Position Centre/Left Wing Role Ice hockey player Played for Detroit Red Wings Name Frank Sheppard Weight 71 kg | Playing career Height 1.68 m Shot Left Died 1953, Vancouver, Canada | |
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Born October 5, 1905
Montreal, QC, CAN ( 1905-10-05 ) | ||
Joseph Francis Xavier Shepard (October 5, 1905 – February 20, 1996) was a professional ice hockey player who played eight games in the National Hockey League. Born in Montreal, Quebec, he played with the Detroit Cougars (later known as the Red Wings). He was the younger brother of Johnny Sheppard. The obituary in the Vancouver Sun issue date February 22, 1996 states he was born on October 5, 1905, not October 19, 1905.
After his hockey career, Shepard worked as a real estate agent, however soon after the death of his wife in 1953, he quit his job and became homeless and addicted to alcohol, "bounc[ing] in and out of beer parlours and construction camps". In 1966, he was arrested and given a suspended sentence for begging on the streets of Vancouver. One Shepard's sons, James Frank (Jim) Shepard (born 1939) is the former chief executive officer of machinery company Finning, and forestry product company Canfor. He was also an economic advisor to British Columbia Premiers Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark.