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VANCOUVER — David Suzuki, who announced a partnership Friday with NHL players to promote an environmental cause, said this week that he got the cold shoulder from Wayne Gretzky when the Great One declined to participate in a similar initiative about five years ago.
The Vancouver environmentalist said he believed he was rebuffed because the hockey icon acted as a pitchman for an automaker and an oil company.
"I actually contacted him and he turned me down," Suzuki said, adding that he never spoke with Gretzky. "I think it was because he was doing ads for Ford and [Esso]. I got a very polite 'Sorry, can't do it.' "
Gretzky has endorsed the Ford Motor Co of Canada Ltd. since 2002 and Imperial Oil Ltd. since 1999.
Friday, a Phoenix Coyotes spokesman said Gretzky, the team's coach, was already promoting environmental improvement at that time and simply did not have enough hours to satisfy every request. Jeff Holbrook, the Coyotes' executive vice-president and chief communications officer, said the refusal had nothing to do with Gretzky's endorsements.
"It certainly wasn't a slight to the cause," he said. "He is certainly sensitive to that subject and all the things Mr. Suzuki has done."
In 1999, Gretzky struck a partnership with TransAlta Corp., a Calgary-based developer of gas-fired power projects, to serve as a spokesman for the company's education initiative on environmental improvement. For at least three years, into 2002, Gretzky visited Alberta and Ontario schools, rewarding student winners of the company's Project Planet Challenge, which asked children to generate ideas for improving the environment.
Suzuki's concept centred on Gretzky's mythical backyard rink in Brantford, Ont., where he honed his talent under the watch of his father, Walter, who built the ice surface.
Suzuki said that today, Brantford does not get cold enough for outdoor rinks, and that for years he has been trying to use that powerful image of Gretzky without his playground to draw attention to global warming.
Suzuki said his idea would have shown a young Gretzky skating in Brantford. The former Edmonton Oilers captain would have explained that backyard rinks, much like polar bears' habitats, were being threatened and he would have delivered the line: "What is Canada without hockey and polar bears?"
But Suzuki's concept went further. He had successfully recruited basketball star Vince Carter, then a member of the NBA's Toronto Raptors, and also planned to approach Michael Jordan. Suzuki said he dropped the idea because of Gretzky's refusal, believing that Gretzky was central to the campaign. Yesterday, a former spokesman for the Raptors and Carter confirmed that he was approached by Suzuki and that the player agreed to participate.
"There was a ton of requests of Vince at that time, and you can't do them all, but I remember it only because it was David Suzuki," said Dave Haggith, who now works for IMG Canada. "It was in the preliminary stages, but Vince would have been happy to do that."
Suzuki acknowledged that landing Jordan for the campaign would have been a long shot, but the broadcaster and activist said he would have leaned on all his contacts for help. "My ace in the hole is I can get 10 Nobel Prize winners saying, 'I'd like to talk to Michael Jordan,'ƒ|" Suzuki said. "I thought we could do a whole series, but it never got off the ground."
Yesterday, Suzuki was in Toronto to announce a partnership between his foundation and the NHL Players' Association to promote more eco-friendly living among players. More than 350 players have already signed up for the NHLPA Carbon Neutral Challenge, which asks them to offset their carbon footprints, such as flights to games, by donating money to clean energy projects.
