Longtime Seattle Totems great\u00a0and Mill Creek resident\u00a0\u201cJumbo\u2019\u00a0Jim\u00a0Powers\u00a0was best remembered for the company he kept on and off the ice during the\u00a0star-studded\u00a0heyday of minor professional hockey in this city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And one of those who spent years alongside Powers, who died Thursday morning\u00a0of natural causes\u00a0at age 89, was his opposite winger and future NHL player Bob Barlow. With Barlow on left wing, legendary Totems captain Guyle Fielder at center and\u00a0left wing\u00a0Powers\u00a0shifting to the right side when needed, the\u00a0forward\u00a0trio sent shivers through opposing defenders\u00a0in the minor\u00a0pro\u00a0Western\u00a0Hockey League for three seasons in the early 1960s.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just as exciting off the ice during those years with the Space Needle being built and the Monorail \u2013 it was a very exciting time for the city of Seattle,\u201d said Barlow, 91, from his home in British Columbia. \u201cWe had capacity crowds in the rink and they treated us well. And as a team, we played very well for those crowds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJimmy, Guyle and I had a great line together,\u00a0and after the game,\u00a0we\u2019d go out and have a few pops together, a few beers,\u201d Barlow said. \u201cBecause when\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0playing hockey,\u00a0you get\u00a0really\u00a0thirsty. And then\u00a0we\u2019d\u00a0shoot the bull and have a lot of fun together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Powers played\u00a0737 regular season games over 11 WHL seasons from 1957-1970,\u00a0mostly\u00a0with the Totems\u00a0but\u00a0also\u00a0the pre-NHL Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Blades. He scored 248 goals and added 223 assists\u00a0for 471 points,\u00a0while adding another six goals and seven assists in 18 games with the American Hockey League Providence Reds in 1967-68.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barlow, who\u00a0left the Totems after the 1964-65 season for other WHL teams,\u00a0became the oldest rookie in NHL history at age 34 with the Minnesota North Stars in 1969\u00a0\u2013 famously scoring his first goal on future Hall of Famer Bernie Parent a record six seconds into his debut NHL shift. He remembered Powers as a man of few words when the\u00a0linemates\u00a0hung out\u00a0off-ice\u00a0together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJimmy was very\u00a0quiet,\u00a0he didn\u2019t talk much,\u201d Barlow said. \u201cBut when he talked, we listened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 6-foot, 190-pound Powers, a native of Claresholm, Alberta,\u00a0let his\u00a0physical play and\u00a0on-ice numbers do most of his talking. He put up 256 points during his most productive five-year stretch with the team, including a career\u00a0high\u00a036 goals in the 1962-63 regular season and 12 more goals in 17 playoff games that campaign\u00a0on a line with Barlow and Fielder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had the greatest line in the Western Hockey League,\u201d Barlow said.\u00a0\u201cThe three of us\u00a0would combine\u00a0together and not many teams could stop us\u00a0\u2013 whether we\u2019d be passing the puck or scoring goals,\u201d Barlow said. \u201cIf I was scoring goals, it would be because of Jimmy and Guyle getting me the puck in front of the net.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Powers would cap that five-year stretch by winning\u00a0his and\u00a0the\u00a0city\u2019s second WHL championship alongside Fielder in 1967.\u00a0He scored 28 goals that season and added two more in the playoffs, his biggest being a tying\u00a0marker\u00a0in a pivotal Game 4 of the semifinals against the California Seals that enabled Seattle to win in overtime and go up 3-1 in a series they eventually clinched in six.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After an ensuing season in the\u00a0AHL\u00a0\u2013 akin to the WHL in stature at the time \u2013 Powers returned for two final Totems seasons from 1968 to 1970. During that time,\u00a0he made extra money signing autographs in a Lynnwood motorcycle shop and eventually started selling bikes for them in the offseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Upon retiring from hockey in 1970, he decided to open his own motorcycle shop, which his two sons took over in 2008 and still\u00a0operate\u00a0as Lynnwood\u00a0Motoplex\u00a0\u2013 a powersports and marine business —\u00a0today.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the only job I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d his son, Garret, 58, said. \u201cI\u2019ve\u00a0been\u00a0there\u00a040-plus\u00a0years\u00a0and my brother has been there for almost 50 years. So,\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0what kept my dad in Seattle and that Mill Creek area \u2013 it was our business.