William Alfred "Bill" "Goldy" Goldsworthy

1944 - 1996  (51 years)

• Name	William Alfred "Bill" "Goldy" Goldsworthy
  Born	24 Aug 1944	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Died	1996	Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, United States   [1]
  Hall of Fame - Waterloo Region	Bef 2012	, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  Interesting	hockey, sports
  Name	Bill Goldsworthy
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-106224
  Buried	Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, United States   [1]
  Person ID	I106224	Generations
  Last Modified	7 Nov 2024

  
  

  Father	William Arthur Peter "Hank" Goldsworthy,   b. 15 Feb 1913, Montreal, Ile De Montreal, Quebec ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Manette Emma Irene Moser,   b. 22 Sep 1915, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 6 Feb 2000, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 84 years)
  Married	11 Jul 1936	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Family ID	F43711	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  William Alfred "Bill" "Goldy" Goldsworthy Oklahoma City Blazers 1966 - Find A Grave

  
  

• Notes

  Professional Hockey Player. Born in Ontario, Canada, he was a right winger and a original member of the Minnesota North Stars. Goldsworthy played for 14 seasons (1964-78), in the NHL with the North Stars, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. He was a five-time NHL All-Star and scored 267 goals with the North Stars, becoming the first NHL player from an expansion team to top 250 goals. Goldsworthy played in 771 career NHL games, scoring 283 goals, with 258 assists for 541 points, added 18 goals and 19 assists in 40 playoff games. In 1992, his number 8 jersey was retired by the North Stars. He died at age 51 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5839/bill-goldsworthy _____________ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Goldsworthy#cite_note-2 _________________ Ex-Nhl Star Goldsworthy Dies Of Aids Former North Star, 51, Had Cited Promiscuity Sat., March 30, 1996 Associated Press They remember "The Goldy Shuffle," his left leg raised and his right arm pumping. They remember the way he could light up the Met Center with his charismatic style. And they remember how Bill Goldsworthy faced up to AIDS, the disease he brought on himself through a promiscuous lifestyle, the disease that killed him Friday at age 51. Goldsworthy, an original member of the Minnesota North Stars and a five-time NHL All-Star, died Friday morning of complications from AIDS. "I grew up in Hastings (Minn.), so I used to go to all the North Stars games growing up," said Dean Talafous, a former North Stars teammate of Goldsworthy and now coach at Wisconsin-River Falls. "He was one of my favorite players because he would just electrify the crowd with his rushes and his shot and his 'Goldy Shuffle.' He was flamboyant. He had charisma. He had a personality on the ice that everyone enjoyed watching." A right wing, Goldsworthy played 14 seasons in the NHL with the North Stars, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. He was diagnosed with AIDS in November 1994, and told the Saint Paul Pioneer Press in February 1995 that his health problems stemmed from drinking and promiscuity. "There's a stigma that comes with AIDS that makes you think it's something that only happens in the homosexual community and to drug abusers who use dirty needles," Goldsworthy said. "It's more than that." Goldsworthy, a native of Kitchener, Ontario, is survived by a daughter, 27-year-old Tammy Lynn, and 24-year-old son William Sean Goldsworthy. Lou Nanne, a former coach and general manager of the North Stars, played with Goldsworthy for 10 seasons. He visited his good friend in the hospital Wednesday night, and said Goldsworthy had handled the disease well. "He actually was very philosophical about it," Nanne said. "He wasn't in any way bitter or remorseful. He was very courageous." Goldsworthy was coaching the San Antonio Iguanas of the Central Hockey League when he was hospitalized Nov. 11, 1994. He had been feeling ill for two months, and was fighting pneumonia when blood clots moved from his legs to his lungs. "There was a period of three to five years after my divorce (1980) when I was really into the bottle and I wasn't careful about my sexual relationships," Goldsworthy said. Goldsworthy's NHL career began with the Bruins in 1964. He played with the North Stars from their expansion season of 1967 until 1977, and ended his career with the Rangers in 1978. Goldsworthy scored 267 goals with the North Stars. His No. 8 jersey was retired by the North Stars in 1992, just more than a year before the team moved to Dallas. Ex-Nhl Star Goldsworthy Dies Of Aids Former North Star, 51, Had Cited Promiscuity (2022). Available at: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1996/mar/30/ex-nhl-star-goldsworthy-dies-of-aids-former-north/ (Accessed: 27 December 2022). ___________________ EX-NORTH STAR HAS AIDS Bill Goldsworthy, one of the original Minnesota North Stars, has AIDS, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. "As athletes, we tend to think of ourselves as invincible," Goldsworthy said. "We fight through the tough times and we begin to think we can handle anything that comes our way. This is different. This isn't a broken arm." Goldsworthy, 50, told the newspaper his health problems stemmed from drinking and promiscuity. The story suggested he contracted AIDS through heterosexual intercourse. He is divorced and has two children. "There's a stigma that comes with AIDS that makes you think it's something that only happens in the homosexual community and to drug abusers who use dirty needles," he said. "It's more than that." The Pioneer Press said Goldsworthy learned of his condition in November while in a hospital in Memphis, where blood clots that moved from his leg to his lungs set him on a month-long fight with pneumonia. Bill Goldsworthy, one of the original Minnesota North Stars, has AIDS, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. "As athletes, we tend to think of ourselves as invincible," Goldsworthy said. "We fight through the tough times and we begin to think we can handle anything that comes our way. This is different. This isn't a broken arm." Goldsworthy, 50, told the newspaper his health problems stemmed from drinking and promiscuity. The story suggested he contracted AIDS through heterosexual intercourse. He is divorced and has two children. "There's a stigma that comes with AIDS that makes you think it's something that only happens in the homosexual community and to drug abusers who use dirty needles," he said. "It's more than that." The Pioneer Press said Goldsworthy learned of his condition in November while in a hospital in Memphis, where blood clots that moved from his leg to his lungs set him on a month-long fight with pneumonia. "I was taken to the hospital on Friday, and when the doctor came into my room on Monday I expected him to talk to me about blood clots and how we were going to take care of that problem," Goldsworthy said. "I felt awful, but I found out I could feel worse. Instead of talking about blood clots, he told me I had AIDS." Goldsworthy played with the North Stars from their first season in 1967 until 1977. He also played with the Bruins and Rangers. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1995/02/13/ex-north-star-has-aids/c186e50f-7255-434c-9315-fccc37212ca6/ _________________ Ex-North Star: This Is Different -- Goldsworthy Diagnosed With Aids Feb 13, 1995 Gary Olson Knight-Ridder Newspapers ST. PAUL, Minn. - One of the hardest things to admit, Bill Goldsworthy says, is that he has met an opponent he can't handle by himself. Goldsworthy, an original member of the Minnesota North Stars and the team's first star, has AIDS. "As athletes, we tend to think of ourselves as invincible," Goldsworthy, 50, said last week while talking publicly about his diagnosis for the first time. "We fight through the tough times and we begin to think we can handle anything that comes our way. "This is different. This isn't a broken arm." Goldsworthy received the news in November while in the intensive care unit of Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., where blood clots that moved from a leg to his lungs began a month-long fight with pneumonia. "I was taken to the hospital on Friday, and when the doctor came into my room on Monday I expected him to talk to me about blood clots and how we were going to take care of that problem," Goldsworthy said. "I felt awful, but I found out I could feel worse. Instead of talking about blood clots, he told me I had the HIV virus, that I had AIDS. "I said, `Whoa! You've got the wrong guy. You've gotta be kidding. There must be a mistake.' "There was no mistake." Looking back, Goldsworthy says, "I don't think I'm different from a lot of people. I'd heard the stories about AIDS, I'd seen the programs on TV and read a few articles about it. But until you hear that diagnosis, it doesn't really hit how serious it is. "And there's a stigma that comes with AIDS that makes you think it's something that only happens in the homosexual community and to drug abusers who use dirty needles. It's more than that." Goldsworthy was the coach of the San Antonio Iguanas of the Central Hockey League when he was hospitalized Nov. 11. His T-cell count - measuring lymphocytes that are part of the body's defense mechanism - was at 150 instead of the standard 1,000 to 2,000. Barely into his hospital stay, Goldsworthy was fired as coach of the Iguanas, a team that until recently was reluctant to pay the rest of his contract. "He was absolutely shocked when I told him what we'd found. He was blown away," said Dr. Emmel Golden, the Memphis doctor who broke the news. "I'm convinced he had no idea." Goldsworthy and his former wife, June, have been divorced for nearly 15 years. They have two children: Tammy, 26, and Sean, 23. Goldsworthy has been involved in a relationship for years but has never remarried. All of the people closest to him have tested negative for the HIV virus. "There was a period of three to five years after my divorce when I was really into the bottle and I wasn't careful about my sexual relationships," Goldsworthy said. "And there were a few times when I was a scout for San Jose (the NHL San Jose Sharks), after I started to drink again, that I wasn't as careful about sex as I should have been." Goldsworthy played with the Stars from 1967 to '77 during a 14-year NHL career that began with the Boston Bruins in '64 and ended with the Rangers in '78. Goldsworthy knows he's dying. "It's something I have to accept," he said. "It's always on your mind: You have to be so careful that you don't get real sick. "I can live a good life; I can't live a long life. "It's a different feeling after someone tells you that you're not going to be alive for long. Every day when I wake up, I know I have one less day to live." Goldsworthy, who has quit drinking, knows no other way except to fight. "My first thought was, `Why me?' " Goldsworthy said. "When the doctors told us, the air went out of the room," Sean Goldsworthy said, remembering the meeting in Memphis with his father and sister. "It took a while for me to get my bearings, but then I told him it wouldn't change our relationship. And it hasn't." "Sean and I looked at each other, and it got really warm in that room," Tammy said. "I remember thinking, `He's my dad, and he won't have to be alone.' "Then I started to think about things that I hadn't thought about for a long time," Tammy said. "I remember him dancing with me at home and coming to my grade school with a broken nose and a black eye. I didn't think anything of it because I thought everybody's dad got broken noses and black eyes." Sean is in San Antonio - he plays for the Iguanas. Tammy is home in the Twin Cities, where her dad struggles to find peace in the community he loves so much. "I went to the Moose game earlier this week," Goldsworthy said. "Each time I talked with someone, I remember wondering if they knew I had AIDS and what they would think of me if they did. "It's no way to live." Ex-North Star: This Is Different -- Goldsworthy Diagnosed With Aids | The Seattle Times (1995). Available at: https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19950213&slug=2104765 (Accessed: 27 December 2022).

  
  

• Sources

  [S3231] Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5839. [S220] Waterloo Region Hall of Fame Waterloo Region Hall of Fame.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 24 Aug 1944 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - 1996 - Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, United States Hall of Fame - Waterloo Region - Bef 2012 - , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, United States  = Link to Google Earth