Bill Stewart (sports official)

William Joseph Stewart (September 20, 1895 – February 18, 1964)

In 1913, Stewart became a minor league baseball player with Worcester in the New England League, and in 1917 while with Montreal he was the first International League player to enlist for World War I service, joining the United States Navy. In these pre-war seasons, he primarily played as an outfielder.

After the war, Stewart was signed by the Chicago White Sox in December 1918,^[2][3] but he suffered an arm injury falling down a flight of stairs while working as a census taker,^[4] and was sent to the minor leagues in May 1919.^[5] As he was, apparently, on a major league roster yet never appeared in a major league game, Stewart is an example of a "phantom ballplayer."

In the 1920s, Stewart played parts of several seasons in the minor leagues, including three seasons as a pitcher: 1922 in Syracuse, New York, 1927 in Nashua, New Hampshire with the Nashua Millionaires, and 1928 in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Stewart was also a

In 1929, he played summer baseball for Falmouth in the Cape Cod Baseball League. A steady pitcher, he was described as "making up for his lack of speed with plenty of control and lots of headwork."^[6][7]

During baseball offseasons in the 1910s and 1920s, Stewart generally coached Boston-area college and high school hockey teams.^[8] From 1925 to 1931 he was the head coach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.^[9]

In 1928, Stewart became the NHL's first U.S.-born referee, and served in that capacity until 1941, excepting his two seasons as coach of the Chicago Black Hawks; 1937–38 (when the team won the Stanley Cup) and 1938–39.

In 1930, Stewart became an umpire in the

Stewart worked 714 consecutive games from the time he entered the NL until September 1938, when he was stricken with appendicitis. He resigned from the NL umpiring staff in January 1955 after not being promoted to league supervisor, a position he claimed had been promised him by commissioner Ford Frick when he had been NL president; new league president Warren Giles instead announced that the position would not be filled.

After retiring as an umpire, Stewart continued to work as a scout for the

Stewart coached the U.S. men's national hockey team in 1957, posting a 23–3–1 record, but the team was barred by the U.S. State Department from participating in the World Championships following the Soviet invasion of Hungary.^[15]

In February 1964, Stewart died at the

Stewart was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1982.^[15] His grandson Paul became an NHL player and referee and like his grandfather was elected to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.