by Howie Mooney
Some stories have happy endings. This isn’t one of those. This will start off as a typical Canadian story of hockey and hope and celebration. But it will end in sadness and, ultimately, death. Or…deaths. First a father, and then a son. Both will die needlessly and senselessly.
It all started on an outdoor rink on a vast tract of land that Roy Spencer, a gravel pit operator, had purchased piecemeal over time near Fort St. James, British Columbia. That was where young Brian began to learn to play hockey. He made it to the top Junior league in Western Canada, playing two seasons and splitting time between Calgary, Regina, Estevan and Swift Current. In the 1969 NHL Entry Draft, Brian was selected 55th overall (5th round) by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In that 1969-70 season, he managed to play nine games with the Leafs, but he spent the majority of the season (66 games) with their Central League team in Tulsa. The following year, he found himself back on Tulsa Time. But he got called back up and got involved physically in a 4-0 Leafs’ win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday, December 9. He was scheduled to play for the Leafs against the Chicago Black Hawks on Saturday, December 12.
Looking at Spencer’s numbers in Junior or in Tulsa, anyone would be excused if they weren’t overwhelmed by them. They were not spectacular. But his intangibles were off the charts. He had the ability to just make things happen when he was on the ice. He put forth maximum effort when he was out there. A big hit, tireless forechecking, creating a turnover, perhaps the odd fight. His exuberant play earned him the nickname ‘Spinner’. He was a momentum changer and that was his big value.
Back in Fort St. James, Roy was excited. He was thrilled to be able to watch his son playing for the Leafs on that late Saturday afternoon on Hockey Night in Canada. He had installed a big antenna to get the CBC signal from Prince George. He even invited a bunch of friends over to watch, telling everyone that the drinks were on him! But, when he turned his television on, he was not happy with what he saw. The Leafs game was not being shown in British Columbia. Instead, only the Vancouver Canucks were playing the California Golden Seals on the Western feed.
Roy was incensed. He made the decision to drive to the closest CBC station to complain in person. Well, he might do more than complain. Fort St. James is a former fur trading post up in central British Columbia on the shores of Lake Stuart. It’s up in the mountains. The nearest CBC affiliate was down in Prince George. The drive was about 135 kilometers – close to an hour and a half. Roy also decided to bring his Belgian F-N automatic pistol with him.
It was quite the scene when Roy arrived. In the parking lot, before he was able to get into the building, he ran into reporter Tom Haertel. Roy asked Haertel why the Toronto game wasn’t on the TV. “I don’t like the CBC’s hockey games,” he shouted at the reporter. “Why don’t you broadcast more Toronto games?” Haertel had no idea what to say to Spencer.
He then barged away from Haertel and through the front lobby. As he was passing the reception desk, he saw that the woman behind it, Carol Russell, was picking up the phone. Presuming she was trying to call the police, he reached over and grabbed the phone out of her hand. He pulled the receiver out of the phone base and continued through to the newsroom.
The first person he saw there was news director Stu Fawcett. He told Fawcett to take the Canucks’ game off the air. In the process of doing that, he was pointing his gun menacingly at Fawcett and newsmen John Rea and Stu McAllister. Programming director Don Prentice stepped in. Spencer forcefully told Prentice, “I am very disturbed about the CBC’s coverage. There is going to be a revolution unless it changes.”
Prentice later told the police that Spencer was “cold sober, but shaking like a leaf.” Rea said that “when he first came into the newsroom, he seemed steady, very steady. He didn’t seem all together, but still had pretty good control. Later, he was shaky, and his speech was jerky. He seemed mentally upset, disturbed.”
In that few minutes, a station employee managed to get a call out to the authorities. Police were surrounding the building, unbeknownst to Spencer. Prentice said that Spencer lined eight staff members against a wall and told them, “I don’t want to kill anyone. I’ve killed before. I’ve killed many times before in the commandos. Turn the TV off!” That was when Prentice shouted to the person operating the feed to take the station off the air. The man complied. CKPG-TV went dark at 7:40 pm Pacific time.
He was exiting the building as the police spotted him. Their initial plan was to talk with him rather than use force. Cpl. Roger Post even took off his holster and was holding it in his hand and said, “Hold it right there!” Spencer noticed him and fired a shot hitting the holster. Another bullet struck RCMP Constable Dave Pidruchny in the foot. Police responded with at least four shots of their own. Spencer took a shot in the chest and the face. He was pronounced dead on arrival when he was taken to hospital.
At 7:54, CKPG went back on the air.
