Stories, opinions and sporting goods – when people ventured through the doors of Scoff’s Hockey Shop during the 1980s and 90s they were assured of getting those, just as likely in that order.
Under owner Ray Scoffins, the Burnaby store, which is still operating today, was a centre of sports talk and a place where everyone was welcomed to pull up a chair. When Scoffins died last week after a lengthy illness, the stories and memories are once again surged in remembrance.
“Ray was our own version of Don Cherry – he dressed like Cherry and told stories like Cherry,” remarked longtime Scoffins friend and Burnaby school trustee Larry Hayes.
The Burnaby store, a staple on the Hastings strip for much of its first 30 years before relocating to Parker Street, actually began as Quick Stop Skate Shop when Scoffins partnered with Gary McKenzie in the late 1970s. When McKenzie left to start his home-based business, Scoffins took some time to decide his next move and chose to keep the store operating. It was a home-away from home for many local sports enthusiasts.
“It was like a lot of community sporting goods stores,” Jason Scoffins said of the business, which he took over from his father in 2001. “The store would be where people would come, drop in for a few minutes and stay for nearly an hour.”
Jason said while his father was very opinionated and rarely shied away from sharing it, he also had a heart of gold.
“He knew a lot of people and was liked by a lot of people, but there were people he didn’t like, too,” said Jason, who operates Scoff’s with partner Lloyd Maxwell. “He did a lot more community work than people knew, he didn’t want that notoriety or any credit. He just did it.”
At one time a major collector of hockey memorabilia, Scoffins amazed his friends with the kind of stuff he kept stuffed in duffel bags around the former family home.
“His jersey collection use to be amazing,” said Hayes. “You’d walk around and sidestep hockey bags, open it up and pull out a game-worn (Jean) Beliveau sweater, a (Henri) Richard jersey… It was like the mystery of Oak Island.”
And while the collection had been whittled down over the past dozen years, what his father retained was mostly great memories of being involved in sports, both as a semi-pro baseball player in the late 50s and his involvement as manager in minor sports and owner of the Coquitlam junior B Warriors, which won the Western Canadian title in 1993. He was also among the ownership group that launched the B.C. Hockey League’s Burnaby Bulldogs in 1998.
Born in Saskatchewan, Scoffins grew up as an orphan. He took his surname from the foster parents who offered him a home.
“Scoffins wasn’t his birth name but it was the name he took,” recalled Jason. “An older couple who wanted to adopt him and who kept taking him in were who he called his mom and dad.
“His adopting parents didn’t have a lot but they gave a lot, he used to say.”
Health issues led him to pass the business on to his son. Scoffins’ daughter Kimberly would donate a kidney to him in 2007.
“On the outside he was a rough, gruff kind of person but to those who knew him he was also a very caring person,” said Jason.
Scoffins is survived by his wife of 48 years Verla, daughter Kim, son Jason, daughter-in-law Tisha and two grandchildren.
A celebration of life will be held Nov. 2, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Meadow Gardens Golf Course at 19675 Meadow Gardens Way in Pitt Meadows.
