Cal Brown: special return to thank Fife Flyers fans 30 years after career-ending injury

Thirty-two years on from a career-ending brain injury changed the course of his life, he returned to meet his old team-mates, introduce his family to the town and Scotland - and say a heartfelt thank you to the fans who have never forgotten him.

He was the captain of Flyers’ Division One championship winning team of 1991 which got the team back into top flight hockey at the first - possibly only attempt - after a disastrous relegation, but whose return to lead them in the Premier League was ended by an on-ice accident in a meaningless friendly.

One of the most moving ovations ever heard at Fife Ice Arena came as the rink rose as one to say farewell to the stricken defenceman after he was finally allowed to travel back to Kirkcaldy from hospital Middlesborough after undergoing surgery to remove a clot between his skull and brain. Three decades on and the defenceman bounces into Rejects cafe for a catch up ahead of a game of golf with the guys he shared a dressing-room with all these years ago. The years roll back as he recalls his time in Fife, and the connections that endure to this day.

“The fact people even remember who I am is amazing,” he said. “So many great players have come here and I only played one full season. But the people here are the greatest. They were so kind to me when I was here and again after all these years. The rain may go sideways here, but you will never find better people anywhere.”

A visit to the rink was high on his bucket list - a chance to step back into the old dressing room that became a second home up the road from his St Clair Street flat. His sister came across around five years ago and was also able to see where Cal played, where he sat in the room - and found his name written on the wall deep below the seats which is a rollcall of every import who has been part of the room from the mid 19080s onwards.

“I went into the current dressing room as well - I’d never even been to that corner of the rink before!” he laughed as he recalled stepping back some 32 years to 1991 when he first arrived in the town.

The journey to Kirkcaldy came through the hockey network that spans continents. Cal had moved from Colorado College to the Louisville Icehawks in the ECHL where he’d been sent to Springfield Indians in the AHL and Fort Wayne Komets in the IHL.

“I hadn’t found a spot to fit, and during the summer, Chris McSorley, who was coaching an ECHL team, told me there was a spot in the UK with a friend of his, Brian Kanewischer. He thought I’d enjoy it.” he said “It beat getting my ass kicked over here for nothing so I spoke to Brian and agreed a deal.”Bill Kinnear, then part of Flyers’ backroom team, met him at the airport.

“I didn’t know much about the hockey or what it was like here. Over a coffee Bill asked what made me think I’d be any good here. I really had no idea! In the dressing room no-one knew me. I was sitting next to Frank Morris and said to him if anyone spoke to me to let me know as I couldn’t understand the accent!”

The team quickly gelled with Cal and fellow imports Richard Laplante and Frank Morris plundering the sort of points that are unimaginable in today’s game. They were to be joined by veteran defenceman Kel Land, then a ’category B import. “We called him Plan B!”

“The reason the team was so good down to good local players – Latto, Millie, Robbo, Haig and so many more. Laplante was the best import in the league, but they made such a difference. Gordon Whyte was such an under-rated player too. Once I got to know the other teams in the league I realised we were better than any of them. We should have been kicking their butts every game.”

As Flyers and Sough Jets went head to head for the title, Cal soaked up the ice time despite suffering from bronchitis - “never been so skinny in my life” - and the season finished with that epic play-off showdown with Ayr Raiders at a packed Glasgow Summit Centre.

“Fife was a great place to play hockey. I loved my first year here and was more than happy to come back, earn a bit more, and play at higher level.”

That plan was wrecked even before the league season had got underway.

“The first night I got cross checked between the eyes. Then I got a stick in my eye - almost lost an eye so I started wearing a visor, and then I got hurt in Billingham.”

It was a complete accident; a player went to shoot, lost his balance and his skate struck the side of Cal’s head: “I knew something was wrong because I could not feel anything on the right side of my body. I was completely numb. I remember everything - I was never knocked out.”He was taken to North Tees Hospital in Billingham still in his hockey kit - team-mate Ed Zawatsky returned the following day with a change of clothes - and was informed he had fractured his skull. He was on the verge of leaving a few days later when everything changed.

“I’d got to the lift when docs came running down and grabbed me by the back of my leather jacket and said they were sending me to a second hospital for a scan They came with a bed and I was going by ambulance - now I was nervous.”

A scan revealed a clot between his skull and his brain - an injury medics call “the walking death.”

“They said they could get it out, but I could not play again and gave me time time to think about it - it took about one second to make the decision.”

Back home, his family doctor had played a key part in the surgery. Cal was named after him after he saved his life as a new born when the umbilical chord wrapped round his neck.

“My parents called Dr Calvert and he started asking the hospital questions and wanted a catscan - he was raising hell to get it done! He saved my life for a second time.”With his dad in town, Cal was unable to travel back to Kirkcaldy for some time so a support network sprung up to provide whatever help was needed - Laplante, who was playing in Billingham, was one regular visitor bedside as Fife’s hockey community also mobilised and made regular 360-mile round trips journeys.

“It’s strange but it never felt life threatening, “ he recalled. “I never felt anything other than a very sore neck. I had no headaches, no memory loss - I felt fine, but I was there a few weeks. I was messing with the nurses - I do great impressions of dogs barking and they were running round looking for it! I also couldn’t go back to Canada because I had to go back for follow up tests and couldn’t board an aircraft - I was a no fly zone!”

Cal finally got back to Fife and, on October 31, 1992, returned to the rink for the first time to take a bow at the end of a game, returning only once to be part of Gordon Latto’s testimonial game in 1998.

Looking back, he said: “I wanted to play forever. This made that decision easier. You have dates in your life where you have to make choices which take your life in a different trajectory. Everyone has them. For me, I was finished as a player. When I got retired it forced me to be competitive in other ways, and I had to figure out what they were.”Now settled in Dallas, he got into medical sales - “I went from using all the equipment to selling it, everything you hope you never want but might need!” - and he’s switched from playing to spectating as a season ticket holder with NHL outfit Dallas Stars.

“The whole reason for coming back to Fife with my family was to say thank you, meet some of the guys I played with and the people who have stayed in touch. Wer’e going to do this again for sure. This trip was just awesome.”And with that he was off for another round of golf before heading to Ireland. He promises we’ll swap our coffee for a beer next time.