Jarome Iginla
The leader, the hero, and the gold medal champion
Jarome Iginla led the National Hockey League in scoring in the 2001-02 season, won a Olympic gold medal in 2002 and made it to the Stanley cup finals in the 2003-04 season. And he is still only 31 years old. He's the captain of the Calgary Flames and he's also African-Canadian. Jarome Iginla is the most dependable and superior leader in the entire league. When ESPN asked 193 players “Who is the best leader in the NHL?”, 23% chose Jarome Iginla. He has made his mark in the NHL and he will be hard to top for future generations heading into the NHL. –great introduction and thesis
Every hockey fan knows who Jarome Iginla is, and some people know about his hockey statistics. What most people don't know is the beginning of this great hockey champion. On July 1st, 1977, in Edmonton, AB, Canada, Susan Schuchard and Adekunle (who changed his name to Elvis) Iginla gave birth to Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla or just Jarome Iginla. After a year of his birth, his parents decided to divorce. Jarome lived with his mom and grandparents, but also stayed very close to his dad.Because of that, the divorce never affected him emotionally. Jarome’s grandfather introduced him to the world of sports from a very young age. You might have thought that Jarome's number one passion was hockey, well it wasn't, it was baseball. Every year his grandfather would take him to a baseball tournament in Lacombe, AB. However, at the age of six, Jarome found out that hockey was Canada's major sport, and decided to learn how to skate. Another reason was that, at the time, the Edmonton Oilers were very successful. His grandfather decided to enroll him in hockey. Jarome chose to be a goalie in his first two years of organized hockey. This was because of his hero, Grant Fuhr, who was an African-Canadian goalie for the Edmonton Oilers. After he switched to a forward, he wanted to be a professional hockey player. In 1993, when Jarome turned 16, he was drafted to play junior hockey for the Kamloop's Blazers of the Western Hockey League (WHL). He played for them for three years and in the first year he won his first Memorial Cup (the junior champions in Canada). While in his third and final year playing for the Blazer's, he got drafted by the Dallas Stars in the 1994-95 season. After he had signed with the Stars, he got traded to the Calgary Flames for veteran hockey player Joe Nieuwendyk. He learned about this while playing for Team Canada at the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. (needs a transition…maybe something about how the news didn’t faze him and he still managed to become the top forward…) He was named top forward of the entire tournament. Even with the success of his junior hockey career, he didn't do so well in the second season of his National Hockey League (NHL) career. What about his first year? His coaches called him lazy and an underachiever. Eventually, this pumped him upand in 2002, he was named on the roster for Team Canada's Olympic ice hockey team. In the 2003-04 season, the Calgary Flames named him the 18th captain in the Flame's history, but only the 2nd African-Canadian captain. On August 2004, he married his high school sweetheart, Kara Kirkland andcurrently they have 3 children, Jade 4, Tij 2 and Joe, 4 months.
Jarome has a great passion for hockey, but those who inspired him also had one. When he was younger, he would look up to hockey greats like Wayne Gretzy, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Jari Kurri, but his favourite player was their goalie, Grant Fuhr. He liked him because he too was African-Canadian. He inspired him to start his hockey career as a goalie, but that only lasted 2 years. The main family member that inspired him to start sports in general, was his grandfather. He took him to baseball games and Jarome fell in love with being active and playing sports. Jarome also looks up many other great hockey legends like Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic and Steve Yzerman. Of course his past coaches inspired him too, like Brian Sutter and Don Hay. Like many hockey players, Jarome's second passion in golf; according to current teammate, Mike Cammalleri, Jarome is a 4 handicap. He also enjoys reading about the history of the Julius Caesar era and World War II. Iginla's favourite food would have to be sushi; it has a lot of protein, which hockey players need to stay in a game. No matter what his favourite food is, or his inspirations, Jarome Iginla is one of changing faces in the NHL.
During an NHL career, you sometimes get traded to other teams, but not in Jarome Iginla's case. He's a loyal guy and stays with a team until the end, but he still gets to see new faces everyday. He's created a lot of friendships along the way. Some have stayed, and some have faded away. He is good friends with all his teammates on the Flames, including Mike Cammalleri, Dustin Boyd, and his closest friend, Craig Conroy. Jarome's parents are separated, but still keep in touch with Jarome. His father re-married and started a new family, which Jarome is fairly close to. Jarome and his wife Kara Kirkland also have children of their own, a daughter and 2 sons. The media also is a part of Jarome's life. After every game and practice, there are swarms of Calgarian or other media just waiting to interview him. Jarome is always very patient with them. He will answer all question, no matter what they happen to be about. Dustin Boyd's stall is next to Iginla's, and sometimes he can't even get to it because of all the media surrounding Jarome's stall. No matter what team Jarome gets traded to when his contract expires, maybe he might even stay, chances are that's what will happen, but he will always fit in with his teammates.
Most hockey players are extremely generous to organizations, and Jarome Iginla is no exception. Jarome loves the organization KidSport in Calgary and has been donating money to them since the 2000-01 season. He's donated a total of $430,000, or, from the 2000-01 season to the 2003-04 season, $1,000 a goal and from 2005-06 season and counting, $2,000 a goal. Switch this one around so that you start with the amount per coal and end with the total
Figure 1)
At the 2008 NHL All-Star Game, Jarome pledged to donate $5,000 per goal. Although he didn't score, he still donated $5,000. He also has his own organization, the Jarome Iginla Hockey School, which is a non-profit organization with proceeds going to the Diabetes Research Association in Foothills. He also donated $19,000 to the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation in May 2008. Inside the hockey world, Jarome Iginla has shown a lot of respect to all the other players. It's little things that make him an inspiration, like removing his helmet when fighting because he has a visor or even shaking hands with a player from a rival team like Trevor Linden. On the final game in the 2007-08 season, the Flames faced the Vancouver Canucks, in what was Trevor Linden's last game. After that game, Jarome led his teammates to shake the other team’s hands, including Linden's. Linden later commented “I think it was a very classy thing to do. I think Jarome is one of the most classy players in the league, not only that, he's probably the best player in the league. When you have a captain like that, it was certainly a very classy move on their part, not doubt.” This goes to show that Jarome Iginla has made his mark on his fans and players alike in the NHL and that will be very hard to change.
There aren't enough words to describe the kind of person Jarome Iginla is. He's the most famous African-Canadian and American players in the present NHL and his leadership will be hard to top. When someone says his name, the first images that pop up in your head are the Calgary Flames logo. It will be hard for fans of the Flames to see him gone, if he ever leaves. He's full of class, dignity and leadership and anyone in the NHL will agree.
Bibliography
Board, Mike. “10 things you should know about Iggy.” Calgary Flames. January 22 2009. January 25 2009
Calgary Herald Staff. “Iginla ends all-star drought.” Calgary Herald January 25 2009.
“Jarome Iginla.” JockBio. 2003. January 28 2008
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“Jarome Iginla.” Wikipedia. January 27 2009. January 28 2009
“NHL player card.” NHL.2009. January 21 2009