As a journalist covering the Canadiens during their 1993 Stanley Cup run, Mario Leclerc had no idea the secret coach Jacques Demers was hiding.
“He wasn’t totally illiterate,” Leclerc remembered Thursday. “He would read the paper on the (team) bus — but just the headlines. The story? It took three hours to read two paragraphs.”
Two seasons later, the NHL schedule reduced to 48 games after a lockout, Leclerc and Demers found themselves together in Fredericton, the home of the Canadiens’ minor-league affiliate. One night, over dinner and much wine, Demers revealed to Leclerc, off-the-record, he was functionally illiterate.
The next morning, Demers waited for Leclerc in the lobby of the hotel in which they were staying, begging him not to report the information. “He said ‘if you report it in the paper, I’m dead. My career’s over. It’s between you and me.’
“After that,” Leclerc added, “I looked at him differently because of what I knew … the strategy he took to avoid the situation. He lied. He lied every day of his life.”
In November 2005, Demers released his autobiography — written by Leclerc — titled En Toutes Lettres. The 71-year-old Demers, who suffered a stroke Wednesday night, was born into poverty, he revealed in the book, the son of a violent and alcoholic father who beat his mother and verbally abused him. Demers dropped out of school after Grade 8.
That he went on to become an NHL coach for 14 seasons was nothing short of incredible. He utilized many ruses along the way. Demers was renowned for forgetting his glasses. He would say he spent so much time coaching in the U.S., he no longer had a working grasp of written French — or English, given the fact he was born a francophone.
“He had to lie every single day of his life. It became second nature,” said Leclerc. “His success always surprised him and he was grateful. He didn’t think he would have a career in pro hockey.
“When he told me he was illiterate, I was stunned. I thought it was impossible.”
Forty-two per cent of Canadian adults between the ages of 16 and 65 have low literacy skills, according to the Canadian Literacy and Learning Network. Fifty-five per cent of working-age adults have less than adequate health literacy skills, while 88 per cent of adults over age 65 are in this same situation.
After the book was published, Leclerc said numerous people suffering from illiteracy approached them on book tours and signings. Leclerc helped Demers respond, in writing, when necessary.
“The people in his situation were very happy because they understood they could do something in their lives — even if they had the same problem,” Leclerc said.
Both Guy Carbonneau and Vincent Damphousse, who played under Demers on the Cup winning team, said they had no clue their coach was illiterate.
“Nobody knew. He never wrote anything on the board,” Carbonneau said. “We knew he wasn’t an Xs and Os guy, but we didn’t realize that was the reason. It was pretty amazing.”
hzurkowsky@postmedia.com
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