Russell G. Conway (March 27, 1949 – August 20, 2019) was an American journalist, writer, and auto racing promoter. He worked in
investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years res ...
with ''
The Eagle-Tribune
''The Eagle-Tribune'' (and ''Sunday Eagle-Tribune'') is a seven-day morning daily newspaper covering the Merrimack Valley and Essex County, Massachusetts, and southern New Hampshire. It is the largest-circulation daily newspaper owned by Commu ...
'', and wrote a series of articles and a book about
Alan Eagleson
Robert Alan Eagleson (born April 24, 1933) is a disbarred Canadian lawyer, hockey agent and promoter. Clients that he represented included superstars Bobby Orr and Darryl Sittler, and he was the first executive director of the NHL Players Ass ...
and the mismanagement of funds, and
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
players' pensions. He was nominated for the
Pulitzer Prize in 1992, and honored with the
Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award
The Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award is an accolade presented annually to a print newspaper columnist or reporter in recognition of their achievements covering the game of ice hockey. The award is "to recognize distinguished members of the newspaper ...
in 1999. He owned and operated several
motorsport venues, and was inducted into the
New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame The New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame is a hall of fame for racing-related people in the New England region of the United States. NEAR was established in 1981. The New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame was established in 1998 by the New Englan ...
.
Early life
Conway was born on March 27, 1949 in
Haverhill, Massachusetts.
His father was a deputy fire chief, his mother was an educator, and he grew up in Haverhill.
Conway was exposed to ice hockey and auto racing as a child, attending speedway races and a
1958 Stanley Cup Finals game with his father. He began delivering newspapers in 1959, and wrote racing column for the ''Haverhill Journal'' beginning in 1964.
He later attended
Northeastern University.
Journalism career
Conway began writing for ''
The Eagle-Tribune
''The Eagle-Tribune'' (and ''Sunday Eagle-Tribune'') is a seven-day morning daily newspaper covering the Merrimack Valley and Essex County, Massachusetts, and southern New Hampshire. It is the largest-circulation daily newspaper owned by Commu ...
'' at age 18, and covered professional hockey from 1968.
The first story he wrote exposed the poor conditions of the football team's locker room at
Lawrence High School. Throughout his career, he has extensively covered the
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...
.
In the latter 1970s, Conway published a series of articles on
race-fixing at
thoroughbred racing
Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing i ...
tracks in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
. The resulting
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
(FBI) findings led to a
federal grand jury, with several indictments, convictions, and sentences. He saw his work as civic duty, and received no compensation from the FBI, but did make friends which helped in his future research. He was promoted to sports editor position of ''The Eagle-Tribune'' in 1981.
In September 1991, he published a series of articles over a five-day period entitled ''Cracking the Ice: Intrigue and Conflict in the World of Big-time Hockey''.
The series focused on
Alan Eagleson
Robert Alan Eagleson (born April 24, 1933) is a disbarred Canadian lawyer, hockey agent and promoter. Clients that he represented included superstars Bobby Orr and Darryl Sittler, and he was the first executive director of the NHL Players Ass ...
and the
National Hockey League Players' Association
NHLPA (french: AJLNH) is the labour union for the group of professional hockey players who are under Standard Player Contracts to the 32 member clubs in the National Hockey League (NHL) located in the United States and Canada. The association re ...
(NHLPA), and made Conway a finalist for the 1992
Pulitzer Prize in
beat reporting, for reporting on questionable business practices in the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL).
He later collaborated with
Bruce Dowbiggin on a second set of articles published in February 1993, after Dowbiggin had done his own investigations based on Conway's previous work.
[Houston & Shoalts (1993), pp. 174–175] Conway's book on the subject, ''Game misconduct: Alan Eagleson and the Corruption of Hockey'', was published in 1995.
Conway retired from ''The Eagle-Tribune'' in 2006.
Eagleson investigation
Conway began his investigation of Eagleson on June 5, 1990, after hearing complaints from members of the Bruins about their pensions, while at the 20th reunion for the
1970 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1970 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1969–70 season, and the culmination of the 1970 Stanley Cup playoffs.
It was a contest between the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues, who appea ...
victory.
In the next 15 months, he made more than 1,600 telephone calls and 200 interviews, and reviewed over 150 documents.
He compiled approximately 400 sources including NHL players; only six chose to remain confidential.
Conway investigated the five
Canada Cup
The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true worl ...
tournaments which Eagleson organized, and promised that profits would contribute to NHL player pensions for their participation. He discovered abnormally high expenses which deducted 75% of the gross event incomes, for unexplained services and management. He also exposed records of 40 players who attempted to collect
disability insurance and found that Eagleson gave preferential treatment to his own clients, while others had to fight legal battles to collect money.
