He was able to hide his illiteracy from all but a few people by asking secretaries and media relations people to write letters for him, claiming his English wasn't good enough.But after the small chuckle and the shock of the news has worn off, Former Coach Demers has more to tell in a book published with the name Jacques Demers: En Toutes Lettres [All Spelled Out].
Demers recalls his tragic life story of how he and his mother were physically abused when he was young. He credits this as the catalyst to his now current problem. He says that anxiety of what was going around him prevented him from getting an education.
Since then, the former NHL coach of the Canadiens, Lightning, Blues, and a few others had this uplifting comment on what he feels like today.
"I have no problem saying what I wanted to say. That's what I needed," he said. "I've been carrying this all my life. I succeeded, and I'm telling people 'you're capable of doing something in your life even if you have some big handicaps.' "Currently, Demers has been working as an analyst for the French-Canadian network RDS the past 4 years.
[Via: USA Today]
3 comments:
"Demers Admits He Doesn't Read My Website".... classic!
Great line... And good for Jacques! Demers is a good guy, was always accesable to the fans when he was in Detroit. I hope his book sells well!
Jacques Demers is a good man and it took guts to come right out and say that he couldn't read or write. I look forward to reading his book which I believe has only been published in french, however, it should be a good read. I do get the odd french TV broadcasts of the Habs games and he is one of the analysts. Does a great job too.
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