Toronto

Toronto will miss Gino Empry

By Edward Zawadzki

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

The bright lights of our fair city of Toronto must be shining a little dimmer today after hearing the news of the passing of legendary local impessario and man about town Gino Empry. The dapper Gino passed last Saturday after a lengthy illness. After hearing the news while on vacation in Poland, it made me sit back and reminisce about this strangely hip, and actually quite remarkable little guy with the artificially enhanced pompadour and the Romanesque probiscus that would have made the late Jimmy Durante bow in admiration. It made me think of the lofty ambitions of this talented man's youth, the son of hardworking Italian immigrants who would turn his love of showbuisness into an empire that would see him represent an eclectic yet powerful clientele comprised of such heavyweights as Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, Craig Russell, Ronny Hawkins to political power punchers such as Pierre Trudeau and the shapely bevy of bountiful beauties of Playboy magazine that Gino took care of for so many years.

It made me think of the many great times that I had partying with this crazy guy who was as generous with his time and money as he was secretive with his true age that was estimated at anywhere between 30 and rapidly reaching Methuselah. His annual Christmas soirees at the Royal York were absolutely legendary with anybody who was anything actively vying to rub shoulders with both the long lineup of A listers in attendance sprinkled with the poor schnooks such as a certain young sports writer from Etobicoke who shall remain nameless.

Anyone who ever came into contact with this unforgettable Runyonesque character will without a doubt have walked away with a primo Gino Empry story, one of the many thousands to have entertained us all over the years. My personal favorites are two that I was fortunately privy to be witness to.

The first occurred over a decade ago when I promoted a very successful tribute dinner for my buddy George Chuvalo, which featured the legendary Muhammad Ali in attendance. When the great Ali made his appearance in the main hall, the crowd of over a thousand made a forward surge towards the ex- champ and the only two things in between were Yours Truly--who Ali had a firm grip on the back of my shoulders and the five-foot-tall, 120-lbs-soaking-wet Gino Empry, who helped protect the champ from the well intentioned yet excited throng with the heart and courage reminiscent of a young Marciano or Dempsey.

The second was when as part of a TSN broadcast crew covering a Twin Dragons produced world championship kickboxing fight, I was as I should be doing, my job as the fight commentator when there erupted a boisterous ringside ruckus with an irate Empry, who had none other than the Happy Hooker, Xaviera Hollander herself in tow. Gino was wildly flailing his fists at a network cameraman in the back and legs, all the while loudly berating him for so rudely blocking his view while capturing the action from the ring apron which was being broadcast live into tens of thousands of homes across the country. We truly didn't know which fight we should be covering and our laughter of the surreal image was barely concealed by the yells in our earpieces from the director who didn't seem to share our humorous inclinations of the situation.

I know of many who could speak for hours not only regaling us with such colorful antidotes, but also praising the talents of this man who when you scratched below his sometime bellicose surface would find a generous benefactor to a wide cross section of society, giving his time and money to both the arts and the needy. I know that I was one of the few that knew that Gino had suffered a major stroke but really expected to again see my buddy at the helm of his business pushing forward with his next new client and deal.

I, like so many, expected a guy like Gino Empry to last forever but alas he was as human as the rest of us and succumbed to the fate that haunts us all. If I was to honestly answer the question, how does the passing of Empry affect both myself and Toronto collectively, my best answer would be that as of last Saturday, Toronto is just a slightly less cool place to hang your hat.

Until next time

Glad to announce that my new radio program can now be heard daily at 4.30 p.m. daily on radio station AM740. They are radio vignettes based on my best selling Ultimate Canadian Sports Trivia Books, Volume 1 and 2. Give it a listen and let me know what you think of the vignettes. I'd love to hear from you

Copyright@ Edward Zawadzki All rights reserved