Column: Rocky Wirtz changed the Chicago Blackhawks organization almost overnight. ‘You can say he saved it.’

There was a surreal moment early in Rocky Wirtz’s tenure as Chicago Blackhawks chairman when fans began chanting his name at the United Center.

It happened on Oct. 6, 2007, at the Hawks home opener. The team had a moment of silence for Rocky’s father, Bill Wirtz, who had died 10 days earlier. Many Hawks fans even booed.

But when Rocky was announced, the crowd cheered and chanted like it had found its savior.

“‘Roc-ky, Roc-ky,’” former Hawks broadcaster Pat Foley recalled Tuesday. “That really happened. You think about the name ‘Wirtz’ and what it had meant in Chicago and the way this guy turned it completely around. It was a complete 180. They were chanting his name, lovingly.

“To say he revitalized the franchise probably doesn’t do him justice. You can say he saved it.”

Wirtz, who died Tuesday at age 70, took over after the death of his father, whose nickname was “Dollar Bill” because of his reluctance to part with money to improve the team.

Unlike his father, Rocky was ready to make changes immediately, relying on his gut to make the moves he thought Hawks fans wanted.

A natural salesman, Wirtz was ready to do his thing when the position was thrust upon him.

“It’s just like liquor,” Wirtz told the Tribune in 2007. “It’s account by account, drink by drink. The Hawks had a selling problem.”

Wirtz helped turn the Hawks into one of the great success stories in Chicago sports history, winning three Stanley Cups and selling out the United Center year after year.

“Rocky took over control of the Blackhawks in 2007 and almost immediately restored the passion and following of this storied Original Six franchise,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “Rocky’s focus on connecting with the club’s fans and improving the team’s performance on the ice rekindled Chicago fans’ love affair with their hockey team and built a modern dynasty — the Blackhawks won Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

“On a personal level, Rocky was a dear friend whose counsel I consistently sought. He was a highly respected member of the Executive Committee of the League’s Board of Governors whose wisdom and camaraderie were valued by his fellow owners.”

Foley said when Wirtz took over, “the Hawks were irrelevant in Chicago,” which might be an understatement. Bill Wirtz was so old-school he never considered putting home games on TV, like his father, Arthur Wirtz, before him.

Both believed it would hurt ticket sales. When Rocky took over the $1.3 billion Wirtz Corporation in a surprise move, he told the Tribune: “I’ll look at everything. I’ll treat this like any new acquisition. We’re cleaning the slate.”

And that’s exactly what he did.

“In short order he changed everything,” Foley said. “If it wasn’t the first call, the second call Rocky made was, ‘How do we get the home games on TV?’ He put them on immediately. He knew it was the right thing to do.”

Wirtz also rehired Foley, the popular play-by-play man who had been fired for reasons that had nothing to do with performance. The Hawks aired only a half-dozen home games the first season, but by 2008-09 every home game was televised and the team’s popularity took off.

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Wirtz also stood out as an owner who thought about the little people in the organization. During the early days of the pandemic in 2020, he and Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who co-owned the United Center, announced a plan to to pay about 1,200 of the arena’s workers for the remainder of the NHL and NBA seasons.

Bureaucracy was holding things up, so Wirtz and Reinsdorf decided just to do it together.

“He said, ‘How many games do we have left?’” Wirtz told me. “I said, ‘You have seven, we have seven, so 14 games.’ Jerry said, ‘That comes to about $3.5 million. Let’s pay our United Center employees.’ That’s all it took. ... We just think it was the right thing to do.”

“We weren’t doing it to get patted on the back. It was just the right thing to do. With all due respect, Jerry and I aren’t going to miss a paycheck. People have mortgages and families to feed.”

In a statement Tuesday night, Reinsdorf said: “Everyone liked Rocky. He was smart, passionate, generous, personable and friendly. He cared deeply about the Blackhawks, the people who worked for the team and at the United Center, Blackhawks fans and the city of Chicago.”

Wirtz was accountable and friendly to Hawks fans and often sat in the seats behind one of the goals during home games, kibitzing with anyone who cared to talk.

“Approachable is the perfect word,” Foley said. “He was all of that. He was a very personable guy, had a good sense of hunor. People knew where to find him. We all knew where he sat, and he was agreeable to talk to people. He was a gregarious guy.”