Bill Cleary (ice hockey)
 Bill and Bob Cleary | |||||||||||||||
| Biographical details | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | August 19, 1934 Cambridge, Massachusetts | ||||||||||||||
| Playing career | |||||||||||||||
| 1953–1955 | Harvard | ||||||||||||||
| 1956 | US Olympic Team | ||||||||||||||
| 1956–1957 | US National Team | ||||||||||||||
| 1958–1959 | US National Team | ||||||||||||||
| 1960 | US Olympic Team | ||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Center | ||||||||||||||
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |||||||||||||||
| 1968–1969 | Harvard (freshman) | ||||||||||||||
| 1969–1971 | Harvard (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 1971–1990 | Harvard | ||||||||||||||
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |||||||||||||||
| 1990–2001 | Harvard | ||||||||||||||
| Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||
| Overall | 324–201–24 | ||||||||||||||
| Accomplishments and honors | |||||||||||||||
| Championships | |||||||||||||||
| 1973 Lester Patrick Award | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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William John Cleary Jr. (born August 19, 1934) is an American former ice hockey player, coach, and athletic administrator. He is an alumnus of Belmont Hill School, played on the United States men's national ice hockey team that won the gold medal in ice hockey at the 1960 Winter Olympics, and was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 1997.
Career
Playing
Cleary was an
While at Harvard, Bill and his brother Bob played collegiate summer baseball together for the now defunct Sagamore Clouters of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[3][4][5]
Taking a year away from
Coaching
After the 1960 Olympics Cleary retired as a player and became an ice hockey official for several years before returning to Harvard in 1968 to coach the freshman squad.[1] Bill was quickly promoted to assistant coach of the varsity team and then became the head coach in 1971 when Cooney Weiland retired.[7] Cleary's teams got off to a fast start with a top two finishing in each of his first four years. Though he couldn't manage to win a tournament in the time (conference or national) Cleary had established himself enough to carry through a down period in the late 1970s.
Harvard missed the postseason each year from
After a brief dip in the standings for
Cleary coached the Crimson for one more season before moving on to become an administrator for Harvard's athletic department and formally retired on June 30, 2001.[1]
Awards and honors
| Award | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| AHCA First Team All-American | 1954–55
|
|
All-Tournament First Team
|
1955
|
[2] |
| IIHF World Championship best forward | 1959 | |
| IIHF Hall of Fame inductee | 1997 | [10][11] |
Among many of the honors he has received include being named to the NCAA Ice Hockey 50th Anniversary team, chosen as the US Hockey Player of the Decade (1956–1966), tabbed as one of the 100 Golden Olympians by the
Cleary was the driving force behind the structure of
Cleary was Ryan O/Neal's stand-in for key ice hockey action scenes in the 1970 film, Love Story, which was about a Harvard hockey player protagonist.
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard Crimson (ECAC Hockey) (1971–1990) | |||||||||
1971-72
|
Harvard | 17-8-1 | 16-4-1 | 2nd | ECAC Third Place Game (Loss)
| ||||
1972-73
|
Harvard | 17-4-1 | 14-3-1 | t-1st | ECAC Quarterfinals
| ||||
| 1973-74 | Harvard | 17-11-1 | 15-6-0 | 2nd | NCAA Consolation Game (Loss)
| ||||
| 1974-75 | Harvard | 23-6-0 | 19-1-0 | 1st | NCAA Consolation Game (Loss)
| ||||
| 1975-76 | Harvard | 13-10-3 | 10-7-3 | 7th | ECAC Third Place Game (Loss)
| ||||
| 1976-77 | Harvard | 14-12-0 | 12-10-0 | 9th | |||||
| 1977-78 | Harvard | 12-14-0 | 10-13-0 | 10th | |||||
| 1978-79 | Harvard | 7-18-1 | 5-16-1 | 14th | |||||
| 1979-80 | Harvard | 8-15-5 | 7-11-3 | 12th | |||||
| 1980-81 | Harvard | 11-14-1 | 8-12-1 | 14th | |||||
| 1981-82 | Harvard | 13-15-2 | 11-8-2 | 8th | NCAA Quarterfinals
| ||||
| 1982-83 | Harvard | 23-9-2 | 15-5-1 | t-2nd | NCAA Runner-Up
| ||||
| 1983-84 | Harvard | 10-14-3 | 10-9-1 | 8th | ECAC Quarterfinals
| ||||
| 1984-85 | Harvard | 21-9-2 | 15-5-1 | 2nd | NCAA Quarterfinals
| ||||
| 1985-86 | Harvard | 25-8-1 | 18-3-0 | 1st | NCAA Runner-Up
| ||||
| 1986-87 | Harvard | 28-6-0 | 20-2-0 | 1st | NCAA Consolation Game (Loss)
| ||||
| 1987-88 | Harvard | 21-11-0 | 18-4-0 | t-1st | NCAA West Regional Quarterfinals
| ||||
| 1988-89 | Harvard | 31-3-0 | 21-2-0 | 1st | NCAA National Champion
| ||||
| 1989-90 | Harvard | 13-14-1 | 12-9-1 | 6th | ECAC Quarterfinals
| ||||
| Harvard: | 324–201–24 | 256-130-16 | |||||||
| Total: | 324–201–24 | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
References
- ^ a b c d e f "2008-09 Harvard Crimson Media Guide" (PDF). Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-12-15. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
- ^ a b "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-08-17. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
- ^ "Ivy League players in the Cape League". capecodbaseball.org. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
- ^ "Cotuit Maintains League Lead By Beating Sagamore". Falmouth Enterprise. Falmouth, MA. July 19, 1957. p. 5.
- ^ "Two-Hitter Loses For All Star Hurler". Falmouth Enterprise. Falmouth, MA. August 15, 1958. p. 6.
- ^ Barone, Pamela (2010-02-10). "Before the Miracle on Ice: 'Team of Destiny'". NBC Sports. Retrieved 2010-02-19.
- ^ "Harvard Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
- ^ "2008-09 ECAC Hockey Media Guides". ECAC Hockey. Archived from the original on 2014-04-27. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
- ^ "NCAA Division 1 Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archive. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
- ^ Thompson, Harry (March 2020). "Lessons From A Legend". USA Hockey Magazine. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
- ^ "IIHF Hall of Fame". Hockey Archives (in Russian). Retrieved 4 July 2023.
External links
- Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or The Internet Hockey Database