Frederic McLaughlin

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Frederic McLaughlin (born June 27, 1877 in Chicago , Illinois , † December 17, 1944 ) was an American businessman , military and ice hockey official . In 1963 he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the "Official" category.

life and career

Frederic McLaughlin was born on June 27, 1877 as the son of a successful coffee dealer in the rapidly expanding city of Chicago in the US state of Illinois. He completed his early school education in his hometown and then graduated from Harvard University in Cambridge , Massachusetts in 1901 . Four years later, after the death of his father, he took over the family business and continued to run it for decades. The sports enthusiast McLaughlin, who during his military service achieved the highest rank of major and was subsequently often addressed with this rank, brought the first professional ice hockey team to The Windy City in 1926 . When Lester and Frank Patrick sold six franchises from what was then the Pacific Coast Hockey Association in 1926, McLaughlin bought the rights to the Portland Rosebuds , who most recently participated in the Western Canada Hockey League , as head of a specially assigned consortium of Chicago businessmen . He acquired this right from the then football star Huntington Hardwick and his syndicate to investors who had acquired the franchise in May of the same year. At the same time, McLaughlin, who until then had no experience in the ice hockey business, also steered a large part of the players in the franchise to Chicago, where the Chicago Black Hawks was officially founded on September 25, 1926 . The team's name was derived from McLaughlin's Infantry Division, in which he sometimes served as a commander during World War I. At that time he was married to the famous dancer and actress Irene Castle , who is also responsible for the Black Hawks' logo, the Indian head, which still exists today.

As a result, McLaughlin was the first owner, as well as president, of the franchise and popularized ice hockey in the United States with this in the 1920s and 1930s. After the reaction of the population to the new team was initially very lukewarm, the team initially played in the cramped Chicago Coliseum , which offered far too little space, in addition to the number of spectators also the number of shareholders decreased, whereupon McLaughlin soon took the majority of the shares in Franchise owned. When the Chicago Stadium , which had a capacity three times as high for ice hockey games, opened in 1929 , the number of spectators rose and with it the popularity of the Black Hawks. After the onset of the Great Depression in late 1929 and early 1930, McLaughlin kept his dream of a Chicago ice hockey team alive with a loan from Joseph "Joe" Cattarinich , co-owner of Canadiens de Montréal . It was thanks to his reluctance to face the existing economic conditions that the team was able to consistently and sometimes successfully participate in the National Hockey League (NHL). The undisputed successes of this time include the two wins of the Stanley Cup in 1934 and 1938 .

In the years that followed, there were no further successes and only in 1944 did the Chicago Black Hawks make it back into the final series, but were defeated there against the Canadiens de Montréal. In the same year, Frederic McLaughlin, who acted as the majority shareholder and president until the end, died and left the team de facto without a leader. After that, the franchise's financial situation worsened, whereupon the team was close to bankruptcy in the 1950s. The duo Arthur Wirtz and James D. Norris then led the franchise through these turbulent times in the 1950s. During his 18 years as president and owner of the Chicago Black Hawks, he was particularly noticeable by the many coaching changes, with a total of 13 coaches acting under him. The coach changes were often bizarre and arbitrary. Among other things, he hired Godfrey Matheson as a trainer, whom he had met on a train trip and whose knowledge of ice hockey he was enthusiastic about. Matheson, who among other things introduced a whistle system, acted alongside the Danish- born Emil Iverson and was dismissed from his position as head coach after just two match days. Throughout his life, Frederic McLaughlin was considered to be extremely patriotic and during his tenure it was noticed again and again that he wanted to fill the squad with as many Americans as possible and that he would admit almost no foreign players at a time when there were generally very few US players -Americans were active in the league, which was predominantly dominated by the Canadians.

For example, the Stanley Cup in 1938 was won by eight US players, as well as Boston coach Bill Stewart , who was sacked at the beginning of the following season. McLaughlin and his coaches shaped the game of the 1920s and 1930s, among other things by introducing new tactical possibilities. In order to increase the speed of the game, three different lines of attack and substitute players were used, who were replaced at three-minute intervals, which contributed to the faster game speed, but was less of a success. During his tenure as president and team owner, he feuded for long periods of time with James E. Norris , owner of the Detroit Red Wings and father of the aforementioned James D. Norris, who kicked McLaughlin and the Black Hawks out of Chicago Stadium. In 1963, Frederic McLaughlin, who died of a heart attack on December 17, 1944, was considered an aggressive and enthusiastic supporter of ice hockey and, because of his patriotism, became an American image of the Canadian and Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe made, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the category "Official" .

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personal data
SURNAME McLaughlin, Frederic
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American businessman, military and ice hockey official
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois , United States
DATE OF DEATH December 17, 1944