Ken King has passed away

[Robo]

That is awful rest in peace

[Ducay]

Damn, if there is one man who truly cared about the Flames, Calgary, and the organization, it was KK.

Terrible taste in jerseys aside, guy helped keep the Flames here and make them what they are today.

[GreenLantern2814]

Goodbye, Mr King. You were a great ambassador for our city, and by all accounts a good man. Thank you for your life's work.

[liamenator]

I came over the years to disagree pretty strongly with Ken King's position on a lot of things -- from hockey operations, public relations, to especially the arena deal. But I'll never forget how he made time for me, in Fall 2003, just to try and encourage someone he had never met before.

I was about to enter my third year of undergrad studies and had written him a letter. In it, I expressed my devotion to the Flames, my interest in pursuing a career in hockey operations, and my desire to discuss with him an entry level position that would allow me to work my way up the ladder. I don't have the letter anymore but I can only imagine it was full of clichés and naiveté. I sent it in August but didn't hear back. I had almost completely forgotten about when I got an e-mail from his assistant, Brenda, that November. "Hi Liam, Ken asked me to get in touch with you about scheduling a meeting. Can you come by the office on Monday?" I just about jumped out of my chair.

The meeting was the morning of November 17, 2003. I remember the date because the Flames had traded for Mikka Kiprusoff the previous day. I arrived at the office wearing a cheap suit and full of nerves. I am sure I was visibly shaking. But when greeted with that bear of a handshake and that huge grin, how could you not be put at ease? "Liam, thanks for making the time." Making the time!

We sat down in a conference room and talked about all kinds of things for close to an hour -- about my interest in hockey ops, different folks around the league and their pathways in, about the Flames and a promising 2003-04 season that we both hoped wouldn't be derailed by the Turek injury (!). "What do you think of yesterday's trade?" he asked.
"Great trade," I replied. "Darryl must see something in Kiprsoff, right?"
"Ha! Good instincts!"

We talked through a few scenarios, he offered good, practical advice, and he suggested some folks he thought would be good for me to chat with, from within the organization and without. He thanked me for coming in and I set off to tell my friends and family that I had just had a personal meeting with President and CEO of the Calgary Flames.

The meeting itself didn't go as well as I had planned, but I was young, naive, and under-prepared. Still, afterward, Ken did what he said he'd do. He followed up with folks, introducing me personally over e-mail, and he helped push me along into several more productive conversations.

Life and opportunities took me elsewhere, but the most remarkable part of this encounter with Ken came about eight years later. I'm back in Calgary at the Saddledome, and I see him bounding through the concourse as he always did. "Ken," I say, receiving another bear handshake, "I don't know if you remember me, but you made time to meet with me a number of years ago and I wanted to thank you again for that."

"Of course I remember you, Liam. I kept wondering when you'd make your way back so I could hire you."

He was a remarkable guy and he'll be missed. This really does feel like the end of an era.

[MRCboicgy]

RIP Ken. Thoughts out to his family.

[timbit]

A fine gentleman who was honest and forthright.

Also rough and tough and hard to bluff. Kinger will be missed.

[GranteedEV]

This is some truly sad news. I never met the guy directly but for the last, what is it now, seventeen years, he's a name that's been synonymous with this city and its most notorious sports team.

My condolences to his family, and may he RIP.

[FFR]

I am so saddened by this. F### cancer.


I'll add my own 'cool story' to the awesomeness of Ken King.

My seats are right in front of the owners box and every game I would always look in to see Ken and wave hello. After the flood and the seats in the lower bowl were replaced, they resulted in slightly less leg room for us. Not a big deal for most, but my dad, who has bad knees (and is a larger man) found it really hard to sit in the seats. His knees would seize up because he was so cramped. He joked about it often to Ken and they had some friendly banter about it. One day we showed up for a game, early like always, and almost immediately after sitting down the VP of Operations walks up. He tells us Ken was really concerned with my dad's experience and asked the VP to fix it - he explained they assessed and were going to raise our row in our section (the last one in the lower bowl) up 2 inches by running a metal bar under the seat anchors in order to give my dad more leg room. He said it was Ken's idea and Ken's direction to do for a long time season ticket holder. That was HUGE - my Dad can comfortably sit at the games again and it didn't impact any one else's experience negatively. I will never forget how important and valued he made my Dad feel.

I echo everyone else's comments about how much he did for the city and our team, especially during some trying times.

[bluejays]

Man, that really sucks to hear about him. Seemed like a genuinely good person from all the people that met him, especially during that 2004 run.

[Reggie Dunlop]

He posted on CalgaryPuck under the handle "kinger" back in 2005.

[The Yen Man]

You may not agree with everything Ken King did as the Flames president in terms of running the Flames, but you can't deny the guy was passionate about the Flames and was doing his best to make the team better. He was also just an all around good human being. He had all the time in the world for fans and the average Joe going to the Saddledome. Not gonna lie, I was crushed when I read the news.

