1978-79 BWK Series — Day 8 — Brockest controls destiny of his Wheat Kings

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This article was published 03/08/2021 (1780 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This story originally appeared in the Jan. 12, 1979 edition of the Brandon Sun.

The date was April 24, 1975 and Brandon Wheat Kings had just announced that Jack Brockest was their new general manager. “One thing important to me,” Brockest said, at the time, “was an … option to purchase part of the team.”

Well, Brockest has gone one better than that.

Bob Cornell, Wheat Kings’ president and governor, announced Thursday that ‘‘Jack Brockest has purchased control of the hock­ey club.”

Cornell continued: ‘‘A couple of owners expressed a desire to get out, and Jack expressed an interest in buying the hockey club. Now, Jack is the principal owner … he bought out all the directors.”

The deal is subject to ratification by the Western Hockey League’s board of gov­ernors, and this likely will be forthcoming at the league’s semi-annual meeting which starts Wednesday in Vancouver.

The 50-year-old Brockest was one of eight directors, having bought his way in when Glenn Lawson got out a couple of years back. Other directors were Cornell, Stuart Craig, Clair Murray, Glen Fowler, Dave Laing, Ross Mitchell and Bruce Kent. This group of seven, plus Lawson, took control of the Wheat Kings during an organizational restructuring in 1974.

‘‘The major shareholders and the ‘B’ shareholders put their money up a few years ago,” said Cornell, ‘‘when the team was on shaky ground. The key to getting involved was that we wanted to keep junior hockey in Brandon. We stepped in in 1974 and now we feel it’s a good solid organization … and it should continue that way as far as we’re concerned.”

Until the 1974 restructuring took place Wheat Kings had been swimming in a sea of red ink. But, Brockest and coach Dunc McCallum — who joined the fold shortly after Brockest — have turned things around and now the books show only black ink.

As far as selling to Brockest, Cornell said that ‘‘with two or three owners wanting out it only made sense. And as long as the hockey club stays in Brandon we thought that was fine.

“We couldn’t think of anyone better who should get the hockey club,” Cornell added. “We thought that if Jack wanted the club then that’s the way we should go. In fact, all the directors have expressed that anytime Jack needs help, we’re there.”

Brockest was just as complimentary towards his ex-partners.

“‘As a board they’ve been a treat to work for,” Brockest said. ‘‘I don’t like to hassle my coach because he’s a pro … and I’ve been treated the same way.”

While Brockest is the principal owner, he says Cornell will “hang in there with me at least until the end of the year. He’s the governor and I’m the alternate governor. It was really Bob who put the package together and it was ratified at a board meeting Wednesday night.”

As far as Brockest is concerned the biggest change is that “before there were eight people who could vote on matters such as dispensing of money and the like and now there’s just one.”

Brockest added: “I don’t think things will change, though. I don’t expect the struc­ture (of the team’s front office) to change at all. And, it doesn’t make any difference as far as the players are concerned.”

Naturally, no purchase price was men­tioned at Thursday’s press conference. But, prior to the start of the 1978-79 season. Gerry Brisson sold Calgary Wranglers to Jim Morley for just over $300,000. And, Brockest bought a hockey club that’s a hell of a lot better than Calgary Wranglers.

Brockest purchased possibly the best junior team in Canada. Wheat Kings are running away with the Eastern Division, having lost just once in 36 outings, and right now are the best team in the league, by a country mile.

More importantly, though, the long-term outlook is great. When asked about the team’s player list. Cornell grinned and said: “Other teams are calling us the Montreal Canadiens!”

Brockest, who only five short years ago was managing the arena — the Keystone Centre — that his team plays in, was em­phatic in stating that “I’m in this strictly by myself.” In other words, he is not the front man for an organization; nor are there any silent partners.

Brockest is not the sole owner, though, as there still are some ‘B’ shareholders in the picture.

“I think there’s a future there … I think that the club is solid and that the future is solid,” Brockest stated. “Some people make a living doing something else. I make mine running a hockey team. I’ve been an equal partner, with the others, since the Lawson brothers retired and buying this club has always been in the back of my mind. I think you’d always rather work for your­self if you had your druthers.”

Although Brockest now owns the hockey club, he is quite adamant in saying the team is the Brandon Wheat Kings, and the em­phasis is on Brandon.

“If anything has changed since I’ve become involved with the team,’’ Brockest said. “it’s that volunteer help has become harder to get (because the team has made a profit the last couple of years). But there still is a lot of community involvement and I would hope we never lose that.”

Then, with a chuckle, Brockest added: “Actually, the reason I bought the team was that I read in The Sun where it was predicted McCallum and I would be fired in 1978. I wanted to control my own destiny … so I bought the team.”