Jim Craig, Hero Of Lake Placid, Is Happy Away From Hockey

NEW YORK - The flag has been put away, and so have the pads and stick and blocker. Jim Craig, the biggest Lake Placid hero of all, is in sales now, and after some rough going and an NHL career that never really got untracked, is living the work-a-day life.

``I'm very happy getting to be more of a normal person,'' Craig said. ``I have a wife (Sharlene) and a little boy (James). I just want to go to work and go home, do the normal deal.'' His attorney, Bob Woolf, calls Craig ``the happiest guy in America.''

Craig spoke by phone from Brockton, Mass., where he works as New England accounts manager, selling ad space for a newspaper insert outfit. The 10th anniversary of the U.S. hockey gold has brought an avalanche of calls. He said, ``It's a terrific memory and it's terrific that people remember it, and I'm happy for it. But as an individual, you have to grow past it and get on with your life.''

Craig is remembered for making a slew of saves against the Soviets and Finns, but even more for skating to the boards, flag draped around him, scanning the crowd for his father. He found him.

``I think back to how it rejuvenated my father's life, since my mother passed away (in 1978),'' Craig said. ``It was a terrific boost for him, and that thrilled me.'' He still gets a fistful of mail each month, much of it addressed to his father. Donald Craig died two years ago.

Gifted, heroic and handsome, Craig joined the Atlanta Flames

(now Calgary) four days after the Games, an adoring nation expecting instant NHL greatness, the Flames looking for a box-office bonanza. The Omni was sold out and the Flames won in Craig's debut, but his highlights were few thereafter.

``I was still an unproven, untested NHL player, and it was a very uncomfortable thing,'' Craig said. ``I was supposed to be as good as a lot of stars in that league, and it put a lot of undue pressure on me.''

The glare of attention was unrelenting. Demands on his time were, too, and Craig, who says the NHL was never his singular goal in life, got caught up in a hard, sudden whirl of celebrity. He had a difficult time focusing on the task at hand, stopping pucks.

Craig, a native of suburban Boston, was traded to the Bruins, but the storybook ending hardly materialized. Things turned even worse when he was involved in a fatal car accident and faced criminal charges, though he was later cleared. After two brief minor-league stints and three games with the North Stars, his NHL career ended in 1984 at age 26, with a record of 11-10-7 and a 3.78 GPA.

Mike Eruzione, captain of the Lake Placid team, says he has ``no doubt in my mind'' Craig could've been a solid NHL goaltender. ``I can't get in Jim's head, but one of the great skills he had was his concentration, and he lost that after the Games,'' Eruzione said.

Said Woolf, ``People wanted him to be a big star, play for the Bruins, but these were things he didn't necessarily want. It was a traumatic experience for him, having people put standards on the way you should live, and what you should be excited to do.''

Jim Craig, accounts manager, said there are no regrets. He works. He goes home to his family. He says life is ``absolutely terrific.''

``As far as hockey goes, I got as much out of it as I possibly could've, and I enjoyed every minute of it. You do the best you can, and I feel very comfortable with what I did.''