Who are Tony Esposito's sons? NHL legend's wife didn't want them to be hockey players
NHL legend Tony Esposito died on August 10, after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer at 78. Esposito's death was confirmed by the NHL, with commissioner Gary Bettman saying in a statement "The hockey world will miss him greatly." Esposito is survived by his wife, Marilyn, sons Mark and Jason, and grandchildren Lauren and Kamryn.
Hockey fans have already lost a lot of stars this year, making Esposito's passing all the more painful. In June, 'Minnesota Wild' assistant general manager, Tom Kurvers died after succumbing to cancer as well. Before that in March, we lost the "miracle on ice" Mark Pavelich under mysterious circumstances. The same month, Canada's beloved 'hockey dad' Walter Gretzky died at 82, from complications bought on by Parkinson's.
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Esposito is well known for his 15 years with the Chicago Blackhawks, where he helped the team win the Vezina Trophy three times. Interestingly, his brother Phil was also a major NFL star. But what about Esposito's sons? Did they follow in their father's footsteps and make a career out of hockey? The answer will actually surprise you. If you are wondering who Esposito's sons are, here's everything we know.
Who are Tony Esposito's sons?
Jason Esposito
Jason carved a path of his own vastly different from that of his father. One reason could be because that's exactly what his mother wanted. In a 1973 interview for The Gazette, Marilyn Esposito famously said, "They want to be known for themselves, not for who their dad is." The paper reported that she wouldn't encourage either of her sons to take up a career in hockey, which appears to be the case.
Jason is reportedly an executive chef and runs his own restaurant called Engine No 9 in St Petersburg, Florida. The sports bar opened in September 2012 and has served as a key destination for Blackhawks fans in the state since. According to his LinkedIn profile, Jason is the president of the Engine Restaurant Group and lives in St Petersburg. But before he found fame and success with burgers, Jason wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. "Jason always wanted to play goalie. That`s all he wanted to do," Marilyn said in a 1986 Chicago Tribune article. He managed to step out of Tony's shadow by turning to soccer instead, where he played goalkeeper.
Sports was not meant to be though, and Jason turned to hospitality for a career, where he has found fame amongst Blackhawks fans. Further information is not available about Jason. We did find an Instagram profile for Jason, but it's filled with photos of Engine No 9 and his food.
Mark Esposito
Unlike his brother, Mark is more closely associated with hockey. He was a goal-scoring machine during his high school and college years and was dubbed a "quality hockey player" by his father. In 1985, Mark was the top point-getter in the Metro League West Division as a junior. He also made the third line on the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois all-state team. He was also on the Varsity Men's Ice Hockey team during his time at Amherst College.
Mark graduated from Amherst in 2020 with a BA in psychology. Initially, he worked in marketing, first as a sports marketing analyst with Bauer Hockey and then as a coordinator for Honeycomb. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is currently working as an operations manager at Game 7, a sports marketing agency with clients like Nike, Converse, Air Jodan, and Beats to name a few.
Like with Jason, there's only limited information available about Mark online. Judging by his Twitter profile, he seems to enjoy golf as much as he does hockey. Mark still extensively tweets about hockey, including women's hockey, indicating that he's still very much in touch with the game.
