Bruce Campbell, Sports Editor

There are some stories that just need some major league attention.

Jim ‘Bearcat” Murray going into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a trainer just happens to be one of them.

So I had to go beyond the call of duty and rather than one interview with Bearcat Murray, I decided to get hold off one of his former players that he used to mend — John Davidson, president of hockey operations for the  St. Louis Blues, former goalie with the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues and a member of the Calgary Centennials in the 1970s when Bearcat was the trainer.

I thought he was perfect. Davidson is a good friend with Bearcat, he is a journalist and is a Southern Alberta guy, which meant he was still likely highly approachable and hadn’t been tainted by Broadway.

He and Bearcat had both been to the induction ceremonies on Nov. 9 in Toronto as Davidson received the Foster Hewitt Award for journalism.

Besides, he had Okotoks ties. His wife’s mom, Shirley Cotrell, is from Okotoks and friends with Bearcat.

When I mentioned the idea to editor John Barlow, he thought it was a great idea, mentioning how approachable JD was when he interviewed him years ago.

The gauntlet was down. If he could get hold of JD, so could I.

My first attempt on Nov. 12, I got the first step — the JD answering machine.

I played the hometown card immediately. I left the message that I wanted to talk about his friend Bearcat, and hey, did I mention, I watched the Labour Day Classic at the Whitehouse in Invermere.

Davidson is part owner of the rustic bar, so how could I lose?

Apparently, being a president of a hockey team is a bit like being a publisher of a paper. I don’t know exactly what they do, but they have a lot of meetings.

No call from the Show-Me State as the weekend arrived.

Barlow wisely tells me to leave my cell number for the weekend in case he calls. “You might only get one chance,” he said.

I practically had my cell tied to me all weekend. I didn’t have it for exactly 32 minutes when I went for a run from 4:57 p.m. to 5:29 p.m. on Saturday.

I get back, and yep, one missed call from Missouri.

I immediately called back on my land phone and you could tell who ever answered didn’t have a clue about the location I was calling from.

As the woman picked up the phone I heard her say: “I don’t know who this is?” like I was an annoying telemarketer.

I was something worse — a whiny reporter complaining about my hard times.

She tried to track JD down, but to no avail because the Blues were playing in St. Louis at the time.

I gave up, went to work and wrote my Bearcat story Monday morning.

Of course, a half-hour after I get it done, John Davidson gets my call.

He was polite, thorough and actually apologized for not getting back to me. He was typically Canadian. When I mentioned that the Stamps had beaten the Eskies in the CFL Western semifinal, he said he had watched the game.

So I happily did a rewrite with a few of Davidson’s quotes in there.

I was kind of smug afterwards — a small town reporter tracking down an NHL team president.

But then it dawned on me. Of course he was going to call me back.

Afterall, who wouldn’t want to talk about the accomplishments of a quality guy like Bearcat Murray?

Congratulations, Bearcat.

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