There’s never been a question as to the size of P.K. Subban’s heart. But the Canadiens defenceman’s unprecedented donation on Wednesday to the Montreal Children’s Hospital took the discussion to an entirely different level.
Over the next seven years, Subban, his foundation and his high-profile fundraising efforts will bring a minimum of $10 million to the hospital.
According to the Montreal Children’s, Subban’s contribution is the largest philanthropic commitment ever made by a professional athlete in Canada. Fittingly, the hospital named its bright atrium in the player’s honour.
Subban’s gesture further illustrated his sense, instilled in him by his family, of what is right.
The 26-year-old adds his name to an illustrious list of Canadiens players who have embraced the responsibility of giving back, of contributing to the city that has become their home and offered them a handsome living.
At the head of the list would be the late Jean Béliveau, whose wife, Élise, attended Subban’s announcement. Béliveau spent his entire career and the decades that followed it improving the lives of underprivileged and hospitalized children with his tireless work.
Last December marked the 50th anniversary of the first annual children’s-hospital holiday visits by Canadiens players, a popular tradition begun by Béliveau.
Later would come captain Saku Koivu, who publicly waged a successful battle against non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2001-02. Koivu regularly hosted young cancer patients in a Bell Centre loge during games and in the dressing room afterward. With his foundation, Koivu raised funds for the Montreal General’s purchase of a PET/CT scan machine for cancer-patient use.
There are many fabulously paid professional athletes who simply don’t “get it,” that is, who fail to understand the privilege and luxuries that their athletic abilities provide — and the moral responsibility that goes along with that.
The bloated world of pro sport pays obscene sums to not just its stars but also to those with pedestrian talent, a fact made possible by insatiable fans who are willing to pay swollen prices for tickets and team merchandise.
Thus, many become little more than sporting mercenaries, loyal more to their paycheque than to the crest on their jersey.
In fairness, team management is more loyal to the whole than the parts, willing to trade a player without hesitation if it believes the return will improve the squad.
You can debate whether Subban is “worth” the $71 million the Canadiens will pay him for the term of his eight-year contract signed 13 months ago.
But with his gigantic donation to the Montreal Children’s, there can be no argument that Subban, the choice of some to be the Canadiens’ next captain, has embraced the responsibility that does and should come with a huge contract and the adoration of fans.
Subban, and many of his teammates, do indeed “get it,” investing their money and time in charitable and human causes.
Béliveau’s selfless work, from the minor-hockey banquets at which he’d quietly appear to a 2007 Bell Centre gala which raised $1 million for Montreal children’s hospitals, is and forever will remain beyond compare.
But on Wednesday, with his tremendous contribution and investment of himself, Subban stepped into Béliveau’s giant skate boots. Like his idol Le Gros Bill, he has shown that giving back to his community is just as important as producing for his team on the ice.
