Toronto Maple Leafs player pays tribute to late grocery store worker who loved team
CBC
A Toronto Maple Leafs player paid tribute over the weekend to a grocery store worker and fan who died suddenly last week and is being remembered as a warm, friendly face who loved the team.
On Saturday, Bobby McMann honoured Kevin Wilson with a walk-on tribute, showing up to a game with the Vancouver Canucks wearing a yellow safety vest.
Wilson wore that vest every day to work at the Loblaws store at Lake Shore Boulevard W. and Bathurst Street in downtown Toronto, where he was a front-end service clerk.
"Just a really good spirit, really good person. Affected a lot of people positively when they walked into that place," McMann said to Sportsnet about Wilson. "And he was just a lifelong Leafs fan. Always wanted to talk hockey, would always record the games, watch them later.”
Wilson, 48, died of complications after contracting meningitis last week, according to his family and the store.
McMann, who shopped at the store where Wilson worked, also wore Wilson's nametag on Saturday when he walked into Scotiabank Arena.
Loblaws has set up a memorial at the front of the store for Wilson that features photos of him, flowers, cards and a Maple Leafs hockey jersey and scarf.
"Kevin was the heart of our team and was loved by so many of our staff and customers. It is heartbreaking not to see his smile at the front of our store," the store said in a Facebook post on Friday.
Frank Crupi, a Loblaws customer and hockey influencer, said in an interview at the store on Monday said McCann's tribute on Saturday shows that "Bobby McMann is a McMann of the people."
It was not a small gesture, he added.
“That was a beautiful, significant piece of symbolism from Bobby McMann, who comes into this Loblaws regularly, because he lives in the area," he said.
Crupi's own friendship with Wilson began about four years ago. At first, when Crupi was shopping at the store, he and Wilson would simply nod at each on game day. That then progressed to talking about the team.
"I would always see him on game day, Leafs game day, wearing a Leafs jersey," Crupi said.
"We just slowly started to connect and bond over hockey and over the Leafs. And he was the biggest Leafs fan I knew ... He always had his Leafs jersey on, a Leafs toque, a Leafs pin. He was like one of the most die-hard guys there was."
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