Shortly after the melee at the television station, Roy’s relatives were informed of his death. It was the next morning when Brian’s mother told him of his father’s passing.
Earlier that afternoon, newscaster Gerry Nairn received an angry phone call from an “irate listener”. Thinking about what happened that evening, he figured that the caller was Roy Spencer. “He was angry about our not carrying the Toronto broadcast, called me names and threatened to come down to the station later,” Nairn told the Canadian Press. Nairn wasn’t at the station as the whole thing was going down. He was delayed because he couldn’t find a clipboard while at home.
He arrived as the incident was beginning. “I saw two patrol cars blocking the driveway to the station and thought something was wrong at the hotel across the street,” Nairn said. “Suddenly, the station’s side door burst open and staff members poured out shouting, ‘He’s coming out the front!’ I jumped out of my truck and took cover. Four shots rang out and Spencer lay on the ground. He appeared to be dead.”
What Roy Spencer didn’t get to see was his son having another good game in a 2-1 Toronto victory. He didn’t get any points, but he imposed himself physically on the game. He was also interviewed between periods. Brian Spencer was just 21. He was supposed to be having the time of his life playing the game he loved at its highest level. Oh, and back in Tulsa, his wife had just given birth to their daughter a few days before.
On the Sunday morning following the Leafs’ win over Chicago, the team’s general manager, Jim Gregory, approached the young Spencer and offered to get him tickets on the first plane home if he so wanted. But Spencer elected to stay and play with the Leafs. “My father wanted me to be a hockey player more than he wanted anything in the world. I think he would want me to play and that’s what I’m going to do.”
It must have been difficult, but Brian pushed himself through the Sunday night game in Buffalo. He notched a couple of first period assists on goals by Norm Ullman and Ron Ellis and in the second period, he engaged the Sabres surly defenseman, Tracy Pratt, in a fight. Foster Hewitt was picking the three stars that night and he chose Brian as his third selection. King Clancy used to rate the Leafs’ performances on a game-by-game basis, and he put only Norm Ullman’s three-point night ahead of Spencer.
Leafs’ coach John McLellan raved about Spencer’s night. “That was one of the gamest performances I’ve seen in all my years around hockey. I didn’t know whether to play him or let him sit on the bench. I figured he would have less chance to dwell on his misfortune if he played. He responded with a standout performance. I knew he had the muscle and desire to play in the National Hockey League. Now I know he has the mental toughness and heart to be a Leaf regular.”
Bobby Baun, the Leafs’ veteran defenseman, echoed his coach’s sentiments. “I’ve bumped into a lot of sad things but never anything to equal this. The boy has an awful lot of courage. Maybe playing the game helped him to forget for a little while.”
Spencer waited until Monday morning to fly home. His father’s funeral was scheduled for the Thursday of that week.
* * *
Brian Spencer was a guy who didn’t have top-tier NHL talent, but his aforementioned intangibles afforded him a pro hockey career that many would gladly and eagerly accept. After playing parts of three seasons with the Leafs and their organization, he was left unprotected in the summer of 1972 as the league expanded into two new locations: Atlanta and Nassau County, New York.
The New York Islanders grabbed Spencer. He was a part of the original incarnation of the Isles. That poor team became one of the worst of all time, posting a record of 12-60-6 for a winning percentage of .192. The club’s leading scorer ended up being Billy Harris who scored 28 goals and amassed 50 points. Spencer played 78 games that year and scored 14 times along with 24 assists for 38 points. He was the fourth highest point-getter on the team behind Harris, Ed Westfall and Germain Gagnon.
One of Spencer’s teammates with the Islanders was Terry Crisp. Crisp talked with Tim Graham of the Buffalo News in July of 2011 about something that Spencer loved – guns. “He always loved guns. He always had pistols and rifles and was so keen to show you the guns he owned. I’d say, ‘Put those away, will ya?’”
In March of 1974, the Isles traded ‘Spinner’ to the Buffalo Sabres for centreman Doug Rombough. Spencer was a welcome addition to the up-and-coming Sabres. That team already had a lot of their pieces in place. They had The French Connection Line with Gilbert Perrault, Richard Martin and Rene Robert. There were supporting players like Rick Dudley, Jimmy Lorentz, Gerry Meehan, Don Luce, Craig Ramsay, Jim Schoenfeld, Jerry Korab, Larry Carriere….
