Boston Bruins captain Joe Thornton on Cherry's popularity:
2004, to Canadian Press:
"Everybody's a fan of his growing up, we all watched Coach's Corner. I'm his number one fan."
HNIC host Ron MacLean on what Cherry's like away from work:
"People always ask me what he's like off the air. ... I tell them,
he's no different. What is on the screen is what he is."
Leigh Montville of Sports Illustrated writing about Cherry's tenure with the Boston Bruins:
"He walked the dasher as if it were a tightrope, pumped on adrenaline, howling at all perceived injustices. He quoted Lord Nelson and Popeye to the press. He treated each game as if he were sending knights of honour off to an icy plain to defend the honour of the poor city of Boston. He had fun."
St. Louis Blues captain Chris Pronger on Cherry's reach as a broadcaster:
"I know people who don't even watch the game on Saturday night but just tune in for Coach's Corner."
HNIC host Ron MacLean on what it's like to work with Cherry:
"Don's the only guy I know who you can't quite predict. ...There
are times when he just snaps and I have to make a decision: Can
I carry on with this, or must I totally back off and save us both?"
Writer and columnist Roy MacGregor on Cherry's
influence on the development of young hockey players:
"His thinking, and his extraordinary influence, has been the single most destructive influence on the development of Canadian hockey."
Liberal cabinet minister Denis Coderre
on Cherry's controversial stance on French-Canadian hockey players:
"Frankly, I think when you're talking about ethnicity all the time
and calling French men wimps, it's unacceptable. ... It's time for
Don Cherry to stop pushing French Canadians around."
Journalist Jack Todd on what motivates Cherry:
"Cherry is a strange animal. His first and most obvious motive is
to make money, and at that he has been highly successful. He doesn't
care what you or I or the prime minister has to say about him, because
he's laughing all the way to the bank."
Cherry on his coaching life. From his book, Grapes: A vintage view of hockey:
"I died on May 10, 1979; at 11:10 p.m. to be exact. Two shots killed me. The first, which left me critically wounded, was fired by Guy Lafleur. The one that wiped me out came from the stick of Yvon Lambert. Had I survived these attacks I have no doubt that I would still be coach of the Boston Bruins today and, quite likely, governor of Massachusetts."
Cherry on his sense of style:
"I consider my style that of the men of the 1930s, where men had an elegant style, tight suits, tight collars, lots of jewellery, a clean sharp image. I must admit my style has been called foppish, but I like it."
Cherry on celebrity:
"I look around and I wish sometimes I could just walk into a building
and be like any other coach, but I can't and I realize that. ...
I have to be Don Cherry to the kids who go to the games. ... I think
I owe it to them to sign autographs."
The artist known as Grapes. Lyrics from an early 1990s rap song Cherry recorded for charity.
"Probert, Probert, what a man; we see him, it's slam-bam. Let's go."
Cherry on rock'em', sock'em hockey:
"Anybody who says they don't like fighting in the NHL have to be out of their minds."
Cherry's cracks wise during a dull game in his rookie season as an HNIC commentator.
"Keeps going like this, the Zamboni driver is going to be the first star."
Cherry on his favourite hockey player of
all time:
"The greatest hockey player who ever lived: Bobby Orr, and I love him."
