Before he represented Canada in hockey at two Olympics, before he won five Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, Randy Gregg was in the spotlight as a baseball player.
It was 1978, and the Edmonton Tigers were in the national championships. Gregg went on a home-run hitting tear (seven in three games), and the Tigers won the Canadian title.
“I got kinda lucky,” he recalls.
He was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, but wasn’t picked for the national team. The reason? Because he wasn’t attending an American university on a baseball scholarship — he was at the University of Alberta, pursuing his dream of becoming a doctor, and was also the captain of the Golden Bears’ hockey team, playing under legendary coach Clare Drake.
Gregg would go on to get his medical degree and a great NHL career. But he never forgot about baseball — and why he felt it’s so important for there to be opportunities for young Canadian players in that sport. That’s why, as the current managing director of the Edmonton Riverhawks, Gregg believes it is so important to give young Canadians the chance to showcase their baseball skills.
The Riverhawks play in the West Coast League, known as a “wood bat” league, where elite collegiate players can ply their trades over the summer months.
“When we first went into the West Coast League, all these teams in Oregon and Washington said ‘Well, where is Edmonton, anyway?’” says Gregg, sitting in the meeting room at Re/Max Field.
“They don’t ask that anymore. They know exactly where Edmonton is and they’re talking about what is going on there, and ‘how can you do this?’ in a community we didn’t even know existed.
“It’s a really important concept that we have. We’re really proud of all the players we have on our team, whether they are American or Canadian. But we love the opportunity of the Canadian kid to come out and play in front of his friends and family in this facility. And, ultimately, if we could have 35 Canadians play for us, we would try to do that.”
But it’s not just about the players — it’s about the fans, as well. Even when he played for the Oilers during their 1980s heyday, Gregg believed that hockey tickets were just too pricey. They’ve climbed even more since then. The majority of seats at Riverhawks games are $20 apiece. He believes that the team has to have a junior hotdog on the concession menu that costs just over three bucks. In an era when going to sporting events is being priced out of many family budgets, he believes that the Riverhawks need to hold the line.
“I’ve got enough money. I don’t need a lot. I’ve got a house that’s paid for, I’m driving a Ford. It’s not like I have to own a condominium in Laguna Beach. And I think our ownership group is similar to that. We need a better community, and that better community means that a young immigrant family can come out and see a baseball game for the first time.”
In 2024, the Riverhawks drew over 120,000 fans to Re/Max field, breaking their own league record.
Gregg’s path was anything but straight and narrow. He grew up in Inglewood, in a 730 square-foot house that was built by his dad. Born in 1956, Gregg was the youngest of six kids.
“We were stacked up one on top of each other. But it showed us that, if you want to do something, you have to work at it.”
That work ethic showed itself in university. He’d be in medical school till 5 p.m. then get to Golden Bears’ practice. There was a time when he’d be on call in surgery on Thursdays, but the team played Fridays and Saturdays. So, he’d assist in the O.R. during the day, then spend Thursday overnight on call. He’d be back in the O.R. helping until Friday at 5. Game time was at 7 p.m., so he’d head home for a mother-made, pre-game meal, take a three-minute power nap and then get to the rink.
“I think I’d die if I did that now,” he laughs.
From there, Gregg went on to play in Japan, after turning down tryout offers from the Atlanta Flames and New York Rangers. And it was in Japan that he got a visit from Oilers’ general manager Glen Sather, who came to “start the conversation” about Gregg playing for his hometown team.
It was the spring of 1983, and Gregg, like the rest of his Oilers teammates, was shaving off his playoff beard. His was red and, by his own admission, truly awful.
The Oilers had just been swept in the Stanley Cup final by the New York Islanders. Despite having the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Paul Coffey on the roster — all shoo-in Hall of Famers — the Oilers were badly outplayed by an Islanders team who won their fourth championship in a row.
“Every team has to endure failure in order to understand success,” he says. “Our failure was in 1983, when a better team beat us four games to nothing. As we were all shaving our beards off, we were looking in the mirror saying, ‘How do we beat that team?’ And there was a pivotal moment where people said ‘I scored 92 goals, but that didn’t do it.’ ‘I looked at getting a good contract, that didn’t do it.’ We realized we needed to work as team. We just had our butts handed to us. And then next season, defence was supported by wingers and centremen coming back into our zone. We became five-men units on the ice.”
And from that loss came what the NHL itself calls the greatest team of the century.
“It’s the same thing with the Riverhawks. If we get just 200 people to a game, we have to ask, how do we change? How can we do better? And that’s another thing I’ve found in medicine — every day I learn something, because every day I meet new people.”
At 68, Gregg is still practicing medicine. He and his wife, Kathy, a former Olympic speed skater (the couple met at the ’80 Olympics), have four kids and 12 grandchildren. They were all in attendance when he was placed on the Oilers’ Hall of Fame in October of 2024 — “some even in diapers.” Every year, the Dr. Randy Gregg Award goes to the Canadian university hockey player who excels not only on the ice, but in the classroom and in the community.
But, Gregg has no plans to relax.
“People say to me, ‘when are you going to retire?’ And I say that I don’t even have a job — I’m a doctor. And, every day, there’s the challenge of seeing a new knee, or a new shoulder. I’ve probably seen them a thousand times, but each time it’s a new person. Maybe it’s an immigrant from Sudan, or maybe it’s a Ukrainian refugee, or maybe it’s a fellow from downtown Edmonton. But as long as you focus on challenges that will make the community better, maybe one patient at a time, maybe one baseball team at a time, maybe one charity at a time, then you get to sleep pretty well at night.
“I don’t want to slow down. My wife would get sick and tired of me if I slowed down.”
And he never wanted to call any other place home.
“Sure Los Angeles is warm, but it’s not Edmonton. Philadelphia might have the Liberty Bell, but it’s not Edmonton. When you see other countries and other communities, it’s a really great way to realize that, sure, it’s 30 below, but that’s why I have a parka. I think Edmonton is a magical city. We don’t have to be in Redondo Beach to have a good life.”
This article appears in the Jan/Feb 2025 issue of Edify
