Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Nov. 2000
"He's a winner, his book is a winner."
Book Description
His name is William Dickenson Hunter, but to generations of Canadian sports fans he’s known best as Wild Bill. Part showman, salesman, rebel, visionary, and 100 percent lover of the game of hockey, Bill Hunter has been witness to and part of the lore and the history of Canadian sports for over six decades. Bill Hunter formed his first team at age 17, when he toured a baseball club through dust-bowl Saskatchewan. Since then he’s owned or managed many franchises—from ladies softball to junior hockey to pro hockey to big-money curling. Pro hockey changed forever when he threw his weight behind the short-lived, colorful World Hockey Association, which broke the National Hockey League’s stranglehold on the game and brought hockey into the modern era. He brought Edmonton the Oilers, and he fought valiantly to bring Saskatoon the Blues. And along the way, his on- and off-ice antics made great sports-page copy for decades. They called him Wild Bill for a reason. At age 82 and among the last of the great hockey showmen, his business card reads: "Bill Hunter, Sports Entrepreneur, Not Retired." And he means it.
About the Author
Bob Weber studied music at the University of Saskatchewan and worked at a variety of jobs before deciding to take up what his Grade Six English teacher said he should become all along: a writer. He has since brought his skills as a reporter to the Red Deer Advocate and most recently to the prairie bureau of the Canadian Press, a job that has taken him from courtrooms to concert halls and from the high altitudes of the Rockies to the high latitudes of the Arctic. Bob Weber is the author of Saskatchewan History Along the Highway and co-author, with Chris Irwin, of Horses Don't Lie.
Wild Bill: Bill Hunter's Legendary 65 Years in Canadian Sport FROM THE PUBLISHER
His name is William Dickenson Hunter, but to generations of Canadian sports fans he's known best as Wild Bill. Part showman, salesman, rebel and visionary, and 100 per cent lover of the game of hockey, Bill Hunter has been witness to, and part of, the lore of Canadian sport for 65 years.
Bill Hunter formed his first team at age 17 and toured a baseball club through dust bowl Saskatchewan before he'd even finished high school. Since then he's owned or managed more franchises than there are teams in the NHL -- from ladies softball to junior hockey to pro hockey to big-money curling. And when he couldn't get into the leagues he wanted, he started his own. The Western Hockey League -- the world's biggest junior league -- would never have happened if Bill Hunter hadn't taken on the hockey establishment. And pro hockey changed forever when he threw his weight behind the short-lived, colorful World Hockey Association. He brought Edmonton the Oilers, and he fought valiantly to bring Saskatoon the Blues.
Bill Hunter has known the greats of every era from Max Bentley to Wayne Gretzky. He's known the movers and shakers, too, from Conn Smythe to Allan Eagleson to Peter Pocklington. And along the way, his on- and off-ice antics were grist for sports pages for decades. He was called Wild Bill for a reason.
Art & Photography
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