- Mel Fox, grandfather of Rangers defenseman Adam Fox, is turning 100 in Boynton Beach, Florida
- The lifelong Rangers fan sat in Section 40 for Game 7 in 1994 and wants one more Cup as a gift
- Read below for how Mel says Adam ended up on skates in the first place
Mel Fox knows exactly what he wants for his 100th birthday. He just has to wait until June to unwrap it.
The grandfather of New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox is celebrating the milestone in Boynton Beach, Florida, and he told Stan Fischler of NHL.com what would make it perfect. Fischler asked him about the present he had in mind:
“I was there for the (New York) Rangers’ Stanley Cup victory at (Madison Square) Garden in 1994, and I’d like to see another one next spring. It would be nice for both me and my grandson.”
Six grandsons, and Mel says he is proud of all of them. Only one of them plays on Broadway.
Talking about the early days in Jericho, Long Island, Mel remembered a kid who got handed the worst job on the rink because of his age.
“He was the youngest of the bunch, so they made him the goalie, but he was a natural athlete — baseball, lacrosse and hockey — and settled on ice. A good thing, too!”
Credit for the hockey part of it runs through Adam’s father. Bruce Fox asked Mel to take him to a Rangers game when he was 10, got hooked, and had Adam on skates by age 3.
Adam came up through Long Island youth hockey with Charlie McAvoy, now Boston’s top defenseman, before earning a scholarship to Harvard.
Calgary took him 66th overall in 2016 and never got him into a game. The Flames shipped him to Carolina in June 2018, the Hurricanes flipped him to the Rangers in April 2019, and by 2021 he was holding the Norris Trophy in his third NHL season.
Watch the night Adam got the news:
A season ticket holder for decades, Mel was in the building on June 14, 1994, when the Rangers beat the Canucks 3-2 in Game 7 to end a 54-year wait. He remembers the seat number.
“I was sitting in Section 40, Row F — the best seat in the house — and when the final buzzer signaled that we finally had won the Cup, I said the same four words as the guy sitting near me who had the big sign: ‘NOW I CAN DIE!’”
Here is the full Game 7 replay he is talking about:
Born on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Mel served in the Army during World War II and worked in the Garment District. Instead of retiring at 65, he started his own business and ran it until he was 85.
These days he watches Adam from the couch in Florida instead of the Garden. He summed the whole thing up in two words: “Fox Pride!”
