It’s what commanded the attention of anyone who ever met Ken King.
It dwarfed the hand of most, and was almost always accompanied by a devious smile and tug towards his formidable frame.
It demanded your respect and was held just long enough to let you know he was in control.
That’s just the way the pride of Hanley, Sask., always liked it – with him setting the terms of any encounter from the start.
His were the hands that guided the Calgary Flames for two decades, until he passed away following a lengthy cancer battle Wednesday at 68.
Through endless crises and celebrations on and off the ice, he was a man of tremendous passion and dedication, who was never shy to raise his fists in celebration or fury.
They were also the hands that authored the demise of anyone who ever teed it up with him on the golf course.
“Anyone who golfed with Ken knows, he had the scorecard, and it took scientists to figure out all the dollars that changed hands at the end of the day,” said Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation President and CEO John Bean, before adding a rare claim
“I took money from him, absolutely. And I was proud to do it. And he knows it.”
He might have been the only one.
Every game started with a carefully crafted dissertation from King on how many strokes every player would get or give him, with a blatant disregard for the handicaps offered up.
A wordsmith whose speeches around town were as eloquent as any in the province, the former newspaper publisher would punctuate the receipt of post-game payment with little more than that grin.
For many years he wore that smile ever-so-proudly into the Flames dressing room after games, slapping the backs of journalists as he walked in, exchanging small talk with everyone.
He had a line for everything.
“I remember my first interview I went to shake his hand and he drilled me in the side of my arm and almost knocked my arm off – that was Ken,” said Flames GM Brad Treliving.
“One of the things I always admired about him was he was a wonderful public speaker. I’d call him on it sometimes and say, ‘that’s not even a word.’ He’d show me that it was.’”
King long showed the way for a Flames ownership group that wanted nothing to do with the spotlight. King was their frontman – their eyes, ears and their mouthpiece, prompting him to take endless bullets from frustrated fans over various team shortcomings.
As the publisher of both major dailies in Calgary over the course of almost three decades, and as the Flames boss, he had a reputation for being hard to work for.
“You talk about an explosive personality – he was a sight to behold,” said Treliving, who saw every side of King.
“But he’s a foxhole guy. When bleep was rolling downhill, he was a guy you wanted to be in a foxhole with.”
I met King in 1994 when, as the publisher of the Calgary Sun, he invited me out from Ontario for a job interview.
Greeted by the handshake and the western charm, he took a chance on me as a sports scribe.
The ultimate jock, he loved talking and playing sports, and knew their importance in Alberta.
After working tirelessly behind the scenes to support a Save the Flames campaign, he was hired in 2001 by the Flames owners to run the team.
It was the perfect gig for a man who could both charm the masses, while also clamping down on the type of hard, internal decisions that needed to be made. His business acumen was as legendary as his dedication to the city.
The owners loved him for all he did on their behalf, including his tireless work as the driving force behind the new arena that took him 14 years to nail down.
The last handful of those frustrating years came while he was quietly battling cancer that ultimately spread to his brain and his spine, forcing him to a wheelchair his last few months.
He survived many years longer than doctors expected, thanks in the end to experimental drugs he knew bought him more time to complete his legacy project – the event centre.
“It’s an amazing thing, the human body and brain, and he was totally focused on a new event centre to the city,” said Bean.
“He was integral right up until December, whenever we signed all those documents, and provided unbelievable advice and guidance to all of us to get it done. It was one of those projects for him he was so passionate about. He had an unbelievable drive on every aspect he undertook. He was a large man of stature – almost larger than life – and commanded the room whenever he walked in. With that energy, he tackled so many things.”
The man who worked a room better than anyone I ever saw was forced the last three or four years to abandon the handshake he was so proudly known for.
It was replaced by fist bumps, as he worried his increasingly rare public appearances would expose his immune-deficient body to dangerous viruses.
The day Jarome Iginla had his number retired King shared with me his rare nerves, as his leg wasn’t cooperating fully, making the very public step up to the luncheon podium for his speech a scary one. He endured. He always did.
