Emile Percival Francis (September 13, 1926 – February 19, 2022), nicknamed "The Cat", was a Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and general manager in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Chicago Black Hawks and New York Rangers from 1946 to 1952. After playing minor league hockey until 1960, he became the Rangers assistant general manager in 1962 and later general manager of the Rangers, St. Louis Blues and Hartford Whalers from 1964 to 1989. Francis led the Rangers to nine consecutive playoffs appearances (1967-75), but could not help deliver a Stanley Cup championship in five decades as a player, coach and executive. Early life Francis was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, on September 13, 1926. He was raised by his mother, Yvonne Francis, after his father died when he was eight years old. One of his uncles taught him how to play ice hockey. Francis enlisted in the Canadian military when he was 16, and enrolled in non-commissioned officers' school, with the option to attend the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. However as the Second World War just ended he decided to return to hockey, and went to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan instead. Francis also played baseball as a youth, and would manage a team in North Battleford. He later recalled he accepted the position as he felt it "would give [him] more experience as far as handling people went, and all that." Playing career Francis began his professional career in 1943–44 with the Philadelphia Falcons of the Eastern Hockey League. He later acquired his nickname "the Cat" while playing for the Moose Jaw Canucks of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League during the 1945–46 season, when a sportswriter described him as "quick as a cat". During the autumn of 1946, he was given an invitation to participate in the training camp of the Chicago Black Hawks – the sponsor club of the Canucks – held in Regina. In the middle of the 1946–47 season, he was called up to play in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Black Hawks. He led the league in losses (30) and goals against (183) the following year. He ultimately played 73 games with the franchise over those two seasons. His unique use of a catching mitt based upon the design of a baseball first baseman's glove drew the attention of league officials. Francis argued that the popular gloves