 2011.http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20111018.OBMCRAEATL/BDAStory/BDA/deaths]
- ^ ["Former Star journalist elicited laughter from those who knew him" by Anita Li, Toronto Star, Oct. 16, 2011.https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/10/16/former_star_journalist_earl_mcrae_elicited_laughter_from_those_who_knew_him.html]
- ^ ["Rest in peace, Earl McRae", The Ottawa Sun, Oct. 15, 2011. http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/15/rest-in-peace-earl-mcrae]