Cochrane Rotary business lunch meetings traditionally involve speakers ranging from those working on humanitarian aid projects in southeast Asia, Africa, and other far flung corners of the world, or even club-sponsored German exchange students.
So it was quite a break from tradition when an iconic Albertan celebrity brought his story to the gathering at the Legion on Feb. 11, and it had nothing to do with a non-profit.
It was none other than Harvey the Hound, aka Grant Kelba, the mind and the body behind the iconic mascot of the Calgary Flames.
Kelba, who now makes his living in commercial real estate, told his fuzzy story from start to finish, and had the audience laughing at the history behind his antics on and off the ice.
He no longer suits up as Harvey, having passed the torch for donning the costume of his creation in 1999, after a little chat with himself.
“I said to myself, you’re about to turn 40, and you’ve spent your entire life as a dog. It’s time to do something else,” he said with a chuckle.
Recounting the history of his creation, it doesn’t sound like he regrets a moment of his life as a dog, bringing, as he did, “joy and a community spirit” wherever he went.
At the Hockeyville event in Canmore last month Harvey received louder applause than any of the NHL Hall-of-Famers who were introduced – a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by the Hockey Night in Canada panel.
Starting out as Ralph the Dog, Kelba made $7.50 an hour at Calgary Stampeders games pre-1980.
When the popularity of the mascot became obvious, Kelba turned his attention to branching out to promote the Flames, and they eventually agreed to a one game experiment. It was a success that led to his stint in the Saddledome from 1984 to 1999. The Flames bought the marketing rights to Harvey in 1996.
In morphing into Harvey, it was decided that Ralph was not a good name. There was no mention of possible conflict from that other famous Ralph from Calgary.
Kelba worked closely with officials from the Flames, developing a couple of iterations which eventually became Harvey the Hound as we all know and love him today.
A true historian of all things mascot, Kelba said the word actually dates back to 1880 France, where a musical theatre presentation of La Mascotte (The Mascot) was a three-act opera.
A little research revealed the story concerns a farm girl who is a "mascotte": someone with the mystic power to bring good luck to all around her, so long as she remains a virgin.
Kelba refrained from comment on that last part.
He told tales of challenges he faced during his time in costume, including how heavy the suit became, especially when he decided to try scuba diving. He estimates he added some 90 pounds to the outfit by the time all the added weight was strapped on to ensure he didn’t bob to the surface too quickly.
To the disappointment of some in the crowd, Kelba was unable to provide much personal insight into the now infamous incident in 2003 where Harvey was harassing the bench of the arch-rival Edmonton Oilers during a game at the Saddledome.
Harvey got a little too close for comfort to then bench boss Craig MacTavish, who was already in a foul mood as his team wasn’t doing too well on the ice. He had had enough of the hound, and reached up and pulled on Harvey’s tongue. A little too firmly, as it turned out, as MacTavish suddenly found himself the proud owner of a long, red tongue, which was caught on camera and replayed thousands of times over the years.
Although it was pre-social media popularity, the incident immediately went viral, even prompting a request from Tonight Show host Jay Leno for Harvey to appear on the popular late night show (he declined).
The visceral animosity between the Flames and Oilers was evident even in the early Battle of Alberta days.
Kelba said when he playfully approached legendary tough guy and Wayne Gretzky protector Marty McSorley coming down the tunnel to the ice, he was greeted with a terse “F .. k off!”
Turns out Harvey got the last laugh, as years later his cell phone rang and he was surprised to hear a voice on the other end identify himself as McSorley, asking if Harvey would make an appearance at a golf tournament.
That request also didn’t end well. Evidently, what goes around comes around.
