Demers Coached Despite Illiteracy

Jacques Demers, who coached the Montreal Canadiens to the Stanley Cup in 1993 and was later a general manager in the NHL, writes in a biography that he is illiterate.

“I could read a little bit, but I can’t write very well,” Demers said at a party for the book’s launch. “I took to protecting myself. You put a wall around yourself. And when I was given the possibility of talking, I could speak well and I think that really saved me.”

In the book “Jacques Demers: En Toutes Lettres,” which roughly translates to “All Spelled Out,” Demers said his inability to read and write was the result of an abusive and impoverished childhood.

“All I wanted from my father was to treat me with love,” Demers said. “Not to beat me up when I did something wrong. Not to beat up my mom. It really hurt me because he took away my childhood....

“The other thing I wanted to say was that if I could not write or read, it was because I had so much of a problem with anxiety because of the things going on in the family. I couldn’t go to sleep at night. I’d go to school and I couldn’t learn anything.”

The book, which was released Wednesday, was written by Canadian journalist Mario Leclerc.

Demers coached the Quebec Nordiques, St. Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal and the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he was also general manager in the late 1990s.

He was able to hide his illiteracy from all but a few people by asking secretaries and media-relations people to write letters for him, claiming his English wasn’t good enough.

Even his wife, Debbie, didn’t know until he told her after he put off writing checks to cover household bills for several days.

When he was a general manager, he brought in Cliff Fletcher and Jay Feaster as assistants to handle contracts.

“I never really was a GM,” he said. “I hired Cliff Fletcher and Jay Feaster because I knew I couldn’t do that.”

Demers has worked as a hockey analyst at the French-language RDS network for the last four years.

“I have no problem saying what I wanted to say. That’s what I needed,” he said of going public with his illiteracy. “I’ve been carrying this all my life. I succeeded, and I’m telling people, ‘You’re capable of doing something in your life even if you have some big handicaps.’ ”

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Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque rejoined the Boston Bruins as a coaching consultant. Bourque, 44, will work with the team at practice two to four times a week, starting today.

“This is the way I want to coach for now, not full time,” Bourque said. “I’ve had enough travel in my time.”

Bourque, the highest-scoring defenseman in NHL history, spent 21 seasons with the Bruins before finishing his career with Colorado. He had 410 goals and 1,169 assists for 1,579 points in 1,612 regular-season games.