Emile Francis (1926-2022) *95

was a Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and general manager in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Chicago Black Hawks and New York Rangers from 1946 to 1952. After playing minor league hockey until 1960, he became the Rangers assistant general manager in 1962, and later general manager of the Rangers, St. Louis Blues, and Hartford Whalers from 1964 to 1989. Francis was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, on September 13, 1926. He was raised by his mother, Yvonne Francis, after his father died when he was eight years old. One of his uncles taught him how to play ice hockey. Francis enlisted in the Canadian military when he was 16, and enrolled in non-commissioned officers' school, with the option to attend the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. However as the Second World War just ended he decided to return to hockey, and went to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan instead. Francis also played baseball as a youth, and would manage a team in North Battleford. He later recalled he accepted the position as he felt it "would give [him] more experience as far as handling people went, and all that."

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