Barry Beck
Barry was born June 3, 1957 at Lions Gate Hospital in N. Vancouver B.C. Canada. He has two older brothers Murray and Chris and their mother Shirley is still going strong at 94 years of age. Their father David Bruce Beck has passed on due to Dementia.
He spent his youth in Vancouver’s East End where he was involved mainly in sports; such as baseball, football basketball and ice hockey.
Barry played youth hockey out of the P.N.E. Forum and joined the Vancouver Jr. Canucks Junior B team at the age of 15. After one year, he moved up to the Langley Lords of the B.C Junior Hockey League. He was part of the Kamloops Chiefs organization, but concerned for his schooling, his parents requested a trade closer to home to the New Westminster Bruins. Upon agreement between Kamloops and New Westminster, Barry was traded for five players. For the next consecutive 3 years, the Bruins went to the Memorial Cup coached by Ernie “Punch” Mclean. They finally won the Junior Championship of Canada in Vancouver B.C. at the Pacific Coliseum against the Ottawa 67’s, coached by Brian Kilrea.
In 1977, Barry was the second overall NHL pick behind Dale McCourt, going to the Colorado Rockies. He set a record for a rookie defenseman scoring 22 goals. That record would be broken ten years later by Brian Leetch of the NY Rangers with 23 goals. Brian’s record still stands today.
On Nov. 4th 1979, in a monumental trade for 5 players, Barry was sent to the New York Rangers. He eventually became the Captain for the Rangers for 5 seasons, before succumbing to a number of shoulder injuries and subsequent surgeries. He retired, but set his mind on a comeback in 1990, when a phone call from Wayne Gretzky came asking him to join the Los Angeles Kings. From there, he would retire once again before the end of the season.
According to Barry, his greatest achievement was the day he became a father. Brock Cameron Beck was born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada on Nov 30, 1999. He cut the umbilical cord and they held hands as he walked him to his first day of Kindergarten. He loved him with all of his heart.
In 2018, Barry’s former NY Rangers teammate and Olympic Gold medal winner, Mark Pavelich, had been arrested on four felony counts of assault and weapon charges. He immediately contacted Mark’s sister Jean to see how he could support the family. Mark asked him to be his voice while being held in the state psychiatric facility in Minnesota due to mental health issues.
On July 26th, 2020, Brock at the age of 20, was fatally wounded in a suspected road rage incident in Binbrook, Ontario, Canada. Brock had been studying mental health and recovery at the University in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. The family was devastated. Then on March 4th, Mark Pavelich passed away at the Eagles Nest Landing, a facility for recovering veterans with mental health issues. This was another unimaginable loss for both the Pavelich family and Barry.
There’s a deep connection between Brock, Mark, Barry’s father and Barry himself, all defined by their association with mental health. Through that connection, Barry has started this website which addresses mental health and brain injuries. FallinStars will be an informative platform where he can continue his mission of writing and discussions on current mental health issues.
Barry’s journey now is to make sure both Brock and Mark have a legacy to their names and will not be forgotten. For Brock, it’s continuing his career path focusing on mental health and recovery and reaching out to the community to help others. “The Brock and Mark Scholarship Fund” has been created to assist post-secondary students to study mental health and recovery. For Mark, another legacy and Barry’s dream has been established by the creation of “The Ranch”. A place that helps ice hockey players and military veterans recover and get the help that they desperately need for mental health issues. “The Ranch-Teammates for Life.”