Ace of `Bailey-baisse'

When Garnet Bailey would come to scout a game in Worcester, Mass., he would announce himself by saying, "table for two, please" as a tribute to the legendary meals served when the IceCats were at home.

That is how Bill Ballou, a hockey writer for The Worcester Telegram and Gazette, remembers Mr. Bailey, adding that he was "a pretty aggressive player on the ice, but a sweetheart off the ice."

Mr. Bailey, 53, known as Ace, played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League, and was a scout for 20 years, the last seven as director of pro scouting for the Los Angeles Kings. The team's general manager, Dave Taylor, said Mr. Bailey had a gift for measuring the intangibles that a player could "bring to the table."

Food mattered at home in Lynnfield, Mass., too, according to his sister-in-law, Barbara Pothier. For his wife, Kathy, his son, Todd, and friends, he would cook a dish called "Bailey-baisse, with "every kind of meat you could think of ‹ tenderloin tips, chicken, pork chops, sausages," Sautéed, then baked with onions and tomatoes, Ms. Pothier said, "it was fall-off-the-bone delicious."

Mr. Bailey took a Los Angeles flight, United 175, from Boston on Sept. 11. It struck the World Trade Center.
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on November 25, 2001.


Of Lynnfield, September 11, Garnet "Ace". Loving husband of Katherine (Pothier) Bailey and devoted father of son Todd (23), both of LynnfieId. A veteran of 11 NHL seasons as a player. Bailey broke-in with the Boston Bruins during the 1968-69 season and spent five years with the club. While with the Bruins, he was a member of Stanley Cup championship teams in 1969-70 and 1971-72. Bailey also spent two seasons each with the Detroit Red Wings and the St. Louis Blues, and three years with the Washington Capitals. Bailey moved to the World Hockey Association for the 1978-79 season and joined the Edmonton Oilers where he was a line mate of teenage phenomenon Wayne Gretzky. When Bailey's playing career ended following the 1979-80 season, he turned to coaching, with one-year stints with Edmonton's Central Hockey League affiliates in Houston (1979-80) and Wichita (1980-81). In 1982 he became a scout for the Edmonton Oilers where he spent 13 seasons, during which Edmonton won five Stanley Cups. In 1994 he joined the LA Kings, where he was currently the Director of Pro Scouting. Ace Bailey has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success, a success that includes seven Stanley Cup rings, a reputation for enormous generosity; a fierce protectiveness of all those he loved and an ability to light-up a room and the lives of all those who know him. Ace's personality was larger than life. Mr. Bailey was born in Lloydminister, Saskatchewan. Besides his wife and son, he leaves three sisters and an extensive Pothier family on his wife's side, including twenty nieces and nephews and countless dear friends. The memorial service will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to The (Cam) Neely Foundation, 30 Winter St., 2nd Floor, Boston, MA, 02108.