Remembering hockey’s bravest on Veterans Day

Hobey Baker, the first American star and namesake of the college award, is among 150 elite players who have lost their lives while serving in the military during the past century.

Author:
Allan Muir
Publish date:
Nov 11, 2015

On the day set aside to reflect on the men and women who gave everything so that the rest of us can enjoy peace and freedom, it’s worth taking a moment to remember the sacrifices made by those who played the game we love.

According to the Society for International Hockey Research, nearly 150 elite players lost their lives during wartime during the past century. Here are 11 who paid the ultimate price.

• Tom Kennedy was killed in a suicide bomb attack just two weeks into his deployment in Afghanistan in 2012. He was never drafted by an NHL team but spent four years manning the blue line for the Army Black Knights. After his graduation, Kennedy was the hockey program’s officer representative, traveling with the team and serving as a mentor to the young players.

“He was always there for them—for anybody in the West Point community,” Army coach Brian Riley told USCHO.com. “That’s why [his death] hit the West Point community so hard. He was so well liked and he touched so many different people at West Point; not just the hockey family but the whole West Point community.”

• According to the SIHR, Kennedy was the most recent elite player be killed in action, but not the only one to be lost in the war on terror. Before him, it was Derek Hines. The 2003 West Point graduate was conducting security operations in Afghanistan on Sept. 1, 2005, when he was killed in action during a small-arms battle with insurgents. Hines played four years for the Black Knights, scoring 12 goals in 110 games.

“I remember seeing the amount of people who came out to his funeral,” Riley told USCHO.com, “and seeing all of those people that a young man who was 25 years old touched. I knew he was a difference-maker in life.”

Since 2007, the American Hockey Coaches Association has paid tribute to that legacy, presenting the Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award to honor the “consummate team player and team builder.”

• Beginning next season, the Division 1 Colgate Raiders will play their home games at the Steven J. Riggs ’65 Rink. The facility, currently under construction, is being named in honor of the former captain of the team who was killed in Vietnam in 1968.

During the 1963 and 1964 seasons, Riggs led Colgate to its first two appearances in the ECAC playoffs. A high-scoring center, he finished his career with 51 goals and 72 assists for 123 points, a school record at the time.

• Defenseman Tom Brindley left his teammates Colorado College to join the Navy in 1967. He died the following year in a small arms battle near Khe Sanh, South Vietnam, posthumously earning the Navy Cross for his bravery.

GALLERY: Athletes Who Served in the Military

Athletes Who Served in the Military

Rocky Bleier

A 14th-round pick out of Notre Dame in 1968, Bleier had been drafted into the Army December of that year, after his rookie season, and was sent to Vietnam in May 1969. Bleier recovered from gunshot and grenade injuries for which he received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star, and returned to the Steelers after his service. After several seasons fighting for a roster spot, he became a starter in 1974 and went on to win four Super Bowl rings with Pittsburgh, playing in the backfield alongside Franco Harris.

Ted Williams

"Teddy Ballgame" entered active duty with the Navy in 1943, one year after winning the AL Triple Crown. Williams served three years and was certified as a Naval Aviator in 1944. Eight year later, at the age of 33, Williams was recalled to active duty for service in the Korean War, where he flew 39 combat missions. The Red Sox great hit 521 home runs and had a lifetime .344 batting average.

Yogi Berra

The Hall of Fame Yankee catcher didn't play major league baseball in 1944 or 1945 due to his time in the Navy, when he served as a gunner's mate during the D-Day invasion. Once he got to the big leagues, though, he had a fruitful career spanning 19 years, including 18 All-Star game selections and 13 World Series championships.

Joe DiMaggio

Two years after his record 56-game hitting streak, DiMaggio enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1943, and rose to the rank of sergeant. The star Yankees outfielder never saw combat, and was released on medical discharge in 1945.

Bob Feller

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Feller became the first American professional athlete to volunteer for combat. Although he had been granted an exemption, Feller requested that he serve in combat missions. He was assigned to the USS Alabama, where he served as Gun Captain. Upon returning to baseball in 1946, Feller pitched 11 more seasons and made four more All-Star games. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1962.

Whitey Ford

After a debut season in which he finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, Ford missed the 1951 and 1952 seasons while serving in the Army during the Korean War. Once he returned to baseball, the star Yankee pitcher picked up where he left off, making 10 All-Star games, winning six World Series and winning the 1961 Cy Young.

Joe Louis

In the middle of his 140-month reign as World Heavyweight Champion, Louis voluntarily enlisted in the Army. Although Louis was originally assigned to a cavalry unit, the Army eventually placed him in the Special Services Division -- ensuring he would not see combat action -- in an effort to raise troop morale. Louis went on a celebrity tour along with fellow boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and staged boxing exhibitions around the world for his fellow soldiers. Louis was awarded the rare Legion of Merit in 1945, which qualified him for immediate release from the military.

Roger Staubach

Staubach won the Heisman trophy in 1963 as the quarterback at the Naval Academy. Although he was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys, he still had to perform his required post-graduation service time. Staubach served in the Navy Supply Corps from 1964 to 1968, which included a tour of duty in Vietnam. After his service, Staubach joined the Cowboys and led them to two Super Bowl victories, in 1972 and 1978.

Willie Mays

Mays was drafted in 1952 and assigned to Fort Eustis in Virgina, which caused him to miss the remainder of that year and the entire 1953 season. Like many athletes, Mays primarily participated in exhibitions for morale and publicity purposes. Mays played for 20 years and hit 636 home runs after he returned to baseball in 1954. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979.

Pee Wee Reese, Phil Rizzuto, and Hugh Casey

Reese, Rizzuto and Casey served three years in the Navy, from 1943 to '45, and saw combat in the Pacific Theater. Reese, most known for his support of and friendship with Jackie Robinson, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984 on a vote from the Veterans' Committee. Rizzuto was inducted in '94.

Jackie Robinson

Five years before breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947, Robinson was drafted into the Army. Robinson eventually joined the 761st "Black Panthers" Tank Battalion. Like his professional baseball career, his military service was marked by incidents of racial discrimination. Robinson was honorably discharged in 1944. Although his 761st battalion was the first black tank unit to see combat, Robinson was never deployed overseas.

Bob Kalsu

Kalsu was an All-America tackle at Oklahoma before being drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 1968. After playing his rookie season, he enlisted in the army as a Second Lieutenant and arrived in Vietnam in 1969. He was killed in action on July 21, 1970. Kalsu was the only active professional football player to lose his life in Vietnam.

Pat Tillman

Gene Lower/Slingshot; Courtesy of the Tillman Family

Tillman stands as the most famous example of a 21st century athlete giving up his playing career for military service. The former Cardinals safety enlisted in the Army Rangers with his brother Kevin in 2002. On Tillman's second tour of duty, in Afghanistan, he was killed in a friendly fire incident. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart, among several other military honors.

Ahmard Hall

Hall took an unusual path to professional football. He wasn't recruited heavily by colleges out of high school, so he enlisted in the Marine Corps. He rose to the rank of sergeant, and saw time in Kosovo and Afghanistan. After he processed out, Hall attended the University of Texas on the G.I. Bill and walked on to the football team, where he became an effective starter. After graduating, he went undrafted, but the Tennessee Titans signed him as a free agent. Over his six-year career, Hall garnered 24 rushing attempts and 73 receptions, while blocking for three 1,000-yard running backs.

David Robinson

Robinson starred at the Naval Academy, winning college basketball's highest honors, the Wooden and Naismith awards, his senior year. The San Antonio Spurs selected him with the first overall pick in the 1987 NBA draft, but Robinson had to perform his two years active-duty service before he could join the team. After graduating, Robinson became a civil engineering officer at the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia. Robinson went on to an illustrious NBA career that saw him win two championships, one MVP and make the All-Star game 10 times.

John Wooden

The Wizard of Westwood served in the Navy during World War II as a physical education instructor. His aptitude for teaching stuck with him as he became one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. His UCLA teams won 10 national championships, including seven in a row.

Tom Seaver

Seaver joined the Marine Corps Reserves after high school, at age 18. He served a six-month active duty stretch before moving on to a city college, USC and the major leagues. In 20 seasons with the Mets, Reds, White Sox and Red Sox, Seaver won 311 games and threw an incredible 231 complete games.

Nolan Ryan

Ryan, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, missed the 1967 season with the New York Mets due to service with the Army Reserve. He was back in 1968 and made it through his first full major league season. He went on to have a Hall of Fame career, in which he made eight All-Star teams, won one World Series and retired as MLB's all-time strikeouts leader.

Tom Landry

The legendary Cowboys coach served in the Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1945, and rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant. During his enlistment, Landry completed 30 combat missions and survived a crash landing in Belgium. After the war, Landry went on to play football for the University of Texas and the New York Giants, before coaching the Dallas Cowboys to two Super Bowl victories over 29 years.

Larry Doby

Doby served in the Navy from 1944 to '46 and saw combat in the Pacific theater. After his discharge, he broke the American League's color barrier when he signed with the Cleveland Indians in 1947. The Hall of Fame outfielder played 13 major league seasons and hit 254 home runs.

Roberto Clemente

In the winter before the 1959 season, Clemente enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve and served his six-month active duty commitment at bases in South Carolina, North Carolina and Washington, D.C. The 15-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973.

