Things You Didn't Know About The TV Star

Publish date: 2024-05-03

Alan was an avid sports fan. He played football in college, and after moving to Los Angeles, he paled around with some L.A. Kings players he knew from his Canadian hometown, including Mike Corrigan, Dick Duff, and Ralph Backstrom. Alan's interactions with professional athletes, particularly hockey stars, on the TV variety shows he produced in the '70s and '80s led to him eventually becoming an unofficial "celebrity liaison" for the Kings. When budding hockey star and fellow Canadian Wayne Gretzky came to town with the Oilers, Alan took him under his wing and even introduced Gretzky to the woman the hockey star would later marry. Gretzky was eventually traded to the Kings and later told Grantland,"Outside of the Oilers and the Kings and my wife and I, [Alan] was the first person that knew the trade was going to happen."

Alan's love of sports was not limited to hockey. Through the same kind of serendipity that connected him to the Kings, Alan also became close friends with basketball legend Michael Jordan—even playing three-on-three basketball with Jordan and country crooner Kenny Rogers, as well as stars Larry Bird, Dominique Wilkins, and Woody Harrelson.

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