September 9, 2008, 4:43 PM ET [10 Comments]

I have known literally thousands of pro hockey players at all levels in my almost four decades of working in and writing about our game, and of those few have been more memorable to me personally than a pepperpot little defenseman named Mike "Baretta" Haworth. Although he only played pro hockey for seven seasons (1976-83) and never skated a shift in the NHL, this compact blueliner was one of the most hardnosed, dedicated, scrappy, and quietly colorful players I ever knew.

A member of the AHL Hershey Bears' landmark 1980 Calder Cup championship team, Haworth, retired from the game just three years later to start a new career in aviation as a helicopter pilot in the wilds of British Columbia accumulating more than 15,000 hours of flying time over the next 25 years as one of the top professional copter bush pilots in Canada.


Mike Haworth and his "office" in the wilds of British Columbia
On August 13th, Haworth strapped himself into a Bell 206L Longranger belonging to Quantum Helicopters of Terrace, BC, of which he was a co-owner and chief pilot, for another day of doing what he loved most. His copter had been chartered that day by a mining company to move pieces of a 1,500 pound drill on a sling from one site to another. Haworth had done this tricky task many hundreds of times before, but on his third trip of the morning Haworth experienced problems while landing a piece of the drill assembly on a mountainside and moved away from the landing site to attempt another approach. Unfortunately the load got caught in some nearby trees, however, and the helicopter crashed over a hillside into a rock face and was left dangling from the long line. Rescue choppers couldn’t land at the crash site because Haworth's crashed aircraft was perched on a steep slope at about 4,200 feet elevation, so one of the helicopters brought a basket stretcher down to the site where the rescuers were and they slung him up to the landing pad where paramedics were waiting. Haworth was quickly flown five hundred miles south to a Vancouver trauma center but passed away from his injuries the following day. He was 53.

 
Raised in Calgary, Alberta, Mike was a highly determined person who developed an early passion for hockey and played for several local teams including the Calgary Canucks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League where he became the team MVP. I first met Mike in 1977, his first season of pro hockey, when I was the PR man for the NAHL Philadelphia Firebirds and he was playing for the rival Syracuse Blazers.

Prior to joining the Blazers late in that season, however, Haworth has spent time with two teams in the Southern Hockey League -- the Greensboro Generals and Charlotte Checkers -- before that circuit folded in February, 1977. While with Greensboro, Mike played with Jeff Carlson who appeared in the then recently released Paul Newman movie "SLAP SHOT" as one of the three "Hanson Brothers" which was filmed in Johnstown, PA, the previous summer where Jeff and his brothers, Jack and Steve, had played with the NAHL Johnstown Jets. During a game in Greensboro, Jeff yelled to Haworth and his other teammates "Next whistle everybody go to the other bench." Mike, as a young rookie pro, asked why they were supposed to go to the other teams' bench to which Jeff replied: “We’re not going to their bench, we’re going into their bench!” When the next whistle blew the entire Generals' bench cleared and a major brawl took place.


Mike Haworth waiting to jump on the ice for the Bears
Haworth helped the Blazers win the NAHL's Lockhart Cup only to see that league fold as well after that season. The following season (1977-78), however, he joined the Firebirds (which, along with the Binghamton Dusters, had moved over to the AHL) and he spent two years with that club before joining the AHL Hershey Bears for three seasons (1979-82) where he won his second pro title in 1980. In 212 games career games with Hershey, he scored nine goals and assisted on 77 while amassing 772 minutes in penalties and became just the fourth player in the Bears' long history to reach 300 minutes in penalties in a season in 1981-82 when he was assessed a total of 310 minutes in 68 games.

While still playing in Hershey, Haworth also began taking flying lessons which he discussed with me (I am also a pilot) from time to time. It was clear that he had developed a passion for flying, and when his playing career finally ended after twenty games with the AHL Binghamton Whalers in 1982-83 because of the toll of injuries, it was clear that aviation would become his life's work.


Mike Haworth, Hershey Bears (1979-82)

The last time I saw Mike was when I attended his wedding in New Jersey in 1982 to his wife, Barb, who was a native of the Garden State, and together they had two children, Jill and Kevin. Unfortunately I never saw Mike again after that day although I heard from time to time about his exploits as a superb pilot on Western Canada.

"He was passionate about his flying and he was very good at it," Quantum president Ian Swan said of Haworth, "and was among our group of most requested and experienced pilots. That speaks for itself. We've been inundated with calls from all over the place. He was very well known, a highly respected and highly skilled pilot."


Mike Haworth hard at work at what he did best

I knew Mike as an outgoing, tough-as-nails, pepperpot player, who was also a great practical joker (of which I was the victim more than once). But as a pilot, husband, father, and friend to thousands, Mike Haworth was also the best. And although I had not seen him in more than a quarter of a century now, I still will miss my friend greatly as well.