CLINTON TOWNSHIP, MI -- It’s heating up in Clinton Township with everyone getting excited about the ninth annual Clinton Township Gratiot Cruise. And this year is sure to be special with legendary John Burnosky leading the cruise as Grand Marshal. As part of his 100th birthday celebration “Mr. B” is thrilled to be Grand Marshal and looks forward to supporting the cruise on Gratiot Avenue.

Mr. B, as he is known in town, can be seen at Bruno’s on Gratiot near 15 Mile sharpening skates for local hockey players of all ages. This past season, he sharpened blades for Tim Thomas, Stanley Cup winner and goalie for the Boston Bruins.

Burnosky was born in Winnipeg, Canada in 1911 and began playing sports at an early age. Although he excelled in many sports, the sport that made him famous was hockey, of course, and he began skating at age seven on the river. With no such thing as indoor rinks he managed to skate in the cold on the city league from age 14 to 18. He came to America in 1933 when he received a telegram asking to tryout for the Red Wings Farm team. For ten years he played on the farm team skating with names like Howe, Sawchuck and Lindstrom. The leaque was made up of eight Canadian teams and only one US team, playing at Olympia on Monday nights for one of the two games played. He was paid $5 a game plus traveling expenses. He never made it to the official Red Wing team due to his size, although he was nicknamed Rabbit because he was very fast.

Duing his hockey career, which just ended in 2009, he earned many titles including, most durable ice hockey player in the Guinness Book of World Records. His team - age 40/50/60+ from Bruno’s Dive Shop won the silver medal at the 2002 Senior Olympic Hockey Championships in Lake Placid New York and later went on to win the gold medal in Japan in 2004.

He married his wife Lenoa (Lee) in 1935 and had five children, Gerald 70 (Bruno), Sharon 68, Johnny 64, Ricky 63, and Kenny 52. His wife, who died in 2005, was always watching him play hockey or sitting with him watching hockey. Today he has five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren which includes four generations of hockey players. Mr B lived in several homes during his first 25 years in the Detroit area one of which was demolished for the I-94 expressway. His family life was centered around his five children and playing sports. He built an ice rink every winter in the backyard of his home on Balfour so he could pass on his hockey skills to his kids and the neighborhood kids. This is where he began sharpening skates on an ordinary grinding wheel. Eventually his son Bruno opened Bruno’s Dive and Hockey Shop on Gratiot in 1979 where Mr. B sharpens 200 plus skates a week during hockey season.

He is still involved with his family and going to his grand kid’s sporting activities and still giving advice. His time spent cruising was on the ice or the streets of Detroit going from one rink to another. At one of his recent birthday parties it took three fireman to blow out his 100 candles. Mr. B will be at the Clinton Township Gratiot Cruise and will ride in the parade as Grand Marshal at noon August 7, 2011. We bet he will be the oldest one there!

The Clinton Township Gratiot Cruise will take place August 7, 2011 from noon to 6 p.m. For more information on the cruise, including sponsorship packages, midway information, cruise car show registration and other cruising event details visit the Clinton Township Gratiot Cruise website -www.ctgratiotcruise.com. or contact Communications Director Tracey Moro -586.212.1673. Get Revved Up!

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