The Sabres equipment manager was Rip Simonick. He told Tim Graham what a big lift Spencer gave the team. “I just thought for sure we would win the Stanley Cup when we got him. He was the piece of the puzzle we needed. You knew when he was on the ice. You better be on your toes because he was going to nail you.”
Spencer assumed the role of a kind of dressing room ‘court jester’. Simonick recalled a few things for Graham. Like the way he would walk on his hands into the shower room and turn on the water with his feet. Rene Robert told Graham about the way Spencer could jump off a table and land easily on his feet with his toes curled under.
In the 1970s, security on airplanes was a lot looser than it is today and given that he was part of a professional hockey team, Spencer was allowed to board planes with a hunting knife strapped to his calf, and his teammates held that as part of the list of eccentricities Spencer had. And then there was his truck…..
Spencer took a 2 ½ ton army truck and tricked it out. He took the instrument panel from a DC-3 airplane and affixed it to his vehicle. He added a generator to the thing. He put in a refrigerator as well. And in order to give it the feeling of home, he also added a bed, a television and a VCR. He called the thing ‘The Hulk’.
Spencer was eager to play the fool most of the time. But Graham wrote of a moment when Simonick learned to avoid one subject with the player. “One of the scariest moments of my whole career was when I started asking questions. I asked about his father. He snapped. ‘You know what happened to my father. He got killed. You know that, right? Somebody will eventually pay for that.’ He was gritting his teeth. His eyes were bugging in his head. He clicked out. But then he calmed down very quickly. He was very erratic in his emotions.”
Graham wrote that, for years, Spencer carried the names of the RCMP officers involved in the death of his father.
Despite that, Simonick thought that Spencer was the missing ingredient that would take the Sabres to a victory in the Stanley Cup. They never won the championship, but they came close. In the spring of 1975, the Sabres easily dispensed of the Chicago Black Hawks and the Montreal Canadiens before they faced the defending Cup winning Philadelphia Flyers. They took the final series to a sixth game before bowing out to the Broad Street Bullies.
In September of 1977, shortly before the beginning of the season, the Sabres dealt Spencer to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Ron Schock. While he had always had the ability to, more or less, freewheel in Buffalo, his role with Pittsburgh was much less fun. He was given the responsibilities of a defensive forward and the constraints that put on him were less compatible with his abilities. He played 79 games in 1977-78 but only seven games with the Penguins in 1978-79. He spent the rest of that year and the following one with a trio of teams in the American Hockey League.
At the end of the 1979-80 hockey season, his life in the game was over. He was on his second marriage and that was not going well either. He left his wife and moved south. They eventually divorced as well. He found a trailer to live in. There’s a line in the Graham piece that speaks volumes. “Spencer, twice divorced and with five children he didn’t support, drifted to Florida once his hockey career petered out.”
He fell back on the skills he learned from his father in order to subsist. He brought his tools and worked as a mechanic, and he drank. In fact, he drank a lot. Between 1982 and 1985, he was arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol five times. He accumulated 18 demerit points on his license.
Even though he did his best to try to keep a low profile around Miami, the police were well acquainted with Spencer. In one police report from late 1984, the reporting officer wrote, “Subject was combative, saying if I did not have a uniform on, he would kick my ass. Asked if I get an orgasm for arresting him.” Eventually, Spencer no longer had a drivers’ license.
His life would descend further.
While living in his trailer, Spencer came into the acquaintance of a woman. Diane Delena was a woman who worked for the Fantasy Island Escort Agency. Her working name was ‘Crystal’. She would eventually move in with Brian in his meager lodgings. They would enjoy a dynamic that could best be described as being ‘friends with benefits’.
While working one night in February of 1982, she became concerned for her safety while she was with a client who was under the influence of cocaine. She was worried that the man might have followed her home. When she told Spencer of her evening with the man, Michael Dalfo, the two went back to see him. They picked Dalfo up and drove around until they got to a lonely road off PGA Boulevard in West Palm Beach.
The next day, his body was discovered there. Dalfo had been shot twice in the head with a .25 calibre gun.
No charges were immediately laid and the case was kind of dormant for a while. A long while. By January of 1987, a case had finally been put together. The evidence had pointed detectives squarely at Brian Spencer. They had approached Delena and even gave her partial immunity for her testimony against her old roommate.
Nearly five years had passed since the murder of Michael Dalfo. In that time, the woman formerly known as ‘Crystal’ had turned her life around. She was no longer in the escort business. She was now married and had a couple of children. Her now comfortable life was a complete contrast to her past and her husband had absolutely no knowledge of her checkered past. This case would change that irrevocably.