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Besides Garret and\u00a0his other son, Jim Jr., Powers left behind two daughters, Penny Cannon and Janice Weber, nine grandchildren\u00a0and three great grandchildren. His\u00a0wife of 62 years, Marie, died in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Garret Powers said his\u00a0own\u00a0son got involved in youth hockey in the Seattle area and that his teams would often have his\u00a0granddad\u00a0help out\u00a0and speak to the players to offer encouragement and playing tips. Jim Powers spent many years hanging around local\u00a0rinks\u00a0throughout the greater region, from Everett youth hockey to Sno King, to the Seattle Jr. Totems,\u00a0while his grandson played.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt got to the point where he was too old to\u00a0be on skates,\u201d\u00a0Garret Powers said. \u201cBut he was always there to sponsor teams, gift money.\u00a0He was just\u00a0kind of a\u00a0staple around youth hockey here. Everyone knew him.\u00a0He was never on an official board or staff or anything like that. He was just very well known in my son\u2019s era of hockey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Powers and Fielder also remained close friends for decades following their respective hockey retirements. When Fielder\u00a0traveled between B.C. and Seattle\u00a0in 2017\u00a0promoting a biography about his\u00a0hockey career, Powers was right there alongside him just as\u00a0they\u2019d\u00a0been\u00a0on the ice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that Guyle and him were best friends forever,\u201d his son said. \u201cI remember them\u00a0bantering until the\u00a0last days.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fielder died at age 95 in January. Powers, his health also declining in recent years,\u00a0attended his\u00a0memorial\u00a0service\u00a0in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prior to Barlow\u00a0joining the Totems, Powers and Fielder had played on a line alongside longtime hockey fixture Tommy McVie\u00a0when the team captured its first WHL championship in 1959.\u00a0McVie\u00a0had joined the duo\u00a0for Fielder\u2019s book tour nine years ago, briefly reuniting\u00a0with\u00a0the original linemates once more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McVie\u00a0died at age 89 in January 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Powers\u2019 son said his dad \u201cloved being around the guys and the camaraderie\u201d\u00a0and viewed them\u00a0almost like\u00a0his family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThere were a lot of fond memories for him growing up\u00a0with them,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, hockey was his life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Powers had lost his own father at age 8 and had to grow up\u00a0quickly.\u00a0He quit school in seventh grade and lied about his age so he could head off to work and send money back to his mother.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
He and Fielder would speak two or three times a week by telephone.\u00a0When Fielder, a notoriously fearful flier, drove up to Seattle\u00a0from his Arizona home\u00a0for a rare visit\u00a0in\u00a02024 to be\u00a0given the Royal Brougham Sports Legend Award at the 89th\u00a0annual Sports Star of the Year\u00a0Awards, Powers accompanied him to an ensuing Kraken game that weekend.\u00a0Powers had also been there\u00a0in July 2019\u00a0when Fielder\u00a0attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for a\u00a0commemorative locker stall built\u00a0in his honor\u00a0by NHL Seattle \u2013 predecessor to the Kraken \u2013 at the team\u2019s season ticket preview center in Lower Queen Anne.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, when Fielder died, a piece of Powers went with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know he missed his\u00a0relationships,\u201d his son said. \u201cThere was a core group of four or five of them that would stay in touch.\u00a0After Guyle passed he was saying, \u2018Looks like I\u2019m the only one left.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prior to Fielder\u2019s death, he had\u00a0again driven up to\u00a0Seattle\u00a0and this time was there\u00a0to see Powers honored\u00a0last year\u00a0with induction into the\u00a0Washington State Motorcycle Hall of Fame\u00a0\u2013 the very first dealer and principal owner to receive the honor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, he had two different professions,\u201d his son said. \u201cAnd he made a great name for himself in both.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are plans for a memorial in coming weeks at the motorcycle shop that kept Powers,\u00a0who would have turned 90 next month,\u00a0tied to his adopted hockey hometown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For now, those who saw him ply his trade on the ice will remember Powers as the quiet gentleman\u00a0who did\u00a0his\u00a0talking with his stick, sometimes his muscle and always with his presence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say you\u2019re only as good as the guys you play with,\u201d former linemate Barlow said. \u201cAnd I was lucky enough to play with two of the greatest. Between Jimmy and Guyle, they had a way of making you look good.\u00a0I\u2019ll\u00a0never forget them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Longtime Seattle Totems great\u00a0and Mill Creek resident\u00a0\u201cJumbo\u2019\u00a0Jim\u00a0Powers\u00a0was best remembered for the company he kept on and off the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-857250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}