Ken was one of the good ones.

[Buff]

I fondly remember the story of Ken King walking in the Dome and coming across spilled Nachos or Ice Cream. He said something needs to be done about that and walked away only to return with napkins to clean it up himself.

[Cycling76er]

Just.....shocked. RIP

[8sPOT]

I had no idea he was ill. I respected the hell outta that man. The Flames organization improved almost immediately after he was hired and has had a certain professionalism or cache ever since, in my opinion.

He will be missed. Rest In Peace Mr. King.

[Caged Great]

What an absolutely horrid year for everyone in the Calgary Flames organization.

I am sorry to hear that Ken passed away. He was a good person. I had nothing but respect for the man and you can tell from what everyone on here is saying how much he was decent and cared for the people in Calgary and the Flames. He was always decent and encouraging towards me when I interacted with him and I never had anything but a positive experience when it came to my own interactions with him. I wish more people were considerate and thoughtful like him.

Cancer is horrible and I cannot wait for the time when they have finally figured out how to treat them all so that this does not have to be a death sentence for so many.

The Flames I am sure will do a good tribute to him in the new arena. They definitely should.

My sincerest condolences to the King Family.

[Jiri Hrdina]

I met Ken before he joined the Flames. It was when he had joined Walton International - who were a client of the agency I worked for. I came back from lunch one day to find Ken sitting at our conference table, leafing through stock photography books.

I introduced myself, and received the very firm hand shake that everyone is so familiar with. I asked him what he was doing - and he explained he was looking for the type of images that would be suitable for Walton.

Normally this is the type of client behavior, where they are over involved, that can be irritating. But instead we had a great chat about the Walton brand, and what he was hoping to achieve. I walked away with an impression of him being that he was the type of person that was willing to roll up their sleeves and just do whatever was required.

Similar to others, when I ran into him at the dome years later, he remembered who I was and how we had known each other - even though that meeting wasn't very long or probably memorable for him. He made everyone feel like they mattered.

A true titan of our city.

I love the idea of a statue of him, reaching out to shake the hands of those entering the new arena. That is exactly what should happen.

[Timbo]

RIP Mr. King you put your heart and soul into your job and that legacy will live on with the Flames.
I heard that he was sick and I hoped for the best for him.
Condolences to his family, I will miss his silky talks and optimism.
I never agreed with everything he proposed but I respected his views and direction.

This may be unpopular but I believe he deserves a banner for his hard work and diligence to everything Calgary Flames.
RIP sir.

[Coach]

Big loss for Calgary. Probably one of the greatest citizens of the city ever. Rest In Peace big man.

[Mattman]

I remember shortly after the 2004 run and becoming the most obsessed Gr. 4 hockey fan where I wrote letters to Darryl Sutter, Ken King, and Jarome.

Of course, I got a letter back from Jarome (and still waiting on Darryl's), but funny enough I got a letter back from Mr. King about a week before Iginla's. I still have the letter. I'm not sure what I was doing trying to Armchair GM at 9 years old, but Ken wrote back letting me know he could "not trade Marchment" and reassured me the Flames were "doing everything to bring a Stanley Cup to Calgary".

A genuine and classy guy, who took time out of his day to interact with so many fans in the community. Rest in peace Ken. You will be missed, but not forgotten.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Just saw this..............wow. Shocking to say the least.

Back when Sutter was hired as GM I wasn't too impressed, I thought the Flames could/should leave Sutter alone as coach and bring in an experienced GM, especially after just firing another inexperienced GM in Button. I was a little hot under the collar about the hiring and decided to send an e-mail to King voicing my displeasure about Sutter being the GM and kind of giving King and the team a hard time over it.

I wasn't expecting a reply, just assumed King would read it, hit the delete button and get on with his day. Surprisingly, I received an e-mail from him a day or two later, and not a short one, he went on about why Sutter was hired, why they thought it would work out, the vision for the team, thanked me for my e-mail, thanked me for being a fan, etc. I was pretty shocked he spent that much time getting back to a fan that was basically saying he was doing a poor job.

Needless to say, the following months proved Ken right and myself wrong. I thought about that e-mail as the Flames success grew and decided to send him another one, basically apologized a few times for telling him what a terrible hiring it was, told him thank you for making myself and other Flames fans so proud to cheer for the team again, and thanked him for responding to someone who originally came off as a bit of a jerk. Once again I didn't expect much of a reply but he sent another decent sized e-mail saying no problem, glad it's working out for everybody, thanks for your patience, glad you're such a passionate fan, etc.

I kept that e-mail after all these years, just thought it was very classy of him to spend the time to communicate with me multiple times, when he really didn't have to say much at all. Could have just ignored it, but he didn't. When I read the title of this thread I felt shock and sadness, then about that e-mail all those years ago. Thanks, Ken. RIP.