Interview with Jason Williams
Christy: What was your favorite part about high school?
Williams: “Just going and meeting a bunch of new people. With a bunch of middle schools coming together, you get to meet a lot of people and participate in sports. I played hockey. I wasn’t able to play any other sports but to be able to watch football and be able to participate in homecoming and prom.”
C: Any interesting stories about homecoming/prom?
W: None that we can talk about. Haha.
Christy: So what is your favorite part about your job, being a Red Wings player?Williams: “Just being able to come and play hockey- something that I love doing. I’ve always dreamed about playing hockey. Ever since I was 4 or 5 years old, I’ve wanted to play in the National Hockey League. To consider this a job, I just don’t look at it as a job. You come here, you have fun- they are a great group of guys. Its just great coming down here everyday and doing something I love.”
Christy: What is your pregame routine like?
Williams: “I usually get up around 8 o’clock and I’ll have breakfast – usually Special K with berries – and watch a little bit of ESPN. I’ll come down to the rink for the morning skate, which is where you basically get on the ice for half an hour shooting, doing some flow skating and just warming up. It’s mainly just to get you out of bed and get a sweat going. I’ll go back to Royal Oak where I live and eat my pregame meal at Andiamos. Steve, one of the cooks there, always hooks me up with what I want. Usually, I’ll have chicken with vegetables, a little bit of pasta, and salad. I go back to my place and relax for a bit – listen to music and watch some TV. I’ll take a nap from about 2-4 o’clock. Then I’ll get up and get ready, head to Starbucks and get my coffee. Everyone has to be at the rink two hours before the game, I like to get there around two and a half hours before the game.”
C: What do you usually do the two hours before a game?
W: “I always come in and make sure my sticks are ready and tape them up. A little before warm-up starts I like to do a few exercises to get the body to start sweating whether it be jumping on the bike or doing some running with a few sprints and then I stretch and warm-up for the game.”
Christy: During practice, I noticed there is a lot of joking around going on. Is there anyone known as the jokester?
Williams: “Well everyone has his own little personality. Depending on the day like one day a guy can be having a rough day and someone else will get on his case about it. Or if you’re not playing well out there – you’re going to here about it from the guys.”
Christy: Do you have a nickname that people usually call you?Williams: “Just Willy because of the last name.”
Christy: So what is one of the goals that you’d like to accomplish this season?Williams: “Obviously bringing the Stanley Cup back here which is the main goal. Just to have fun and learn as much as possible. It’s probably going to be my first full year in the national hockey league so to be here on an everyday basis and get to know what it takes – both the commitment on ice and the commitment off ice. To take it all in and be a better player each year off and on the ice.”
Christy: Do you guys do anything after practice?
Williams: “Sometimes after practice we’ll work out. I never like to work the legs the day before the game. Depending on how I feel, I’ll add the upper body as well. Usually I’ll get my cardio done before practice because I hate having to do it afterwards.”
Interview with Denise Ilitch
At the time of this interview, Denise Ilitch was the Red Wings Alternate Governor and the owner’s daughter. However after the end of the 2003-2004 season, she stepped down from her position.
Christy: In 1993, you founded the Lovelight Foundation. Before that you had been actively involved with charities, what made you decide to create your own
Ilitch: “I was with two of my girlfriends, who are very generous, and we decided that we wanted to help children in need, particularly those in Detroit because they are very in need, very underserved, poverty level is very high in Detroit, and kids are very hungry. And we were on a trip together with a bunch of women, and I think I had said “wow, what if we put all of our resources together how much power we would have.†And we started talking about it and that was when we said “you know we should start a foundation with all the resources that we have in this room and see if we can make an impact.†So we did and we made great programs like building a playground for kids in the city and we helped with dental needs where kids would get their teeth checked. We helped other programs that helped kids like the Starfish Family Services. We also raised a lot of money for kids, so it was really cool.”
Christy: What is your role with the Red Wings?
Ilitch: “My title is Alternate Governor, which means I go to the Board of Governors meeting who meet about every other month. I work on the business side of the Red Wings so I am involved with selling season tickets, marketing plans, and that kind of thing. The new campaign, Hockeytown Kids, is really cute – you should check it out. The season tickets are beautiful, just fun pictures of kids celebrating Hockeytown and the passion of the Red Wings. So you see kids with things on their heads and painted faces. I help with the business aspect, and on occasion I will help if asked on the hockey side whether its inadvisory capacity or host luncheons for the players’ wives.”
Christy: Detroit didn’t use to be called Hockeytown until after the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup two years in a row, what was it like seeing the transformation of the Red Wings team and fan support over the years – from being a team with little fans to today where you have a team consisting of such talented individuals and having such a large fan base?
Ilitch: “Well, it’s really exciting – I remember when we were called the Deadwings in 1982 and we all had to go and try to sell season tickets. People didn’t want to buy tickets, they hated Joe Louis Arena and still wanted the Olympic Stadium, and it was terrible. You’d read terrible articles in the newspaper and then of course we got involved and it’s very exciting and very seductive because you want keep it up, you don’t want to go back to where you were before so you are constantly working on how to improve our team and replacing players that we’ve lost and how do we stay on top because we’re held to such a high standard. It’s very rewarding and a great payoff for all the hard work that has been done.”
Christy: How does it feel to have a father who was inducted into the Hall of Fame recently for his many accomplishments and achievements as an owner?
Ilitch: “It feels very exciting and we’re very proud of him. It’s just awesome. It doesn’t strike you until you’re there and then it’s like wow because you see all of these hockey players and tradition so we were just incredibly proud of him. And like my father said there are owners there, not a ton, but mostly players and to be acknowledged and not be a player is pretty amazing.”
Christy: As a high school student, what sport interested you the most?
Ilitch: “I was a cheerleader and had a boyfriend in football so those were my two favorite sports. I am not sport oriented at all, everyone teases me about that, but I tried. I love sports but I’m not active in sports.”
Christy: What did you do when you had the Stanley Cup with you?
Ilitch: “We took a bunch of pictures for our Christmas card and then we took it to as many people as we could think of. We had the whole neighborhood come to our house and take pictures and then we took it to my mom-in-law’s bar. We took it all over – all of our friends. My husband took it to where he gets his haircut.”
Christy: Do you see yourself wanting to put more effort into a winning franchise because they’re winning or a losing franchise because they’re losing?
Ilitch: “You want to win at everything in every company so you put your effort everywhere. You don’t sit there and say “Oh they’re fine so we’re not going to do ignore them†because like I said earlier, you got to keep maintaining the team. Having said that, when you’re having a distressed team like the Detroit Tigers you have to really not let a day go by without doing something to help and try to improve the organization. It would sort of like having two kids: one was doing fine and the other kid was really challenged in school. You wouldn’t love either child any less or you wouldn’t love the child who is doing well any less but you may spend some more time trying to help the child who is struggling at the moment.”