While many in and around the organization know of his valiant battle, he wanted it kept quiet, telling me one day, “I’m not letting this define me in any way.”
Over an emotional lunch between the two of us almost a year ago he told me of his newfound love of dropping into local casinos to play poker.
His rule, there was no hockey talk – just cards, and all the wonderful games within the game it involved.
At lunch he pulled out a fat billfold, proudly declaring the windfalls he so often enjoyed on the golf course were still possible.
Despite his severe weight loss and radiation treatments, he swore he played some of the best golf of his life last summer. I shuddered at how much that would cost me.
When he missed the Flames recent poker tournament I knew he had to be in bad shape, as he loved gatherings like that more than anyone.
Last week, King rolled into the Scotiabank Saddledome to make his final visit, taking the time to chat with the coaches and several players.
“He always loved coming down and seeing the guys,” said Treliving.
“I know that meant a lot to the guys. He knew a little tidbit on each guy. He liked that – he was a guy’s guy.”
His love for wife Marilyn and daughters Amanda and Jocelin were rivalled only by his four grandchildren, who he strived to spend as much time as possible with after receiving his diagnosis.
Commissioner Gary Bettman saluted King as a champion of all Calgary sports.
“His staunch advocacy for the arena project that will guarantee the Flames’ long-term viability in Calgary will serve as a legacy of his devotion to the city – Ken was a friend and I will miss him greatly,” said Bettman.
“He was a trusted confidant to all of the Flames owners, both past and present, and we all learned so much from him,” added Flames co-owner Murray Edwards.
“My partners and I will miss our frequent conversations with our dear friend.”
As will I. I’ll miss his advice, his wit, his handshake, but most of all his friendship – he was always happy to take my money any time we teed it up.
“He could be intimidating, but at the end of the day he was just a big teddy bear,” said longtime Calgary publisher Guy Huntingford.
“For me, he was so thoughtful, which you might not expect from somebody who ran his organizations as a tough customer. But my god, if he was in your camp he’d go to the end of the world for you.”
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Serbia and Albania are set to co-host the men’s Under-21 European Championship in 2027 in a soccer project that aims to overcome political tensions.
UEFA said Thursday only the Serbia-Albania bid met a deadline this week to file detailed tournament plans. Belgium and Turkey had declared interest earlier in the bidding process scheduled to be decided at a Dec. 16 meeting of the UEFA executive committee.
The Serbian and Albanian soccer federations teamed up in May to plan organization of the 16-team tournament played every two years that needs eight stadiums to host 31 games.
Albania soccer federation leader Armand Duka, who is a UEFA vice president, told The Associated Press in May that “it’s a 100% football project” with “a very good political message that we can get across.”
Weeks later at the men’s European Championship held in Germany, historic tensions between the Balkan countries — which in soccer included a notorious drone incident at a Serbia-Albania game in 2014 — played out at separate games involving their senior teams.
An Albania player was banned for games by UEFA for using a megaphone to join fans in nationalist chants, including targeting Serbia, after a Euro 2024 game against Croatia. Fans of Albania and Croatia earlier joined in anti-Serb chants, leading UEFA to impose fines for discrimination.
UEFA also fined both the Albanian and Serbian federations in separate incidents at Euro 2024 for fans displaying politically motivated banners about neighboring Kosovo.
After historic tensions were heightened by the 1990s Balkans conflicts, in 2008 majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo declared independence for the former Serbian province. Serbia refuses to recognize that independence and considers Kosovo the cradle of its statehood.
An Albanian fans group daubed red paint on the federation offices in May when the cooperation with Serbian soccer for the Under-21 Euros was announced.
“We did have a few negative reactions from fans, mainly, and some interest groups,” Duka said then, “but not from the Albania government.”
UEFA has shown broad support for Serbia and Albania under its president, Aleksander Ceferin, who is from Slovenia.
The next annual congress of UEFA’s 55 national federations is in the Serbian capital Belgrade on April 3, and an executive committee meeting in September 2025 will be held in Tirana, Albania.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia’s mayor has revealed the terms of the deal negotiated with the city’s pro basketball team for a new $1.3 billion arena downtown.
