Ken King has passed away

[Freeway]

Those of you that know me know I wrote a lot of stuff critical of CalgaryNEXT and the earlier incarnations of the arena deal. Ken read everything wrote, knew who I was, and was only ever cordial and professional in my dealings with him. He'll be missed.

[Zulu29]

Very sad news, RIP Mr King.

[Winsor_Pilates]

RIP, so sad. I had no idea he was battling cancer.

[CaptainYooh]

What a sad, sad news.

A lot of things have been said already about Ken's key instrumental role in having Calgary Flames kept in Calgary by going around city's business leaders in tough economic times and convincing them to invest in the team as our community asset. I knew Ken personally since his publishing days, when he was a towering 300-lb guy, a proverbial elephant in the room. An interesting fact: not many people know that it was Iggy who challenged Ken to lose weight and exercise more (and he did!). Always sharp, quick-witted, truly funny, immediately-liked in any room gathering. And incredibly passionate about Calgary, as a city. Getting a deal for the new arena at the West end of the Downtown was his true obsession in recent years, of course. I remember being critical about the site and asking him about his Plan B and, instantly, he retorted that having a Plan B means giving up on Plan A, something he's not prepared to do unless it's killed for good. (He did have a Plan B, of course)... Such a great loss for our city.

Rest in peace, Ken.

[GS Skier]

Of course very sad and I thanked many who met him because no surprise same here. He made a HUGE effort to mingle with fans at games.

A company I once worked for had a 1/3 share of a small, very end box. I had the use of it for my customers 3-4 times a year. As little as I was actually there, Ken King walked in each year. And he always "introduced " himself as if he needed too!

He always took time meet with fans as evidenced by many others here who met him the same way at the saddledome..

[Boreal]

Condolences to his family. The loss must feel bottomless. He was such a larger than life figure. A loss of a family member like him isn’t something you get over, the best you can hope is to learn to live with the loss.

To me he always represented the essence of what it meant to be a Western Canadian.

He leaves behind a big legacy. Calgary is a better place because of him. I hope the new event centre is everything he dreamed it to be.

I met him once at a preseason game in Saskatoon. Great man.

[1_Flames_Fan]

Wow, I didn't even know he was sick. I met him once at a game, larger than life personality. He will be missed. RIP.

[underGRADFlame]

Terrible news... amazingly nice guy in the few time I met him face to face. Sad day for the Flames organization and the City of Calgary. My condolences to his wife, family and colleagues.

[Trojan97]

Congrats to Ken on a long, hard fight and a life to be proud of.

[Manhattanboy]

I knew Ken quite well, and chatted with him often at Flames games. He was always great with me and my brothers. Always asked about my dad before he passed away.

You can be critical of Ken for things like the roll out of CalgaryNext and the way he would communicate the owners' position on things, but he was a big guy with a big vision who wanted big things for this City.

Calgary has lost a wonderful ambassador.

[Erick Estrada]

RIP

I will be forever grateful to Ken King for being instrumental in getting the Flames out of their franchise swoon. Without him who knows where the Flames and Stamps are today. Damn shame he won't be around to see the opening of the new arena. My condolences to his family.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Roast Beef

I only ever met him once, at the Flames regular season home opener after the 04/05 lockout. He was up in the nosebleeds shaking everyone's hand and thanking them for being there. I don't think my hand and arm ever fully recovered from that day. RIP.

I met him quite a few times. Met is probably the wrong word. I frequently saw him at Flames and Stamps games. I’d always just start talking to him like we knew each other and he never once acted like we didn’t. Such a friendly guy.

[Boreal]

Condolences to his family. The loss must feel bottomless. He was such a larger than life figure. A loss of a family member like him isn’t something you get over, the best you can hope is to learn to live with the loss.

To me he always represented the essence of what it meant to be a Western Canadian.

He leaves behind a big legacy. Calgary is a better place because of him. I hope the new event centre is everything he dreamed it to be.

I met him once at a preseason game in Saskatoon. Great man.

[Jay Random]

I haven't been on CP for a long time – was going to delete my account, but that isn't actually a thing I can do. Today's news made me come back for one last post.

Originally Posted by IamNotKenKing

He is my uncle. I love him and will miss him dearly.

My condolences to you and to all his family.

Originally Posted by stone hands

I cancelled my season tickets with the flames 2 seasons ago, and when they asked why I wrote back a pretty scathing email about how I was not a fan of how they were handling the arena situation, and specifically KK's public statements on the matter. I thought that would be the end of it and didnt really think anything of it

About a week later I am sitting at my desk and my phone rings, and it's Ken King calling. He spent about 45 minutes on the phone with me, a former nosebleed STH, talking about a whole bunch of topics I never thought I would with the CEO of the Flames.

My experience was somewhat similar. I cancelled my tickets in 2002, when all the small-market teams were bleeding money and the Flames were running their whole operation in skinflint mode. I sent Ken King an email – not scathing exactly, but detailing all my frustrations with the team and the experience of being a season-ticket holder at such a time. He replied and invited me to meet him in person, and we talked very frankly about the state of the franchise and the league for about half an hour. He paid me a compliment I have always treasured, saying that my email was the best summary of the team's problems he had read.

After our meeting, he invited me to follow him down to an STH meeting where he was due to preside. He was not obliged to do any of this, but he was just that passionate about his work and could not bear to let a customer get away dissatisfied. I still had to cancel my tickets for economic reasons, but I never bore the organization any ill will after that.

And yes, I too was a recipient of The Handshake. He squeezed my hand like a tube of toothpaste, and all the bones squirted up the inside of my arm and lodged in the back of my throat and I almost choked to death. At least, that's what it felt like.

Thank you, Mr. King, for taking such care of the Flames for so many years; and my condolences to all who knew him.

[Strange Brew]

His comments when Darryl Sutter was let go really struck me as genuine and heartfelt. Always had a lot of respect for him because of that.

[Moneyhands23]

I hope the but a statue of him outside of the new building. This is shaping up as a horrible year and its only March.

RIP Ken

[atb]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Wow what a terrible day.



Ken King was a great person to talk to, with his hand crushing handshake, and he made time to talk to anyone that approached him.


He was instrumental as the face of the Flames, especially in the bad old times when the league was having labor issues.


He pushed through the new arena deal. Was huge in helping the Flames develop their current charitable face.



Its just sad that it might be a long time before the Flames can salute him.


RIP

This so much. He was always so friendly and willing to talk to those who approached. Great representation of the Flames organization. Will be missed.

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by Jetfire

I wish we could have somehow thanked him for fighting for an arena for the team these last few years despite being ill. That's going above and beyond in trying to help this team. Most would just step down, but he stuck with it, helped get the job done and we keep the Flames for many years to come thanks in part to his effort. The new arena needs to have a tribute of some kind towards him.

He knows.

[btimbit]

Well #### I remember hearing last year he was sick but then didn't hear anything so kind of thought/hoped everything was okay.

RIP

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Moneyhands23

I hope the but a statue of him outside of the new building. This is shaping up as a horrible year and its only March.

RIP Ken

I hope the statue is in the concourse, right near the main entrance, with that massive right hand extended to shake with all the fans.