Gilbert was born in Montreal on July 1, 1941, the son of Alma, a homemaker, and Gabriel Gilbert, a blacksmith.[1] He grew up a fan of the Montreal Canadiens.[2] He played three seasons for the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters of the Ontario Hockey Association from 1957 to 1960.[3] In his final year with the team, Gilbert slipped on some garbage strewn on the ice and fell back into the boards, breaking a vertebra in his back and temporarily paralyzing him.[4][5] Corrective surgery went awry and led to hemorrhaging in his leg, and doctors feared amputation would be necessary, but Gilbert recovered.[6]
Playing career
After finishing his junior career with the Guelph Royals, Gilbert joined the Rangers near the end of the 1960–61 NHL season. He soon became popular with the Rangers' fans, and he rose in prominence as an NHL star. However, it was not without pain. In 1965–66, his career was nearly derailed when he went through a second spinal fusion operation.[7] This surgery was performed by Dr. Kazuo Yanagisawa. Gilbert was out of action for half a season, but he bounced back in 1966–67 and scored 28 goals.[6] On February 24, 1968, he scored four goals in a game against the Montreal Canadiens. The Ratelle-Hadfield-Gilbert line, called the GAG line, proved formidable for years.[6] He played with Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union. He won the Bill Masterton Trophy in 1976 for his perseverance over his back troubles.[8]
At the beginning of the 1977–78 NHL season, Gilbert and Rangers' General ManagerJohn Ferguson got into a contract dispute.[6] He was released by the Rangers on November 23, 1977 after starting the campaign with two goals and seven assists in 19 games.[9] He would retire after the season, his eighteenth in the NHL. His number 7 was retired by the Rangers on October 14, 1979, the first number to be retired by the team.[10]
Post-playing career
After retiring from professional hockey, he became head coach of the American Hockey League New Haven Nighthawks for the 1980-81 season. Gilbert opened his own restaurant, 'Gilbert's,' on Third Avenue near 75th street in Manhattan.[11] He subsequently worked for Fundamental Brokers on Wall Street, assisting the company in opening a branch in his hometown of Montreal. He returned to the Rangers organization in August 1989. There, he acted as director of special projects and community relations representative, as well as president of its alumni association.[11] From 2017 onward, he made upward of 30 appearances a year on behalf of the Garden of Dreams Foundation, an outreach program that works with children in the community.[2]
Personal life
Gilbert married Judith Christy in 1991, in a ceremony conducted by New York mayor David Dinkins.[12] Combined, they had four children together, Holly, Brooke, Chantal and Justin, and seven grandchildren. Chantal and Justin from his first wife, Judith Linton from Crawfordville Florida. Linton was a stewardess for National Airlines at the time.[13] He was one of ten athletes who were featured in American artist Andy Warhol's 1979 Athlete Series of paintings, which featured prominent sports figures from the 1970s. Others in the series include O. J. Simpson, Chris Evert, and Pelé.[14]
Gilbert died in Manhattan on August 19, 2021. He was 80 years old.[13][15]