The prosecutor in the case was Charles Burton. Delena was enjoying her 1987 life and, undoubtedly, Burton had pressed her hard to testify against a man with whom she’d been very intimate. “She knew this was going to destroy her marriage,” Burton told Graham for his Buffalo News piece. “I always gave her credit for that. She could have said, ‘I don’t know nothing. Sorry.’ She came clean even though there wasn’t much of a win for her. There certainly wasn’t anything in it for her – no gain.”
Burton gave her no choice. Testify against Spencer or go to jail. But by testifying, her husband would see what she had done in her former life and that union would be destroyed. But for the prosecutor, she was all he had. Even Burton knew that without her, he didn’t have a great case against the former pro hockey player. Police never recovered a murder weapon and Delena testified that she’d never heard any shots.
The jury didn’t believe that Spencer was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. They deliberated for less than an hour. They found him not guilty.
One of Spencer’s truest friends was the Sabres’ Rick Martin. Martin and his wife Mikey probably understood him better than most of his former teammates. When Graham spoke to Mikey about Brian, she became almost sentimental. “Aw Spin…” Mikey saw in Spencer the simple guy who fell for flattery and wasn’t really adept at reading the motivations of other people.
“He was a teddy bear that people took advantage of,” Mikey told Graham, “whether it was women, whether it was guys using him as a celebrity.” When it came to the ‘not guilty’ verdict, Mikey had her own ideas. “We (she and Rick) never doubted. We had an idea he might have known who did it. But he did not do it. To get Spin pissed enough to kill somebody, he would do it with his bare hands, and he certainly would not use this puny calibre gun.”
A lot of people – friends, family, his lawyer, even the cops who investigated the case – told Spencer that the best thing he could do was to leave Florida for anywhere else. He had been found ‘not guilty’ by the courts but there may have been others who might have wished some evil to befall Spencer. That retribution might come from the family or friends or associates of Michael Dalfo.
Gerry Hart was a defenseman on the early New York Islanders teams. He was a teammate of Spencer’s on those nascent clubs. The two men became close, and Hart was present for the trial. After hockey, Hart had become quite successful in real estate on Long Island and in South Florida. One thing Hart had also done was to step forward and care for Spencer’s second wife, Janet, and Spencer’s two sons with her. Janet was dying from ovarian cancer. Hart told Spencer that he had arranged for his former teammate to have a job on Long Island, but it just didn’t work out.
“He ended up running away and back to Florida,” Hart told Graham. “I was very disappointed in Brian. I felt I’d done everything I could to support him and when he abandoned his family like that – for whatever reason, and I was never able to find out – I washed my hands of Brian.”
In early June of 1988, Spencer was out with a friend, Greg Cook, in Riviera Beach, near West Palm Beach. It’s not a great place to be after dark. The two men had spent hours bar hopping and they had bought some crack that they were going to do. Cook was driving and Spencer had dropped some cigarettes on the floor of his pickup truck. They pulled over. Cook turned on his inside dome light.
That was when a Buick LeSabre pulled alongside and pinned the truck in. Two men got out of the car and they proceeded to try to rob Cook and Spencer at gunpoint. Cook gave the men the money he had in his pockets. It was three dollars. Spencer refused to comply and told the robbers off. He was shot. The bullet travelled through his arm, through a lung, his heart and into his liver.
That was it. That was how Brian Spencer died. Two men were identified and charged. They eventually accepted plea bargains. That was the end of the Brian Spencer story.
Years later, when asked about Spencer, many of his former teammates seemed to not be surprised by the way he met his end. Or they really were done with him altogether.
Darryl Sittler was one of those who was pretty much done. “He had a little bit of a Jekyll and Hyde in him. At times, did I see where he had this split personality? Yeah. Could he have done it (committed the murder of Dalfo)? Sure, he could’ve. But he was acquitted.”
Then, there was Dave Keon. “I’ve been through the Brian Spencer story before. I don’t want to relive it again.”
The story of Brian Spencer lives on as a cautionary tale. When you play with fire every day, there’s always the risk that you’ll get burned. ‘Spin’ ended up getting burned.
* * *
Howie’s latest book MORE Crazy Days & Wild Nights, eleven new stories of outlandish and wild events that occurred in sports over the last fifty years,is available on Amazon. It’s the follow-up to his first book of 2023, Crazy Days & Wild Nights! If you love sports and sports history, you need these books!
And watch for Howie’s latest book, The Consequences of Chance, to come out November 1 on Amazon!
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