Jack Gibson (ice hockey, born 1880)
| Jack Gibson | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Hockey Hall of Fame, 1976 | |||
 Gibson with Portages Lakes, circa 1902–03 | |||
| Born |
September 10, 1880 Berlin, Ontario , Canada | ||
| Died |
November 4, 1954 (aged 74) Calgary, Alberta | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) | ||
| Weight | 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb) | ||
| Position |
Defence | ||
| Played for |
Berlin Hockey Club Portage Lakes Hockey Club | ||
| Playing career | c. 1895–1907 | ||
John Liddell MacDonald "Jack" Gibson (September 10, 1880 – November 4, 1954[1][2]) was a Canadian-born ice hockey player and executive. Known as the "father of professional hockey", Gibson founded the International Professional Hockey League in 1904, the first fully professional hockey league in history. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder in 1976.
Biography
Jack Gibson was born in
Gibson was a gifted hockey player who played throughout Ontario and helped the Berlin Hockey Club win the provincial intermediate championship team in 1897. Gibson and his teammates were expelled from the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) in 1898 after being accused of accepting payment. The OHA was militantly opposed to professionalism and banned the team after Berlin's mayor presented each player with a $10 gold coin in celebration of a win over the rival team from Waterloo.[5] Gibson had offered to return the coin, to no avail.[6]
He attended
After graduation, he moved to the northern Michigan community of Houghton to set up a dental practice. Still a gifted hockey player, he recruited other talented individuals and established the Portage Lakes Hockey Club in 1900–01. Portage Lakes was an openly professional team,[8] and Gibson captained the squad and was its leading scorer.
After defeating the Montreal Wanderers in 2 exhibition contests in the 1903–04 season in front of 5,000 fans at the Houghton Amphidrome, it became obvious to Gibson that Northern Michigan was a hockey hotbed and could sustain a league and the International Professional Hockey League, the first professional hockey league in the world, opened for business in 1904.
Gibson retired from playing after 1904, but remained active in recruiting players to the league, while also serving as a
After practising dentistry and refereeing local games in Houghton for a few years, Gibson also returned to Canada and set up a dental practice in Calgary, Alberta, where he resided until he died in 1954. In 1976 Gibson was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder.
Beginning in 1939, a trophy, named the Gibson Cup, was awarded to the champion of the Michigan-Ontario Pro Hockey League. Today, the Gibson Cup is given to the winner of an annual challenge series between the Portage Lake Pioneers and the Calumet Wolverines. The Gibson Cup is the third-oldest hockey cup in North America, behind only the Stanley Cup (1893) and the MacNaughton Cup (1913). The MacNaughton Cup goes to the regular-season champion of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. He joined the United States Hockey Hall of Fame during 1973.[10]
References
- ^ "Ex-Hockey Star Dies At Calgary", Ottawa Citizen, Nov. 5, 1954, pg. 30
- ^ "Dr. Gibson Dies, Organized Pro Hockey in U.S.", Ottawa Journal, Nov. 5, 1954, pg. 12
- ^ Fitsell 1987, p. 116
- ^ Brown 1927, p. 283
- ^ Harper 2013, p. 22
- ^ Harper 2013, p. 41
- ^ Biographical Publishing Company. Biographical Record: This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Houghton, Baraga And Marquette Counties, Michigan ... Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co., 1903. page 343
- ^ Harper 2013, p. 42
- ^ Fitsell 1987, p. 120
- ^ "Class of 1973". United States Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
Bibliography
- Brown, H.W., B.A. (1927), "The Kitchener and Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School: Its History", Fifteenth Annual Report of the Waterloo Historical Society, 15: 268–284
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ISBN 0-919-783-68-6
- ISBN 978-1-4767-1653-4
- Biographical record: this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Houghton, Baraga and Marquette Counties, Michigan ... Atlantic states series of biographical review, vol. XIV. Biographical Publishing Company. 1903. pp. 343–345. .
External links
- Biographical information and career statistics from Legends of Hockey