Peter Pocklington

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Lore & Background

Pocklington was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, to Basil Cohen Pocklington and Eileen (Dempsey), and grew up in London, Ontario. The greatest influence on young Pocklington was the motivational speaker Earl Nightingale and his recording The Strangest Secret. One of his earliest business ventures was buying old cars from farms near Carberry, Manitoba, for $25 and selling them in Ontario for up to $500. By age 25, he owned his first car dealership, Westown Ford in Tilbury, Ontario, becoming the youngest Ford dealer in Canada. By 1971, when he was 29, he moved west and bought Shirley Ford in Edmonton, Alberta. He bought part ownership of the Edmonton Oilers in 1976, using his wife's diamond ring as a downpayment. In fall 1978, he acquired the rights to 17-year-old Wayne Gretzky from Nelson Skalbania. Pocklington was taken hostage by a gunman, Mirko Petrović, who broke into his home; during the incident, both Pocklington and Petrović were shot by RCMP officers but both recovered. In 1983, Pocklington entered the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership convention, campaigning on free trade, privatization, a flat tax, and retiring the national debt; he withdrew before the second ballot and supported Brian Mulroney. He was an active philanthropist, giving to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Jamie Platz YMCA, the Glen Sather Sports Medicine Clinic, a free-enterprise chair at the University of Alberta, and Junior Achievement. He served on the board of the Betty Ford Center from 1995 to 2010. In 1998, after selling the Oilers, he moved to Palm Desert, California. On October 8, 2014, he was invited back to Edmonton for a reunion of the first Stanley Cup championship team and received a standing ovation from the fans in attendance.

In Their Own Story

The defining moment of Pocklington's career arrived on August 9, 1988, when he traded Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings. In his 2009 biography, *I'd Trade Him Again: On Gretzky, Politics and the Pursuit of the Perfect Deal*, co-authored by Terry McConnell and J'lyn Nye, Pocklington explained his unwavering belief that the trade benefited the Oilers, the Kings, Gretzky, and the game itself. This conviction remained despite the backlash from a nation that viewed Gretzky as their greatest player. His life was not without peril; in one harrowing incident, he was held hostage for 11 hours by gunman Mirko Petrović, who intended to kidnap his wife Eva but failed. RCMP officers eventually stormed the home, shooting both Pocklington and the kidnapper, though both men made full recoveries.

Reader's Guide

Peter Pocklington owned the Edmonton Oilers from 1976 to 1998, overseeing their dynasty years from 1983 to 1990. He is most famous for trading Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings. His business empire included a Ford dealership, Fidelity Trust, Palm Dairies, Canbra Foods, Magic Pantry, Kretschmar Foods, Green Acre Farms, and Gainers meatpacking. He also owned the Edmonton Trappers, Edmonton Drillers, Edmonton Brick Men, and Kamloops Junior Oilers. His 1986 labour dispute at Gainers involved a six-month strike with strikebreakers. His life is documented in the 2009 biography I'd Trade Him Again: On Gretzky, Politics and the Pursuit of the Perfect Deal.

Did You Know?

• Pocklington offered his wife's diamond ring as a downpayment to buy part ownership of the Edmonton Oilers in 1976.
• He acquired Wayne Gretzky from Nelson Skalbania in fall 1978, when Gretzky was 17.
• During a hostage incident, both Pocklington and the kidnapper were shot by RCMP officers but both recovered.
• Pocklington campaigned for the Progressive Conservative Party leadership in 1983 on a platform including a flat tax and privatizing Crown corporations.
• He served on the board of the Betty Ford Center from 1995 to 2010.