Ty Cobb

Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images

Cobb served in the Army Chemical Corps in France in 1918. Other baseball players in that division included Christy Mathewson and George Sisler. After being honorably discharged, Cobb played for 10 more seasons, before being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1936.

Christy Mathewson

In 1918, Mathewson enlisted in the Army Chemical Corps at 38. During a training exercise, he was accidentally exposed to poisonous gas and subsequently discharged. He struggled with health problems for the rest of his life, before dying at 45 in 1925. The 373-game winner was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1936.

Mike Anderson

After high school, Anderson served four years in the Marine Corps. It was there that an assistant coach at Mt. San Jacinto, a junior college, noticed Bell playing touch football. After two years of JUCO, Bell played for the University of Utah, where he was a two-time all-conference player. The Denver Broncos drafted him in the sixth round, and Anderson rewarded them with a 1,487-yard, Offensive Rookie of the Year season.

Bill Bradley

Bradley served six months in the Air Force Reserves before joining the New York Knicks in 1967. Bradley's 10-year career included two Knicks championships and one All-Star game appearance. After retiring, Bradley served three terms as a senator representing New Jersey.

Bill Sharman

Sharman served in the Navy during World War II, from 1944 to '46. In the NBA with the Boston Celtics, Sharman made eight All-Star game appearances and won four titles. He teamed with Bob Cousy to form one of the league's best backcourts.

More than 100 pros from across the NHL and various minor leagues turned in their hockey sticks for rifles during World War II, including Johnny Bower, Milt Schmidt (in photo above with Zdeno Chara) and his Kraut Line teammates Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer, Tiny Thompson, Syl Apps and Doug Harvey. Two lesser known players never returned to the ice:

• Joe Turner played just one game for the Red Wings, a 3–3 tie with the Maple Leafs, but the team had high hopes for the young goaltender after he led the AHL with 34 wins and backstopped the Indianapolis Capitals to the ’42 Calder Cup championship. But after that season, the Windsor, Ont., native heard the call of duty and joined the U.S. Army. Two years later, on his first day of active combat, he was killed in battle in Germany.

• Dudley “Red” Garrett took advantage of the league’s depleted rosters to earn a spot with the Rangers in 1942 when he was just 18. Though he stood just 5' 11", 190 pounds, he was rough and ready (he led the OHA with 61 penalty minutes in 18 games in 1941-42). His physical play carried over to New York, where he earned his keep physically and chipped in one goal and two points in in 23 games before he was called to join the war effort.

Garrett was stationed in Atlantic Canada, working escort ships for for boats carrying supplies to Allied troops in Europe. He was killed in action off the coast of Newfoundland in 1944 when his ship was sunk by a German U-boat.

Though he played just six games in the minors, the AHL created the Red Garrett Memorial award in 1947 to honor the league’s top rookie.

• Another trophy, this one given to the Ontario Hockey League’s Most Valuable Player, was named to recognize a WWII casualty. Red Tilson was the league’s leading scorer for the 1942-43 season, and a key member of an Oshawa Generals squad that made it to the Memorial Cup Final before losing to the Winnipeg Rangers. Tilson enlisted in the Canadian Army instead of turning pro the following season. He was killed in action in Holland.

• The First World War was just as cruel to the hockey community.

Seven of the eight members of the 1915 Independent Hockey League champion Winnipeg Falcons signed up to fight for Canada in World War I. Two of those players, Frank Thorsteinson and George Cumbers, lost their lives overseas. The remaining five returned home after the war and rebuilt the team that went on to win the 1920 Allan Cup. That victory earned them the right to represent Canada at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, where they captured the first ever ice hockey gold medal.

• One-Eyed Frank McGee scored a Stanley Cup record 14 goals in one game for the legendary Ottawa Silver Seven in their famous 1905 series against the Dawson City Nuggets. Eight of his 14 goals were scored consecutively in a span of less than nine minutes, leading Ottawa to a 23–2 victory that still stands as the most lopsided game in Stanley Cup history.

McGee was among the 14 members of the inaugural class of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945. He was also among the 24,029 soldiers and personnel that Canada suffered in the Battle of the Somme, and one of 11,169 unfound casualties commemorated at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in Pas-de-Calais, France.

• Hockey’s greatest loss though might have been Hobey Baker. The first American superstar, he skated as a rover for Princeton University where he smashed records and became one of the biggest draws in sports. After the end of his college days, he joined the U.S. Air Force in the First World War, where he served with the Lafayette Escadrille. A skilled flyer, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre for “exceptional valor under fire.” When the war came to an end, he insisted on one last flight before heading home. Tragically, the plane crashed and he perished at 26. The Hobey Baker Memorial Award is given each year to the NCAA’s top player in his memory.