Ron Duguay, the Helmetless Rangers Star Who Stood by Sarah Palin, Dies of Cancer at 69

Ron Duguay was one of the biggest stars the New York Rangers ever had: a long-haired center from Sudbury, Ontario, who skated without a helmet, scored goals at Madison Square Garden and spent nights at Studio 54. Later in life, he was known for something else. He was the man beside former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee. Duguay died Thursday of cancer. He was 69, the Associated Press reported.

Palin broke the news herself on 𝕏 Thursday morning. "It's with a shattered heart, but also deep peace knowing Ron is with Jesus now," she wrote. "He fought so hard. Love never ends." Her post passed 790,000 views within hours.

Broadway on skates

The Rangers took Duguay 13th overall in the 1977 draft, and he jumped straight from junior hockey to the NHL. He played eight of his 12 NHL seasons in New York (1977-83 and 1986-88), with stops in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. He finished with 274 goals and 620 points in 860 regular-season games, plus 31 goals in 89 playoff games, according to NHL.com. He was an All-Star in 1981-82, AP reported.

He was on the 1979 Rangers team that upset the top-seeded Islanders and reached the Stanley Cup Final before losing to Montreal. His goal nine seconds into a game against the Flyers in 1980 tied a franchise record, per NHL.com. Think Joe Namath on skates. He sang "Ooh la la, Sasson" in a jeans commercial, landed on the cover of Andy Warhol's Interview magazine in 1980, and says Steven Spielberg once considered him for the lead in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," he told the New York Post. After hockey he spent 12 seasons as a Rangers analyst on MSG Network.

The team said his "signature skating style -- with his hair flowing as he moved down the ice -- captivated The Garden Faithful." Rangers coach Mike Sullivan, who played with Duguay in the minor leagues in 1990-91, called him "a great man and a terrific hockey player," NHL.com reported.

He knew the heat was coming

The romance started with a favor. In early 2022, Palin was in New York for her defamation suit against The New York Times over a 2017 editorial that falsely linked her political rhetoric to a mass shooting. She called Duguay, a longtime friend, to show her around the city. Something more grew from it, she told the New York Post at the time.

"He's got more common sense in his little finger than the collective in DC," Palin said then. "In a lot of ways he is more patriotic, more pro-America, more pro-freedom than a lot of people I know, and that includes a lot of politicians serving America," per the Post.

She warned him what dating her would cost. "I said, 'You are going to take a lot of heat. I'm a polarizing figure,'" Palin recalled this year. He stayed anyway. When a photographer confronted Palin outside Elio's on the Upper East Side in 2022 over her COVID test, Duguay stepped in and asked if the man was "looking for trouble." "It was like I was playing with Wayne Gretzky on my line and someone was messing with him," he said, per the Post.

He also had a soft spot for her youngest son, Trig, who has Down syndrome. "Ron is so good with Trig," Palin said. "A lot of people would shy away from a situation like that but Ron is very nurturing and empathetic," the Post reported.

The last fight

Duguay was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer in late 2024 and kept it private for more than a year. He lost his gallbladder and appendix to surgery and dropped from 210 to 170 pounds. He was treated at City of Hope in Orange County, California, with chemotherapy and alternative therapies including methylene blue, ivermectin, ozone therapy and vitamin C, the Post reported in March. His daughters started a GoFundMe for the travel and treatment costs, and it raised more than $126,000.

Palin was there for all of it. When he had surgery, she flew in from Alaska and slept in a chair at his bedside for five days rather than go to a hotel. "She's been there all the way," Duguay said, per the Post. Days before he died, she tagged the cancer center in a plea to her followers: "Prayers for Ron Duguay are felt & appreciated," she posted.

In March, Duguay told the Post he felt frozen out by the Rangers in recent years and was "heartbroken" about it. He and Palin both wondered whether their relationship played a part, the Post reported. The team said at the time it wished him and his family the best. On Thursday it honored him as a franchise legend, and his son Noah's baby boy carries the name Ranger.

Duguay wanted his last role to be a warning. He had skipped colonoscopies because "it seemed so invasive," and he planned to push others to get screened early, he told the Post. If there's a lesson in his story beyond the goals and the hair, it's that one.