The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967 but when they opened training camp the following season, coach/general manager Punch Imlach told reporters that their veteran roster needed a fresh look.
So, he said he had some players coming into camp for tryouts.
Imlach said one new face really impressed him. That the mug was better known in Hollywood than Peterborough, Ontario, where training camp was being held, was Imlach's little secret.
As the skaters stepped on the ice and loosened up with leisurely strides at the start of training camp, this one new player caught the attention of the reporters, and for good reason. Instead of a fresh-faced aspirant out of Juniors, this player was quite the opposite.
For one thing he looked much older than the typical hopeful. Not only was he balding but his paunch suggested that he was not in good shape. He looked at least 40 years old.
The reporters began asking each other, "Who is he?" And, of course, "Where's he from?"
Later, Imlach convened a media scrum and delivered his scouting report.
As the journalists pulled out their notepads, Imlach elaborated.
"That's our surprise sleeper draft choice," said Imlach, maintaining a straighter-than-straight-face. "He may not look like much but in his native Poland, he's a legend!
"He's Poland's biggest hockey star, and we're counting on him to help the Maple Leafs climb to the top again."
None of the writers happened to see Imlach's tongue well-placed in his cheek. His hoax was working.
Poland's "biggest hockey star" was, in fact, one of his best friends. In truth, he was Hollywood and television character actor Larry Mann, who agreed to help Imlach put one over on the Toronto media.
At the end of practice, Mann remained in character and agreed to answer questions from the reporters who thought they were in on a hot story. For Mann, this was easy since he had played every possible character type. His hits included such films as "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming," "In the Heat of the Night" and "The Sting."
Mann's press conference with the writers may not have been worthy of an Oscar but he continued to fool them. According to one report, "He muttered a few sentences in broken English. It was a bravura performance that had the Toronto press corps going for hours."
Had the media seen through his ruse they might have recognized him as the winner of the Liberty Award (Canada's version of television's Emmy) from 1960-62.
Mann wanted to help pull off the hoax because he not only was one of Imlach's closest friends but a huge Maple Leafs fan.
During a 1980 NHL Booster Clubs convention, Larry was voted "The Hockey Fan's Hockey Fan." Even top players at that time knew of Mann's mania.
"Larry is a great fan and an asset to the NHL because he talks hockey in the Hollywood area," Hall-of-Fame center Phil Esposito said. "That's important since he generates interest in the game."
Mann was so dedicated to the Maple Leafs that Imlach would take him on road trips. In 1967, when Mann was in Hollywood filming "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," he flew in for Toronto's Stanley Cup-clincher against the Chicago Black Hawks.
The normally irascible Imlach had no problem with Mann in the Cup champion's room, pumping hands with the likes of Tim Horton and Dave Keon.
"He's a super fan and a super person," said Imlach. "To me he's a friend not a fan. Larry is one of the better people in and out of hockey."
Mann's many divergent roles were a testament to his ability to contort his features and that helped him fool the reporters for one day at training camp.
They had no idea the well-known actor they saw celebrate the Cup months before was now the intriguing prospect from Poland, until Imlach finally let them in on the joke.
