Ask Kerry Fraser what it felt like to retire, and he won’t just give you an emotion. He’ll be able to recall the time and place of his decision, and as he’s telling you about it, he’ll probably be replaying the event in his head like a movie.

Kerry will be the first to admit that he has great memory recall. He considers it a gift he was given that aided him both in his career and in the writing of his book, The Final Call. 

“If I go back in the archive of my mind and I look at a play, I not only see the play like a video replay, I automatically can recall the emotion of the event,” Kerry explains. As a result, his book is filled with detailed stories aimed to give people “a different perspective” of the game he loves so much. 

“His memory is pretty awesome,” Jessica Fraser, one of Kerry’s children (his third oldest out of seven), says. “He doesn’t forget a thing.” Jessica can also vouch for the emotion behind her father’s stories. “I’ve never read a book in which I can hear the tone,” she says. “While reading it, I feel like he’s reading it to me. I hear everything in his voice.” 

For Kerry, hockey isn’t just his job—it’s a huge part of his life. “Growing up in Canada, I always wanted to be, like most of the youth of my time, an NHL hockey player,” he says. “And my limitations were size and ability.”

Nonetheless, Kerry played and made it all the way to the Junior A level. When he found himself undrafted at the end of the 1972 season, a family friend recommended he try his hand at officiating. After a quick stint in referee school, Kerry was scouted. He was observed by a hockey hall of fame referee, and shortly after, received an invite to NHL training camp. That same year, he was placed in the American League, and in 1980, he was signed to an NHL contract. 

Over the course of his career, Kerry can recall countless highs and lows, many of which fans can read about in his book. There was his first game, which was anything but uneventful.  

“I was very … inexperienced at that level,” Kerry recalls. The NHL had a new rule in effect that season that stated any players who dropped their gloves during a fight they were not the main combatants in, would receive a 10-minute misconduct penalty. Early in the first period, there were two fights, and many of the players instinctively dropped their gloves. “I had them sitting in almost the first row of the seats, the penalty box was so full,” Kerry says. “Fans expressed displeasure with the young referee … that was my induction into the NHL.”

Also in the book is the story of the Monday Night Miracle, involving the St. Louis Blues and the Calgary Flames. What fans will recall is a miraculous third-period comeback by the Blues, who were down by three goals. The Blues tied up the game and ended up winning in overtime, causing the series to go to game 7. What fans don’t know is that after the second period, Kerry was grabbed by two police officers who informed him that someone within the arena had called in a death threat on him.

“People who are still talking about the Monday Night Miracle in St. Louis had no idea what transpired under the stands that night,” Kerry says of his having to make the decision whether or not to return to the game.  “In my mind, there was no question. I was going out.” 

As it turns out, Kerry wasn’t the only one who had to tolerate the wrath of fans who didn’t agree with his decisions or calls. “I grew up hearing everything, with my dad being called pretty much everything under the sun,” Jessica says. “It’s either one or the other, there’s no in-between. It’s either people saying really horrible things or asking for his autograph.” 

It’s something Kerry had to adjust to.  He recalls numerous instances when he went somewhere after a game and was greeted by whispers and scowls. Kerry made a decision to hold his head high, introduce himself, and answer any questions people may have had.  

“What I typically found was that once I answered a question pertinent to the game … it ultimately led to [people] wanting to know what it’s like down there and what happens on the other side of the glass,” Kerry says. “The writing of the book is able to bring them to my arena, my perspective.”  

While being admired may sometimes be a perk of the job, Kerry understands that it is often hard to come by. “Nobody comes [to a game] to watch a referee,” he says. “[Referees] are never credited with a win, but are often credited with a loss … my objective as a referee was to be the very best I could be and to have a positive effect on the game.” He knows being a referee isn’t about winning a popularity contest, it’s about earning respect and authority. “At the end of the day, at the end of the game, at the end of my career, I want to be able to have people think, ‘Well, we may not have liked Kerry Fraser, but we respect what Kerry Fraser did’,” he says. 

He has certainly earned the respect of many. A quick Google search of “Kerry Fraser” will reveal numerous sources that refer to him as the most respected referee in the game. Perhaps even more meaningful is that when players were polled, they voted Kerry as the best referee. 

“It was very rewarding, because those were the people down on the ice that I had to deal with game in and game out and that I had to sometimes assess penalties to,” he says.  

The book also discusses Kerry’s personal career highs and lows, including missed calls and funny anecdotes. However, despite its obvious focus on Kerry’s career, The Final Call is about more than just hockey.  

“I took an emotional perspective, it talks about family,” Kerry says. Even though his career kept him busy and required a lot of travel, Kerry and his family were able to use that to their advantage.  

“Every year we always did a special trip with my dad and my mom, and for our birthdays, he always did something special with us too,” Jessica recalls. “For my thirteenth birthday my mom and dad brought me to LA … my dad got me into the [Kings’] locker room so I got to meet all the LA Kings and, most importantly, Wayne Gretzky … it was a lot of fun.” 

Always a family man, Kerry admits without hesitation how much he relied on his wife, Kathy, to get through the bouts of writer’s block he experienced when writing the book. “Without her support, I know I never could have got this done on time,” he says. 

Kerry’s love for his family is also evident to hockey great Wayne Gretzky, who wrote the foreword to Kerry’s book. In it, Gretzky talks about how players and referees don’t always see eye-to-eye—but one thing that was apparent was that Kerry’s love of his family and his faith were unmistakable, endearing qualities.  

Up next for Kerry is filming his new segment, “Come on, Ref,” on an ESPN affiliate show That’s Hockey 2Nite. Kerry describes the segment as analytical with storytelling, and says it will support current NHL events.