The Passing of Pit Martin

Pit Martin passed on this week. It wasn't age and illness that cost him his life, it was a combination of a snowmobile and thin ice. The last time I saw Pit I remarked to my wife that I was amazed at how little he'd aged, and how little he'd changed over the years. Pit was one of my favorite players when I was a kid. He wasn’t a big man and he wasn’t flashy, but he could really pass the puck and he knew how to finish. I’ve never collected autographs, but for a reason long forgotten, I did get his. The old MPH line appealed to me in a special way-maybe because each player seemed a little bit ‘misfit’-like myself. Jimmy Pappin was a terrific player with an introverted personality to the public. Dennis Hull had nearly the same skill set as his brother yet flew under the radar as the press and crowds flocked to the flamboyant Bobby. Pit came over in a trade that was highly criticized and would haunt the Hawks for years. They weren’t big names, they weren’t glamour boys-they just got the job done. Pit and the boys stayed together on the Hawks for years-it was an era when ‘your team’ was really ‘your team’, players didn’t get moved with the regularity of today’s game so you grew to identify with them.
It was good to see the MPH ‘boys’ together again this summer. It was good to hear old stories (Most are Hull’s BS) and I was glad to have the opportunity to tell the guys what they meant to me so long ago. To have Jimmy Pappin sitting in my booth one-minute and Harvey Wittenberg the next took me back in time to a good place.
Thinking of Pit will always take me to that same place and time.
Go Hawks!