The agreement reached earlier this month calls for the Philadelphia 76ers to finance the entire project, with no city funding involved. There is, however, a provision that would let the NBA team make annual payments in lieu of taxes averaging $6 million per year. The agreement also calls for a $50 million investment in businesses, neighboring communities and the city’s schools to blunt the project’s impact, Mayor Cherelle Parker said during a news conference Wednesday night.
“I truly am proud having made this decision and negotiated an agreement that will definitely ensure that our Sixers are staying home right here in Philadelphia, where they should be,” Parker said.
City officials also released drafts of the nine bills and two resolutions needed to authorize the project, including measures that allow the city to acquire the arena property and change zoning rules. Parker said her administration would hold a series of town halls in the coming months where residents could discuss concerns about the proposal.
Team owners say their planned “76 Place” project would improve a struggling retail corridor near City Hall and capitalize on the city’s public transit. They also have vowed not to renew the lease on their current space, a circa 1996 arena in the city’s South Philadelphia sports complex, when their lease runs out in 2031.
The proposal has drawn significant opposition from activists in the city’s Chinatown area, who fear it would disrupt or displace residents and businesses. They say the city has ignored concerns that the project will increase vehicle traffic in their pedestrian-friendly neighborhood and force vulnerable residents — older people, low-income families and new immigrants — to move out. Parker on Wednesday renewed her pledge to preserve the area, which is just over a block from the proposed arena site.
If ultimately approved by the City Council, demolition work in the area would begin in 2026 with construction starting two years later. Officials hope to open the arena in time for the 76ers’ 2031-32 season.
Karl-Anthony Towns was born in New Jersey, went to college in Kentucky and has spent the entirety of his NBA career in Minnesota.
His roots, however, are in the Dominican Republic. And to continue paying homage to his late mother’s homeland, Towns announced plans Thursday to help build a state-of-the-art basketball training facility in that country, one where youth will get top-notch coaching and access to physical therapy, classroom space, meeting space and more.
Groundbreaking in Santiago, Dominican Republic, is set for next year, with plans calling for completion in 2026.
“I’ve been very fortunate to live the American dream,” said Towns, the four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection who is about to enter his 10th pro season, all with the Timberwolves. “But for me, having a different set of eyes, seeing it through my mother’s eyes and what she had to do to really even feel like an American, I wanted to bring the resources that we have here to there and give kids the opportunity to have the best equipment and the best chances possible to not only make money for their family but also pursue their dreams.”
Jacqueline Cruz-Towns died in April 2020 of complications related to COVID-19. She was the center of her son’s world, the woman who taught him about the importance of faith and family, sacrifice and hard work. The fact that this facility — Towns is partnering with GO Ministries and World Youth Clubs to make it happen — is going to be built where she’s from is not a coincidence.
“It was really important for me to give back to my community, a country that’s given me everything, gave me my mother and gave me this love of the game of basketball,” Towns said. “It’s given me the word love, both of family and understanding how to treat people.”
Towns, also in tribute to his mother, has represented the Dominican Republic in multiple international tournaments going back to 2011 at the junior level. He most recently starred for the island nation at the 2023 World Cup in the Philippines, averaging 24.4 points in five games.
This basketball facility is part of a complex that also includes two soccer fields, four baseball fields, covered outdoor basketball and volleyball courts and an educational facility. Towns said it has taken time to find the right people to actually execute the programs on the ground — he has known and trusted some of them for years — and now the “building blocks are set,” he said.
And above all else, his mother — who took him to church often and even when the family was struggling taught him the value of trying to help others — would approve.
“It is the safe haven for some of these kids who have found themselves in different situations and have a lack of resources,” Towns said. “To be able to give these kids a chance to dream and to really think of the dream — maybe they don’t make the NBA, the WNBA, professional baseball, become a professional volleyball player or a great soccer player — but now they get to dream. For them to be able to grow their life skills, their social skills, and also to learn how to have a passion and to be determined about something and have dedication, I think this is amazing.”
