From Security Guard To On Ice Sensation The Buzz Boll Story

Frank "Buzz" Boll started his NHL career in the most unlikely of fashions, but ended up working his way to the top. He should be remembered as an extremely consistent performer at both ends of the ice, and not as a baseball bat-wielding bouncer!

Born in the tiny village of Fillmore, Saskatchewan, "The Fillmore Flash" excelled with such Saskatchewan amateur and junior clubs such as the Weyburn Wanderers, Regina Pats, and Weyburn Beavers. The Leafs were impressed with him enough to bring the young prospect east in 1931 to play Ontario senior hockey with the Toronto Marlboros.

The move from the tiny farming community to Canada's biggest city must have been quite an adjustment for Boll. He needed some money, so in the summer of 1931 he landed a job working for Conn Smythe. Smythe and his group begun construction of the fabled Maple Leaf Gardens, and required a night watchman of the construction site. Smythe would always help out a hockey player or prospect, and he was more than happy to give Boll the job. Boll was provided with a make-shift shack with a stove and some fire wood, as well as a 15 cent baseball bat to keep intruders off of the grounds. Continue . . .

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