Conway found two such extraordinary cases of former players who had to fight Eagleson.
Ed Kea
Adriaan Jozef Kea (January 19, 1948 – August 31, 1999) was a Dutch-born Canadian ice hockey defenceman. He played in the National Hockey League with the Atlanta Flames and St. Louis Blues from 1974 to 1983.
Playing career
Born in Weesp, North ...
suffered a
catastrophic injury
Catastrophe or catastrophic comes from the Greek κατά (''kata'') = down; στροφή (''strophē'') = turning ( el, καταστροφή). It may refer to:
A general or specific event
* Disaster, a devastating event
* The Asia Minor Catastro ...
in the minor leagues and was unable to collect because Eagleson let the insurance lapse without telling Kea.
Andre Savard was also cheated out of $100,000 in disability payments and an additional $8,500 in legal fees from one of Eagleson's companies to collect.
Conway discovered that Eagleson loaned over $3 million in NHLPA funds to friends or associates without notifying its executive or membership.
He also found that the NHLPA was charged twice the normal rent by Eagleson for space in Toronto at his law office, and he leased more than the legal number of parking spots available.
After his series of articles was published, the FBI investigated and Eagleson faced 34 charges of
fraud,
racketeering, and
embezzlement. The
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
charged Eagleson with six counts of fraud, and he served 18 months in a Canadian jail. He was
disbarred in Canada,
removed from the Order of Canada
Appointees to the Order of Canada can have their membership revoked if the order's advisory council determines a member's actions have brought dishonour to the order. Eight people have been removed from the Order of Canada: Alan Eagleson, David A ...
, and had to resign from the
Hockey Hall of Fame.
As a result of his work, the NHL and NHLPA agreed to paying $3 million each annually into the pension fund for ten years.
Conway commented that players are now more aware and educated of their rights, as opposed to the owners and management dictating the terms.
Car enthusiast
Conway owned 18
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet since 1953. With eight design generations, noted sequentially from C1 to C8, the Corvette is noted for its performance and distinctiv ...
s in his lifetime.
He was a business partner in operating three race tracks in New Hampshire from 1965 to 1989, and organized races and promoted races in Florida and Canada.
He operated the
Star Speedway in
Epping, New Hampshire
Epping is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 7,125 at the 2020 census, up from 6,411 at the 2010 census.United States Census BureauU.S. Census website 2010 Census figures. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
The ...
, and promoted and directed races at Star and two other New Hampshire tracks—
Lee USA Speedway
Lee USA Speedway is a short-track oval race track located in Lee, New Hampshire.
History
The facility opened as Lee Raceway in 1964 as a dirt tri-oval, in length. Original owner Bob Bonser later recounted that he initially bought the land the ...
and
Hudson Speedway.
Honors and awards
Conway received the
Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award
The Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award is an accolade presented annually to a print newspaper columnist or reporter in recognition of their achievements covering the game of ice hockey. The award is "to recognize distinguished members of the newspaper ...
in 1999, and was inducted into the media section of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
He was inducted into the
New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame The New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame is a hall of fame for racing-related people in the New England region of the United States. NEAR was established in 1981. The New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame was established in 1998 by the New Englan ...
in 2006.
He received the
Keith McCreary
Vernon Keith McCreary (June 19, 1940 – December 9, 2003) was a Canadians, Canadian Winger (ice hockey), left winger in the National Hockey League who played for the Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins and Atlanta Flames.
Playing career
As ...
Seventh Man Award from the NHL Alumni Association in 2013 for his contributions to pensions and benefits for retired NHL players.
Personal life
Conway was engaged five times but never married. He was an avid golfer, and organized the "Allen B. Rogers Memorial Golf Tournament" between 1975 and 2005 to raise money for "The Eagle-Tribune Santa Fund". He had residences in Haverhill, Massachusetts,
Groveland, Massachusetts
Groveland is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is thirty-four miles north of Boston. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 6,752. The town is divided into two precincts, Groveland and South Groveland.
History
Grovelan ...
,
Hampton Beach, New Hampshire
Hampton Beach is a village district, census-designated place, and beach resort in the town of Hampton, New Hampshire, United States, along the Atlantic Ocean. Its population at the 2020 census was 2,598. Hampton Beach is in Rockingham County, abo ...
and
Pompano Beach, Florida at various times.
He died from heart disease at his home in Haverhill, Massachusetts on August 20, 2019 at age 70.
References
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Russ
1949 births
2019 deaths
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American journalists
American investigative journalists
American male journalists
American sports businesspeople
American sports journalists
Businesspeople from Massachusetts
Elmer Ferguson Award winners
Journalists from Massachusetts
Motorsport in New Hampshire
Northeastern University alumni
People from Haverhill, Massachusetts
Speedway promoters
Sportswriters from Massachusetts