REPORT CARD:
STUDENT Roland “Roly” Harris
GRADUATED North Toronto Collegiate, 1965
BEST SUBJECT English
WORST SUBJECT Math
CURRENT JOB Author and judge
Judge Roland Harris remembers the Leafs in their heyday: the three consecutive Stanley Cups, the two dollars he paid for standing seats,, the packed and “buzzing” Maple Leaf Gardens. But it was almost two decades after that era that Harris began the project that celebrates that heyday.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Diary of a Dynasty 1957-1967, co-authored with Kevin Shea, Paul Patskou and Paul Bruno, chronicles the Leafs’ prime decade, when they won three consecutive Stanley Cups and, later, a fourth. The book recreates each season with transcripts of original broadcasts from Hockey Night in Canada, candid commentary from the broadcast booth, and conversations from the Hot Stove Lounge.
Nearly 40 interviews conducted by Harris are included.
Harris, who currently works in Barrie as a criminal court judge, began interviewing the hockey crowd a quarter of a century ago. Though he worked as a lawyer, he often wondered, “Why aren’t there any comprehensive interviews of the team during that period?” His curiosity led him to start interviewing former Leafs players; coaches; behind the sceners, like sports journalists; and even a former team physiotherapist.
Harris started collaborating with hockey historian Patskou, who, he says, has the largest collection of Toronto Maple Leafs video archives in North America.
When the duo was approached by sports author Kevin Shea, the idea of a book started to take shape. When the Leafs were smack in the middle of their glory years, Harris was a student at North Toronto Collegiate Institute.
He played football on the school team and the tuba in the band. In a compelling twist, one of Harris’s math teachers was Bill Watters, who would go on to be an assistant general manager with the Leafs.
“He was a good talker, which is obvious in his work today,” says Harris. Watters currently hosts Leafs Lunch on Rogers Sportsnet. Harris recalls his daily trek to North Toronto Collegiate, a halfhour walk from his Manor Road East home — shorter if he hitchhiked, which he sometimes did.
He recalls the school motto, “Only the best are good enough for North Toronto,” and describes his time there as “positive.” Still, was it tedious to go back in time and painstakingly recreate both the era of his high school days and of the electric hockey scene? “Not at all,” says Harris. “It was fun. I enjoyed it.”