Bill Reid, The Fort Erie Heritage Arts Sports Gallery

The youngest brother, Danny, also spent time playing pro hockey. He started with the Junior “A” Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters in 1950 for 3 years and, with them, won the Memorial Cup Championship in 1952. He had one year with the AHL Cleveland Barons in 1959-60, spent the next five seasons in the WHL and EHL, and retired from hockey in 1965. He played for the Johnstown Jets from 1960 until 1963. The Jets inspired the 1977 movie “Slap Shot” starring Paul Newman. If you want to get an idea of what it was like to play hockey in the entry-level pro minor leagues back in the day, watch this movie. Many who played tell me it’s not far from the truth.

Danny didn’t settle in Fort Erie, but he followed in his older brother Chuck’s footsteps and bought a bar in Johnstown called the “Canadiana.”

With Chuck’s time as a Buffalo Bison, the Blair family connection to Fort Erie was made. Ann and Chuck had three sons, Chuck Jr., Danny and Guy. Chuck Jr. and Danny were born in South Porcupine in 1953 and 1955. Guy was born in Fort Erie in 1961. They also had a daughter, Mia, who was born in Fort Erie in 1963. Mia had a heart condition and sadly passed away when she was four years old. Danny recalls that his mother told him she returned to Canada for the birth of her children because she wanted them born in Canada and not in the United States.

I have very fond memories of the Blairs. As a bantam (under 15) hockey player, I played with Chuck Jr. and was coached by Chuck Sr. He was a great coach who enthusiastically passed along his tremendous knowledge of the game. One of my best days in hockey was when Chuck Sr., with his personal connections, arranged for our team to attend a practice of the Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. We were all in awe of the experience. 

I didn’t get to play with Chuck Jr. for very long as he quickly moved up the levels in hockey and started playing for the OHA Major Junior “A” Kitchener Rangers in 1970 at the age of 17. That first year with the Rangers, he scored 22 goals and had 62 points in 59 games. He played with the Rangers until the 1972-73 season when he was traded to the Hamilton Redwings. The following year, he turned pro with the Fort Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League, where he played for one year, after which he decided to pursue a different career. That turned out to be good for me as I got to play with him again on the Fleet team in the Fort Erie Recreational League.

I first remember Danny Blair when I saw him play as a very young player in the Fort Erie Kinsmen house league. At the time, they divided the ice into three pads of ice so the little guys didn’t have to skate so far to get from one end to the other. The first thing you noticed about Danny was his tremendous slap shot. He could stand in front of his own net and easily score on the other goalie. The score of that game was something like 20-2 for Danny’s team…and he scored 18 of their goals! He was quickly moved up to play with the older boys, and he flourished. Chuck Blair always had an outdoor rink at their home on Waterloo Street at the bottom of the Catharine Street hill. I suspect that having access to a rink and their dad’s coaching contributed to his boys’ success in hockey.

Danny became a member of the OHA Junior “A” St. Catharines Blackhawks in 1971 at the age of 16. He played the following year in St. Catharines and then moved to the Junior “A” Ottawa 67’s for the 1973-74 and 1974-75 seasons. In his last year in Ottawa, he scored 28 goals and 73 points in 64 games. That led to him being drafted in 1975 by the NHL’s New York Islanders and the WHA San Diego Mariners. He went to camp with the Islanders but was unable to make the team. The Islanders were loaded with talent, leading to their winning the Stanley Cup four years in a row starting in 1980. Danny didn’t like the other options they offered and returned to Fort Erie, where he played hockey for the Intermediate “A” team. 

The youngest of Chuck’s sons, Guy, was a very good hockey player with the Fort Erie Junior “B” Meteors. He played three seasons from 1979 to 1982 and amassed 126 points in 106 regular-season games. Like his father and Uncle Danny, he got into the bar business, owning “The Plaice” on Garrison Road in Fort Erie.

A third generation of pro hockey Blairs arrived with the birth of Danny and Bev’s son Bryan in 1979. Bryan was not only the youngest of the hockey players in the family but by far the biggest. Bryan was listed in the program at 6′-5″ and 235 lbs. He was a power forward who played for several junior teams including the Fort Erie Meteors, Sarnia Sting, Sarnia Steeplejacks and Niagara Falls Canucks. Bryan played in the professional British National League for two seasons from 2000 to 2002.

Dusty and Chuck Sr. were honoured with the Fort Erie Sports Wall of Fame induction in 2009 and 2016.

The Blairs’ roots in hockey may have started because of gold mining, but their legacy to Fort Erie and the communities where they lived and played over the many seasons was as good as gold!