Don James Secretary Cleo Blackstone was as Organized as the Coach
Passing away on April 7, she came away with a treasure trove of letters, photos and memories.
Author:
Cleo Blackstone saw a flier for a job that sounded interesting enough.
To her family s great surprise, she landed it in 1979, Blackstone became Don James secretary.
It wasn t that she didn t have the right qualifications for this position. To the contrary, Cleo was as organized to the last detail as the legendary University of Washington football coach. She was a perfect fit.
For six exciting years, Blackstone acted as a conduit between James and coaches such as Paul Bear Bryant and broadcasters the likes of NBC-TV s Curt Gowdy, setting up meetings and passing along messages.
WFP Exclusive
It was midway through Sheldon Kennedy’s seventh NHL season, and the Calgary newspapers were calling for his head.
The life and destructive legacy of Graham James
It was midway through Sheldon Kennedy’s seventh NHL season, and the Calgary newspapers were calling for his head.
After discovering Kennedy had collapsed into tears and was unable to suit up for the Calgary Flames’ April 8, 1996 game against the Edmonton Oilers, they published stories he had suffered a nervous breakdown.
About this series
Graham James was last seen in a courtroom in the summer of 2015.
Appearing via video link from a Quebec prison, the disgraced junior hockey coach pleaded guilty in a Swift Current courtroom to sexual assault on one of his players during the early 1990s, and was sentenced to two additional years behind bars.